President Donald Trump is not anticipated to make an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay this Saturday from Knoxville, despite being in attendance for the high-profile matchup between Texas and Tennessee, an ESPN source confirms to Awful Announcing.
Trump, however, will likely be shown during the broadcast, as is customary when networks have VIPs in attendance. The president is typically shown on television when he attends sporting events, regardless of which network is airing the telecast.
Speculation about Trump’s potential participation in this weekend’s ESPN programming began to circulate yesterday when Clay Travis, the founder of OutKick, who recently launched a new outlet called Sport & State, reported the president would attend Saturday’s game. College GameDay was already scheduled to be on location, and the show has covered a piece of legislation endorsed by President Trump, the Protect College Sports Act, in recent weeks, even having Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on set for an interview about the bill.
Those factors, and Trump’s typical desire to be front-and-center, led many to believe he could be featured on the show.
That said, Trump could still find his way onto a college football pregame show this weekend. The aforementioned Travis will be on-site in Knoxville despite Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff emanating from Columbus for Illinois-Ohio State. Given that Travis broke the news that Trump would attend the game, and his history of interviewing the president in the past, it is certainly possible that Big Noon Kickoff could land an interview with Trump. Fox has not responded to an Awful Announcing request for comment.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.