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Why ESPN’s College Gameday Continues To Work

Jason Barrett

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In 1987, a gallon of gas cost 89 cents and The Bangles’ “Walk Like an Egyptian” finished at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

It also was the year ESPN debuted a college football pregame show. It starred Tim Brando, Beano Cook and Lee Corso, and it was called “College GameDay.”

Much has changed in 28 years,but the show has only grown. What started as just your typical pregame studio show has become an ingrained part of the college football culture – and a show that has widely been recognized as one of the best pregame programs in all of sports.

Through the first five weeks of the 2015 season, College GameDay was averaging a record 1.992 million viewers on TV and an additional 41,000 average minute impressions on the WatchESPN streaming app. That’s an all-time high for the show since it moved to a three-hour format in 2013, according to ESPN.

But it hasn’t just been one thing that has caused College GameDay’s popularity to soar. If you ask ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit – who is part of the show’s current cast along with Rece Davis, Desmond Howard and Corso – it’s a mix of things.

One of those reasons, Herbstreit said, is the growing popularity of football as a whole.

“I just feel like the last eight or nine years, we’ve been in a really good spot as far as the sport has grown immensely,” Herbstreit said Wednesday during a call to promote Allstate’s It’s Good Sweepstakes. “I think as the NFL has become kind of ‘the’ sport in our country, college football has gone along for the ride. So I think football – major college football and the NFL – kind of separated themselves from everything else based on attendance and ratings and things like that.”

Then there’s the actual content of the show, ranging from Corso’s weekly mascot headgear pick (which he has done more than 250 times since 1996) to straight news, analysis and feature stories.

“You might be crying one minute and laughing the next,” said Herbstreit, who has been on the GameDay set since 1996. “It’s really a mix of emotions when you watching a show of ours.”

To read the rest of the article visit Newsday where it was originally published

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Final ‘Good Morning Football’ Episode from New York Studio Airs Before Hiatus, Move to LA

After today, ‘Good Morning Football’ will take a brief hiatus, then move to LA. But outside of host Jamie Erdahl, who else will join the show on the West Coast?

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Today marks the last Good Morning Football episode to air from its New York studios on NFL Network. After today, the show will take a brief hiatus, then move across the country to Los Angeles. But which of the shows beloved cast members will move along with it?

We already know host Jamie Erdahl will be there once she gives birth to her child. The newest GMFB show member gave an emotional send-off to the show’s New York studios before announcing she was headed for maternity leave and would see everyone in LA.

Host Kyle Brandt delivered this message late last night, saying that viewers should tune in to he and his colleagues and that “he has a lot to say.”

Earlier this week, however, host Peter Schrager delivered his own goodbye message — one that may sound like a man who’s not ready to move his family across the country at a moment’s notice:

However, no hosts outside of Erdahl have given confirmation that they’re either staying or going.

The NFL’s move to take the show from New York to Los Angeles has been widely criticized by fans and media members alike. Bill Simmons wondered if the move wouldn’t spell just the end of GMFB but the NFL Network as a whole. It has some wondering if this is the end of football’s best show.

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ESPN Coverage of Men’s NIT Tournament Quarterfinals Up 33% vs. 2023

Viewership of the Men’s NIT Quarterfinals on ESPN were up 33 percent compared to last year and featured two games that averaged over one million viewers.

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Even the NIT is riding the recent hot streak of live sports viewership numbers. According to data provided by ESPN, the 2024 NIT Quarterfinals are up 33 percent compared to last year’s tournament. Perhaps more surprisingly, two NIT quarterfinal games topped one million viewers.

The network’s Georgia/Ohio State matchup averaged 1.03 million viewers, while the Cincinnati/Indiana State contest averaged 1.02 million viewers. These two games were the most-watched NIT games since 2017 — including title games. Both Georgia and Ohio State have rabid fanbases, while many thought Indiana State was unjustly left out of the March Madness tournament, which could be a reason why viewers tuned in.

Much of the focus this season has been on the women’s game, thanks to Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks, led by Dawn Staley. ESPN just had its most-watched women’s college basketball season since 2008-09 because of the increased interest in the women’s game. The men’s game, however, hasn’t been heralded as much this season for whatever reason, mostly because numbers seem to be holding steady compared to previous years. However, if the NIT is posting viewership wins, that should bode well for the NCAA Tournament’s incoming viewership totals.

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Report: NFL to Put Christmas Day Doubleheader Up For Bids

Bidding is expected to start at $50 million among the current NFL media partners but some think the games could sell for $75 million to $100 million apiece.

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The NFL will reportedly put its Christmas Day games up for auction, allowing its current media partners to bid for the games. Now, it’s up to CBS, FOX, ESPN, NBC, and Prime Video to pay up for rights to one of these two marquee games.

According to Front Office Sports Michael McCarthy, preference will be given to linear networks, so Prime Video and Peacock may sit this one out. Bidding is expected to start at $50 million but McCarthy and his sources expect that number to rise. John Kosner, the former ESPN executive, thinks the new Christmas Day games could sell for $75 million to $100 million apiece.

The NFL announced a Wednesday Christmas Day doubleheader during its annual league meetings. The league originally said it wouldn’t force games on Christmas Day if the holiday fell on an odd day of the week, though as the NFL continues to put games on days outside of Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, and sometimes Saturdays, we’re running out of days that don’t feature NFL football.

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