Daily Cal: ESPN Gameday Shoot At Cal Not a Certainty

BY Ryan Gorcey

Despite widespread speculation that ESPN’s premier college football pre-game show, ESPN Gameday, is coming to Berkeley for the Sept. 1 season-opener next fall, the visit is not yet official.   On May 13, BearInsider.com, part of the Scout.com network, reported that the program was a lock to come to Berkeley for the Cal football team’s rematch against Tennessee, however nothing has been confirmed by Cal or by ESPN representatives.   The program, hosted by Chris Fowler and featuring analysts Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit, last covered the Bears in 2004, when Cal visited USC at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum a year after derailing the Trojans’ national title hopes in a triple-overtime win at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. The Gameday crew has never visited Cal in the show’s 20-year history.   Cal football spokesperson John Sudsbury said that Cal had been contacted by ESPN about the possibility of hosting the show, but nothing was finalized, much less where the program would be located on campus, which has been a favorite point of speculation for Bears fans.

“The only thing we know right now is that we’re in consideration for it,” Sudsbury said. “Nothing has been decided yet and nothing has been confirmed, even though it was on that one website (BearInsider.com). They just said that we’re definitely in the consideration.”   One reason for the speculation surrounding the possibility of Cal hosting the program is the lack of other big games being played on that day, as the next-most significant game will be between Notre Dame and Georgia Tech, scheduled to be broadcast by NBC. Other games being nationally broadcast are Kansas State at Auburn, Arizona at BYU, Virginia at Wyoming, New Mexico at UTEP and Baylor at TCU.  “I think we have the most appealing game for it,” Sudsbury said. “But, I don’t know what ESPN’s looking at.”  Nevertheless, at this point in the year, planning for next fall’s football season is not in any final form, according to ESPN Senior Media Relations Director, Rob Tobias, who could not confirm that Cal would be hosting the program.  “It’s unlikely that we’ve determined what sites we are going to visit in the fall just yet,” Tobias said. “I don’t think we’re even close to finalizing our schedule.”