College GameDay Feels Like Home Again for ESPN With Crowds, Production Crew Onsite After a season of heavy REMI workflows, the iconic traveling pregame show is back on the road By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Friday, September 10, 2021 - 1:00 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
If the past few months in the sports-television industry have reinforced anything, it's that sports are better with fans.
That point's obvious, but one would be hard pressed to find a sports-TV property more reliant on the energy of the crowd than ESPN's Saturday-morning staple College GameDay.
Last Saturday, College GameDay was in Charlotte, NC, for an early-season match between Georgia and Clemson. (Photo: Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images)
The iconic traveling pregame show has returned this season with a full pit of fans and the entire production and operations crew back onsite after a 2020 season when many of the familiar faces worked from their respective homes.
This weekend, in particular, marks a special milestone for the show: after successive Saturdays in Atlanta and Charlotte, GameDay returns to a college campus for the first time since the pandemic. On Saturday, the show makes a stop in Ames, IA, for the day's big interstate rivalry matchup between No. 10 Iowa and No. 9 Iowa State.
It's very exciting being able to work together again, says Judi Weiss, senior remote operations producer, ESPN, who is in her 11th season working on College GameDay. Last week [in Charlotte], to see the crowd and the activations and to have everyone excited was amazing. Our crew has always fed off the excitement of the fans, and having that back has given them a certain adrenalin and energy that you feel when you watch the show. It transcends itself into everything they do. It's hard not to get excited about something when everyone is excited around you.
WE CAN T WAIT TO BE IN AMES ON SATURDAY!
Come join us on Reiman Plaza starting at 9 AM ET @HawkeyeFootball | @CycloneFB pic.twitter.com/25NejCU2Md
College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) September 9, 2021
With all due respect to College GameDay's appearance in West Point for Army-Navy last December (where a limited number of bubbled cadets and midshipmen gave the show a jolt of atmosphere), the College GameDay that viewers know and love with the big crowds, loud cheers, and creative signs hasn't looked quite like this since the show visited the University of Minnesota toward the end of the 2019 season.
To be onsite, walk around campus, get the vibe, and feel the energy of the crowd: it's so important, says Drew Gallagher, coordinating producer, College GameDay, who has enjoyed a 20+-year career at ESPN. It helps us so much with the stories that we are covering and establishing a sense of place. We're thrilled to have our production crew back onsite.
Steadicam operator Randy French, a veteran of ESPN since 2008, shot College GameDay in Charlotte last Saturday. (Photo: Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images)
While the full return to site is the big headline, there are some new production elements for the 2021 campaign of College GameDay. The footprint sees the addition of a third stage, a Pizza Hut-sponsored shooting location outfitted with a new VERSA portable LED screen designed and built by ANC. It's interactive for on-air talent and will be used largely for breakdowns and analysis.
The show has also upgraded its aerial-camera collection, switching its cabled camera from a two-point to a four-point SupraCam system. The show is also expecting to use its drone more this year. ESPN deploys its own drone, which is piloted by FAA and Disney-certified pilot Dave Smith, known affectionately on the crew as 'Bama Dave.
In terms of lessons learned from the unique 2020 season, some projects that the crew was forced into a year ago will remain part of the crew's operational plans and called upon when necessary. For example, Gallagher says, the College GameDay team learned a lot from using video-conferencing platforms like Zoom for conducting interviews. Although he notes that there's a time and place for that method, it does offer more flexibility to bring a guest on when it's not possible to send a full-fledged TV-production kit.
The College GameDay crew rehearses prior to the show's Week 0 appearance in Atlanta. The set was outside Center Parc Stadium to celebrate the 2021 Cricket MEAC/SWAC Challenge Kickoff. (Photo: Scott Clarke/ESPN Images)
He notes a segment last season where the crew spoke with Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney while the team was going through walk-throughs at the team hotel prior to heading out to the stadium. The quality and the fact that it's down-and-dirty almost adds to the charm of the access of it. From challenges came opportunities.
Otherwise, it's all smiles for the College GameDay family, which includes the return to site of the producer/director tandem of Jim Gaiero and Rodney Perez, who will be leading the show from its longtime home in Game Creek Video's Maverick unit.
We're a group that needs to be around each other, says Gallagher. Spontaneity is such a big part of College GameDay, and so much of that comes from impromptu in-person moments, kicking ideas around in a production meeting face-to-face. It's just so great.
This Saturday's edition of College GameDay airs live from Ames, IA, beginning at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
College GameDay Feels Like Home Again for ESPN With Crowds, Production Crew Onsite After a season of heavy REMI workflows, the iconic traveling pregame show is back on the road By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
