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As college football fans, saying 2020 has been a unique year in our sport is a massive understatement. Nearly every fabric of the game has been impacted in one way or another, even when it comes to ESPN’s “College Gameday”.
The show is typically set up next to a stadium, with thousands of screaming fans behind the set. The situation in 2020 has prompted the show to get creative with its setup, and they certainly did so last Saturday by broadcasting live from The Masters at Augusta National.
According to ESPN’s Bill Hofmeier, the college football/golf mashup actually turned out to be the highest-rated edition of “College Gameday” this season.
Per @ESPNFlora: @CollegeGameday at @TheMasters averaged 1.8M viewers Saturday during the final 2 hrs on ESPN … the most-viewed telecast from 10a-12p this year. The audience was also +31% over what the two-hour block has averaged in 2020. Congrats to @ReceDavis and team. pic.twitter.com/9jjyVOCJC3
— bill hofheimer (@bhofheimer_espn) November 17, 2020
The show was very well done, with golf legend Jack Nicklaus joining the show as the guest picker, and the whole crew even picking their Masters winners to go with their usual college football picks at the end of the show.
Of course, The Masters being pushed to November due to COVID-19 is what made this possible. But who knows, maybe 2020 will prompt “College Gameday” to continue seeking creative places to broadcast from moving forward.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Lucas is a digital reporter for 104.5 The Zone in Nashville, and a high school play-by-play broadcaster. Lucas has been covering SEC football for Saturday Down South since 2018.
