ESPN: Is it New England or American?

ESPN has been headquartered in Bristol, Connecticut since 1979.  It is an New England institution despite its international presence and denials that its programming and personalities have a regional bias.  This is much like the Weather Channel not being Atlanta-centric.  This is not an indictment of the network, merely an observation that its employees reside in the nearby suburbs of Hartford.  Hartford is clearly New England.

Bristol was founded by Puritans from Massachusetts Bay in 1636 as one of the oldest towns in Connecticut.  Bristol became a major industrial area in the 19th Century and remains vibrant.  Otis Elevator has a testing tower in town and employs many residents, who drop the letter t in speech.  It has become a suburb of Hartford via Interstate 84.

The ad-lib references during Sportscenter to local landmarks and sports is inescapable, but it does not become obnoxious until the biases exhibited by former and present employees appear in reports.  When Peter Gammons worked for ESPN as an analyst on Baseball Tonight, his love for the Red Sox was never in question.  For the former professional and collegiate athletes their bias is often based on past employment, friendships, and investments.  This however does not explain the level of intensity that the network focuses upon the New England Patriots, the Yankees and the Sox.
How much of these bias are geographic remains unclear and will likely spark more needless debate.