MegaCast returning for College Football Playoff Semifinals

ESPN’s acclaimed MegaCast is returning for the network’s coverage of the College Football Playoff semifinals.

On Tuesday, the network announced that both semifinals, the Michigan-Alabama Rose Bowl and the Washington-Texas Sugar Bowl, would be getting ten broadcasts each on New Year’s Day.

For both games, ESPN will air the traditional game broadcast and ESPN2 has the Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show broadcast. McAfee and the cast from his show (AJ Hawk, Darius Butler, Anthony DiGuilio, Connor Campbell, Ty Schmit) will be on-site at the Rose Bowl. For the Sugar Bowl, Cole Cubelic, Harry Douglas, Sam Acho, and Colt McCoy will be the featured personalities.

ESPNU will air the traditional Command Center broadcast and ESPNEWS has the SkyCast. For those unfamiliar, the Command Center broadcast features live stats and “up to four different vantage points at any one time,” while the SkyCast shows the game “from above the action and behind the offense on most plays.” The All-22 broadcast returns to the ESPN app, featuring the ESPN Radio call and “a vantage point high above the field of play.”

ESPN Deportes airs the Spanish-language broadcast for both games. The game is also available on ESPN Radio in the ESPN app, among other live radio apps. The Hometown Audio feed for all four teams returns in the ESPN app, with the Alabama and Texas calls also airing on SEC Network and Longhorn Network, respectively. Finally, the ESPN app will air halftime marching band performances using the All-22 camera angle.

As for the New Year’s Six, all four games (Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, Cotton Bowl Classic, and Fiesta Bowl) will have the Command Center and SkyCast options available on the ESPN app. ESPNU simulcasts the Command Center broadcast for the Fiesta Bowl and ACC Network simulcasts the Command Center broadcast for the Orange Bowl.

The Rose Bowl Semifinal will be called by Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Holly Rowe, and Laura Rutledge, while the Sugar Bowl Semifinal will be called by Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy, Molly McGrath, and Katie George. On ESPN Radio, the Rose Bowl is called by Joe Tessitore, Dusty Dvoracek, and Quint Kessenich, while Marc Kestecher, Kelly Stouffer, and Ian Fitzsimmons have the Sugar Bowl. Eduardo Valera and Pablo Viruega have the ESPN Deportes call of the Rose Bowl, and Ciro Procuna and Ramiro Pruneda have the Spanish-language call of the Sugar Bowl.

As for the Hometown Radio broadcasts, Doug Karsch, Jon Jansen, and Jason Avant will be on the Michigan feed and Chris Stewart, Tyler Watts, and Christian Miller will be on the Alabama feed. The Washington feed will be called by Tony Castricone, Cameron Cleeland, and Elise Woodward and the Texas feed will be called by Craig Way, Roger Wallace, and Will Matthews.

While these plans are all well and good, we’re hoping the critically lauded Film Room broadcast returns next month for the National Championship after going missing last season. It’s long been a highlight of ESPN’s bulky MegaCast coverage, and we’d love to see it make a comeback.

[ESPN]