Disney To Take on Crowded Theme Dining Market With Anaheim ESPN Site
Orange County may have lost its football team to St. Louis and has yet to attract a pro basketball squad to the county, but it’s soon to have one sports feature not found anywhere else west of the Mississippi.
ESPN Zone, a sports restaurant and entertainment center, will open its first West Coast operation at Anaheim’s Downtown Disney development early next year, according to Walt Disney Co. officials.
The Anaheim site, which along with a bar and restaurant includes a basketball court, rock-climbing wall and other activities, is set to be the first newly constructed ESPN Zone and the largest to date. It also will bring up to 400 jobs to the county.
“We’re already hiring for everything,” said Jamie Sykes, director of marketing for the Burbank-based ESPN Zone, part of Burbank-based Disney’s regional entertainment unit. “We’re going to have a job fair in November.”
Other ESPN Zones are in New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
The Anaheim location, which is expected to have a capacity of about 1,500 people, calls for 36,000 square feet of space spread over two floors. Inside, plans call for a dining area, a screening room where patrons can watch sporting events, and a sports arena that includes virtual reality games and a one-half size NBA court where patrons can stage their own hoops competitions. A rock-climbing wall is slated near the bar.
“It’s a 3-D extension of the ESPN experience,” said Randall Baumberger, vice president and general manager for ESPN Zone.
Baumberger declined to disclose costs for the project, saying only it is a “significant investment” for Disney. A similar facility in Baltimore, which opened in 1998, was estimated to cost about $15 million. One source familiar with the development said construction costs alone in California could run in the vicinity of $11 million.
ESPN Zone hopes to attract locals, tourists and conventioneers to the Downtown Disney site, a 300,000-square-foot entertainment district linking Disney’s new California Adventure theme park and Disneyland. The Zone is set to be between the Disneyland Hotel and the new Rainforest Caf & #233;, also under construction at the complex.
The Anaheim ESPN Zone will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology, including satellite TV receivers, video cameras, more than 165 video monitors (even some in the bathrooms), a fully functional radio studio and live TV broadcasting capabilities.
The facility also will be available to corporate or private groups for meetings, parties or corporate events. Sykes said small groups will be able to rent a suite, while larger groups can arrange to close off any section of the venue,or rent the entire building for special events.
Promotional activities in conjunction with Disney’s two sports teams, the Anaheim Angels and Mighty Ducks, are under discussion, Baumberger said, but he declined to say what those activities might be. Sykes suggested they may include local athletes in some programs.
Team Tie-In
Kevin Uhlich, vice president of sales and marketing for Anaheim Sports Inc., the Disney arm that runs the Angels and Ducks, said they have brainstormed some ideas for cross-promotion with ESPN Zone officials.
Other ESPN Zones regularly broadcast such things as Monday Night Football,a staple of Disney’s ABC Inc. unit. Half-time spots and other broadcasts could be in store for Anaheim, Baumberger said.
“There could be several significant national broadcasts (from Anaheim),” he said.
Besides Monday Night Football and tie-ins with local sports radio, broadcasts from Anaheim might even include regularly scheduled ESPN shows like “Sports Center”,though that’s not currently done at other sites.
Unique Deor
One way ESPN Zones try to distinguish themselves from pure sports bars is through the art on the walls, officials said. Each site features significant people or events in local sports history.
“We don’t just hang up jerseys and helmets,” Baumberger said.
Instead, officials plan to commission local artists to complete 20 pieces of art specific to the Southern California sports landscape. And those aren’t just paintings or sculptures.
“We’ve done a patchwork quilt and neon art, among other things,” he said.
Another way the Zone tries to separate itself from the cluttered theme dining market is with its menu, Baumberger said. It includes full entrees prepared by executive chefs instead of more typical burgers, pizza or chicken wings.
The screening room features a 16-foot screen surrounded by “Zone-Throne” viewing stations,leather recliners complete with headsets for the really devoted fan. But there also are a dozen 36-inch video monitors with tiered seating. Diners in the screening room can watch their choice of sporting events from individual table-top monitors.
But try as officials might to not be categorized as a sports bar or theme restaurant, comparisons are inevitable. For one thing, ESPN Zones are opening at a time when other theme restaurants have struggled to survive.
Planet Hollywood closed its doors in Santa Ana last year when the company filed Chapter 11. Anaheim’s much-hyped Tinseltown Studios didn’t even last a year, quickly reducing its number of performances and eventually converting to a concert venue, the Sun Theater. Dave & Buster’s, with OC locations at the Irvine Spectrum Center and the Block at Orange, reported a drop in sales last year, though sales for the quarter ended May 2 were up 30% to $77.8 million.
Disney analysts consider the ESPN brand in general a solid performer, which could help the performance of ESPN Zone. Its location, sandwiched between the two Disney parks and across the street from the Anaheim Convention Center, can’t hurt either.
A California Restaurant Association survey shows that a larger percentage of today’s food dollar,45%,is spent at restaurants. Nate Franke, a Deloitte & Touche analyst in Costa Mesa, said he believes Orange County outpaces national trends for dining out.
Repeat Business is Key
But analysts contend that repeat business is the key to keeping themed eateries thriving,something that both ESPN Zone and Dave & Buster’s claim to have.
Baumberger insists that ESPN Zone is more than a Dave & Buster’s,the closest thing to a rival to the eclectic restaurant. He cited ESPN Zone’s wide variety of entertainment as one reason people visit more than once.
“We expect repeat business,” he said. “We get it in other markets.”
Stuart Myers, vice president of marketing for Dallas-based Dave & Buster’s said that people also come to Dave & Buster’s for more than just games.
“Sixty-seven percent of our customers eat while they’re there,” he said.
Myers called ESPN Zone an “indirect competitor.” Both venues would “share some of the same customers,” he said, but added there are no special plans in the works geared to keeping those customers at Dave & Buster’s OC venues,especially the Block, five minutes from Downtown Disney. He said Dave & Buster’s appeals to a wider variety of people who come for the games, not to watch sports.
“Our food and games appeal to a wider audience.”
Even so, Dave & Buster’s last week debuted its first national advertising campaign, a $9 million branding bid designed to boost same-store sales. It’s being rolled out in selected markets, including Southern California.
Though Sykes said ESPN Zone is looking at other possible locations on the West Coast, none have been confirmed. She declined to say if any of the locations were in California. Earlier this year Art Levitt, president of Disney Regional Entertainment, said he didn’t envision more than about 20 of the ESPN Zone concept in the nation. By comparison, Dave & Buster’s already has venues in 25 markets. n
