AMERICAN SPORTS BROADCASTING giant ESPN will ship up to Dublin next year to broadcast its first-ever College GameDay programme from outside of the United States.
The network’s college football season curtain-raiser between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Navy Midshipmen will take place at the Aviva Stadium on 29 August.
The 11-time Emmy Award-winning pre-game show, in association with Aer Lingus and Tourism Ireland, will set the scene for the fixture in the Irish capital.
“College GameDay has built its legacy travelling from city to city, campus to campus, showcasing the unmatched passion of college football fans and the pageantry surrounding the game,” said ESPN senior vice president of production, Lee Fitting.
The Notre Dame-Navy rivalry serves as the perfect backdrop for College GameDay’s inaugural international appearance. We look forward to giving the great fans of Ireland and the thousands of Americans travelling to Dublin an unforgettable experience.
College GameDay Goes to Ireland from ESPNFrontRow on Vimeo.
To date, College GameDay has staged 372 roadshows from 86 cities within the United States. Notre Dame was the first institution to host the live event on 13 November 1993, and the Indiana-based university’s fans welcomed it with such enthusiasm that a college football tradition was born.
The ESPN show has traveled to 72 different colleges and universities, with its undetermined weekly destination being one of the college game’s key storylines each week.
College Gameday’s accolades also extend to its commentators. Analyst Kirk Herbstreit, who began on the show in 1996, was honoured with the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Studio Analyst across all sports this past year – the former Ohio State quarterback’s third such award for his work on the show having won it back to back in 2010 and 2011.
Rece Davis, who is in his fifth season hosting the show, was nominated in the Outstanding Studio Host category. Lee Corso, who coached at Navy from 1966-68, has been part of the program since it began in 1987. His legendary headgear selection, which concludes the show each week, has become part of college football folklore.
Murray Kinsella joins Sean Farrell and Gavan Casey from Japan to give his blunt assessment of Ireland’s performance against Russia
