How dominant is College GameDay as the best pregame show in sports television? Fox Sports 1 attempted to go head-to-head against College GameDay with their own Saturday morning pregame show, got beat 25-1 in ratings, and cancelled Fox College Saturday after a year. When it comes to who the best dynasty is in college football, the answer is not even close. It’s GameDay.
The mix of entertainment, analysis, and featured stories has seen GameDay jockey back and forth with Turner’s Inside the NBA for best studio show in sports. But the one edge that GameDay has over all its competitors is the unique, raucous atmosphere as the show travels from game to game throughout the season. The College GameDay road show has become a story in and of itself as fans of the sport pay close attention to the sites GameDay visits. It may sound crazy, but it’s true that the presence of Fowler, Herbstreit, Corso, Howard and company bring a big-game atmosphere wherever they go.
For the first weekend of the 2014 season, ESPN has announced the site for GameDay’s first visit. College GameDay will be on hand for defending champion Florida State’s first game against Oklahoma State, played at Cowboys Stadium.
That should come as no surprise. The game is the ABC Saturday primetime game for Week 1 and it features the reigning champs playing a Top 15 team at a neutral site. However, GameDay will not broadcast live from the stadium, but rather Sundance Square in Fort Worth. Hopefully the aesthetics are much better than the JerryWorld parking lot.
As far as on-campus possibilities go, GameDay could have chose Clemson at Georgia, or my personal favorite – Appalachain State at Michigan. However, this is the only real choice for the first week, especially knowing that GameDay will return to the site in January for the first ever College Football National Championship Game.
Comments are closed.