ESPN’s Wide World of Sports is an international sports complex accommodating professional-caliber training, competition and tournaments for more than 30 individual and team sports. The facilities are designed to make this the world’s premier sports destination for athletes and spectators alike. ESPN’s Wide World of Sports (formerly known as Disney’s Wide World of Sports) includes classrooms, office space and media facilities. It serves as headquarters for sporting events taking place throughout the Walt Disney World Resort.
Our design for ESPN’s Wide World of Sports addressed the unique challenge of finding an appropriate image for a variety of sports venues while remaining sympathetic to the locale. Rather than relying solely on the venerable traditions of baseball, or those of the collegiate field house, the complex uses the traditions of Florida architecture. Stucco walls with arcades and balconies; tile roofs and towers are adapted to the various building types across the grounds.
The master plan uses traditions of small town planning to create a series of places. This collection of distinct areas combine to create a development that is as urban as the center of small town yet still as rural as a park on the outskirts of that town. ESPN’s Wide World of Sports includes a town square and town green, connected by a pedestrian ‘main street’, which is turn defined by the location of the ballpark and field house. These two prominent project components act as the focal points for the specific sports venues.
Program Pieces
ESPN’s Wide World of Sports accommodates numerous sporting venues and amenities, including:
• a 7,700-seat, Triple-A Ballpark and Spring Training Facility for the Atlanta Braves known as Champion Stadium;
• a 34,000 SF field house to house more than 25 AAU championship competitions
• a Tennis pavilion;
• baseball quadraplex;
• softball diamondplex;
• track & field complex;
• box office;
• Welcome Center;
• and a Clubhouse shop
