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Kirk Herbstreit offers update on plans for ESPN’s College GameDay
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The 2020 college football season is not going to look like its usual self. ESPN’s College GameDay, the network’s popular pregame show, is no exception.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, College GameDay won’t be operating in typical fashion. While it’s still unclear whether or not the program will be visiting campuses across the country for the biggest games of the season this fall, it’s almost certain there will be no fans in the background, clustered together and cheering on their favorite team.
So, what does 2020 hold for College GameDay? Longtime analyst Kirk Herbstreit provided a little insight on what the plans could be for the pregame show this fall.
“I was on a call this morning, for that, everything is just tentative, but we’re really doing everything we can, or at least our bosses are, to try to give the fans the closest thing that we can get them to what you’d expect from GameDay — which means trying to put it on the road,” Herbstreit told Nashville’s 104.5 The Zone. “I don’t think they’re going to have fans, obviously at GameDay. We’re going to try to have some fun with, kind of like what you see with the NBA, some of the virtual stuff.
“You know, if we’re talking about Clemson-Florida State, maybe have fans from Clemson and Florida State on monitors where they’re going crazy – kind of cheering on their team.”
College GameDay will have limited options if it does choose to travel this fall. Four conferences — B1G, Pac-12, MAC and Mountain West — have already opted out of a fall season. There are a limited number of nonconference games, and big-time matchups won’t really begin until late September.
No final plans are in place just yet, but GameDay is going to have to get creative.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB