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Broadcast Details for Tonight’s ESPN MegaCast

Jason Barrett

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Tonight’s ESPN MegaCast presentation of the College Football Playoff National Championship game between Georgia and Alabama will provide 20 different productions. Last year’s national championship game had 14 feeds, the first year ESPN used the MegaCast for college football was 2014 where they offered eight simulcasts.

ESPN and ABC will present the traditional broadcast with play-by-play announcer Chris Fowler and analyst Kirk Herbstreit. Tom Rinaldi will be reporting on Alabama, Maria Taylor is covering Georgia and rules expert Dave Cutaia will be available in the booth as needed.  The ESPN feed will be available in 179 countries.

ESPN Voices, a simulcast of non-college football analysts watching the game together launched in 2015. This year it returns with five separate feeds, each one will be simultaneously shown on ESPNU in an NFL RedZone fashion.

According to ESPN Media Zone the five ESPN Voices shows are:

  • The Dan Le Batard Show: Dan Le Batard and Stugotz will be joined by their normal cast of their radio program, broadcasting live from their radio studio, inside the Clevelander hotel
  • SportsCenter: ESPN personalities and guests from SportsCenter including Scott Van Pelt, who will be pulling double-duty as he will be simultaneously preparing for his own SportsCenter, which will air following the game
  • NFL Live: Wendi Nix will host and be joined by former LSU safety Ryan Clark, Boston College quarterback Tim Hasselbeck and Pitt safety Louis Riddick from their traditional studio in Bristol, Conn.
  • ESPN at LA Live: Rachel Nichols, along with Amin Elhassan, LZ Granderson, and Anita Marks will be at ESPN’s Los Angeles based studios
  • The Cool Room-NYC: A number of ESPN personalities, to be announced at a later date, will watch the game from the ABC Times Square studios in New York

Viewers interested in one specific Voices feed will be able to select it on ESPN3 or via the ESPN app.

ESPN2 will show The Homers Telecast, with former Alabama safety Landon Collins and past Georgia Quarterback Aaron Murray providing analysis of the championship game. The Coaches Film Room show will include Kevin Sumlin, Pat Fitzgerald and Mike Bobo among others on ESPN News.

Sounds of the Game on ESPN Classic, removes the commentators and gives viewers the feel of sitting inside the stadium. The Command Center is a split-screen simulcast on ESPN Classic, providing the audience with the main ESPN camera angle, the SkyCam view and camera feeds dedicated to both head coaches.

Paul Finebaum will be live on ESPN’s SEC Network with analysts Gene Chizik and Greg McElroy. The group with provide analysis and take phone calls from the audience while watching the game live.

In all, when including ESPN Deportes, ESPN radio and each different feed, the network is offering 20 unique options for consumers of this years College Football Playoff National Championship game.

Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.

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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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Good Morning Football

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.”

As the show ended today, Brandt said, “I am not saying goodbye to any of you…Candidly, I have a lot of questions myself. Here’s what I know: I personally will be intensely involved in Good Morning Football moving forward. And I want to spend the rest of my career with the NFL. And Good Morning Football is not ending, it is expanding. And it’s exciting because it’s a bigger show and it’s more show…It’s all in and it’s all happening and yes, we will be covering the draft. GMFB is leaving home for college…it’s time to evolve. And we are flattered that you are wondering and maybe worried about what’s coming next with the show…I am very proud of what we have built here…it has been a dream job and I know we are going to make a fantastic show from Los Angeles…I’ll see you this summer.”

Earlier this week 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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