College GameDay Is Coming to the Temple Game This Weekend
College GameDay is coming to Philadelphia this weekend after all.
We're coming to Philly! See you Saturday, @Temple_FB and @NDFootball. pic.twitter.com/g0EVhjJMAn
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 26, 2015
GameDay will broadcast from Independence Mall.
Late last week, multiple reports said College GameDay would be coming to Philadelphia for the Notre Dame-Temple game on Saturday night. Mike Missanelli of 97.5 The Fanatic (and Philadelphia magazine!) reported ESPN was looking at Independence Mall, while the Philadelphia Business Journal said ESPN was thinking of Xfinity Live!
It seemed like we should know by the weekend. But last night, GameDay delayed its announcement.
Decision tomorrow. Sleeping on it.
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 26, 2015
The Inquirer’s Marc Narducci tweeted that an ESPN person told him he couldn’t remember a GameDay decision coming down to Saturday. He wrote in today’s paper that ESPN is interested in broadcasting from Independence Mall, but setting that up is complicated because it’s a national park.
When GameDay came to Franklin Field for Harvard-Penn in 2002, the decision was essentially made before the previous week’s games: A sports information staffer said during the game in the press box that if the two teams won that weekend and stayed undefeated in the league, GameDay was headed to Philly. (I was a Daily Pennsylvanian sports editor at the time; I remember media communications staffers rushing to get a Penn helmet to FedEx to ESPN.)
Of course, that was before the Internet and social media. This week’s GameDay broadcast was at James Madison University, partially as a result of a social media campaign by students. What better way to drum up more interest in the show than by giving fans of Temple another day to tell ESPN to go to Saturday’s game?
The other contender for this weekend’s GameDay was Pullman, Washington, where Washington State plays. Fans of the Cougars might have done a better job of telling ESPN to bring the show to their city than Temple fans are, but it didn’t matter: Temple is the choice.
Leading on? Latest site decision I've ever been a part of. WSU fans were awesome and classy. They won social media. https://t.co/cmVMKAaPx6
— Keri Potts (@MsPotts_ATL) October 26, 2015
The Owls are 7-0, the best start in program history, and are ranked No. 21 in the country in the Associated Press poll after a 24-14 win over East Carolina on Thursday. Notre Dame is 6-1 and ranked No. 9.
Follow @dhm on Twitter.
