Universal Sports Consolidating Operations In New California HQs

By Tripp Mickle, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

Universal Sports plans to consolidate its operations and establish a new HQs next year in a 40,000-square-foot production facility near Thousand Oaks, California. The move, which will be announced today, will put the Olympic sports network owned by NBC and Leo Hindery's InterMedia Partners in an HD-equipped state-of-the-art production facility built by Dole Food Co. Chair and billionaire David Murdock. It also allows the network to bring under one roof a 90-person staff that currently is spread across Santa Monica, California; Glendale, California; and Bethesda, Maryland. Universal Sports Chair & CEO Claude Ruibal said the company looked at alternative spaces in L.A.; Stamford, Connecticut; and New Jersey before signing the lease. The facility features control rooms, editing, sound and graphics areas, and includes a 10,000-square-foot production and an 8,000-square-foot stage. It is also HD-ready, which would allow the network to be offered in HD if a distributor picked it up. The parties signed a standard lease, but Universal Sports will promote health, nutrition and wellness and use research from the Dole Nutrition Institute in some on-air programming, Ruibal said. How that would work is still being discussed, but it would likely entail focusing on what Olympic athletes eat. "We think it's an important piece of messaging to have," Ruibal said. "We've become a great destination for consumers that like to watch these sports, but now we need to focus more on the lifestyle elements behind them." Ruibal said the staff based in Bethesda wishing to stay with the company will relocate to California next summer. Universal Sports President & COO Carlos Silva, who is based in Bethesda, will stay with the company.