Sione For Prez

September 14th, 2017 at 11:56 AM ^

Will be cool for fans that now live in NYC and I'm sure they will do a big feature on the official team bars across the city but something seems off about Gameday being anywhere but campus. I don't like it for neutral site regular season games and I can't see myself liking it at Times Square.

ak47

September 14th, 2017 at 11:57 AM ^

How shitty is the week 4 football slate that this is what they are doing. No students and no game makes me think this will be pretty shitty.

1VaBlue1

September 14th, 2017 at 12:23 PM ^

I think it's pretty cool people from everywhere live in NYC, also.  But that doesn't mean that having Gameday hosted in a city that has absolutely zero college football affiliation makes any sense.  This will feel like one of those lame morning shows that go outside the studio so tourists walking by on the street can stop and cheer.

mGrowOld

September 14th, 2017 at 12:00 PM ^

And following GameDay's lead we can surely look forward to the following random location pre-game shows:

NBA on TNT - Live from Green Bay, Wisconsin

Fox NFL Sunday - Live from San Antonio, Texas

I guess the fact that nobody plays college footbal in NYC hasnt quite hit home yet.   Cant wait to see the signs though - that should be epic.

Ghost of Fritz…

September 14th, 2017 at 12:21 PM ^

move.

The other choices:  ND at MSU (E. Lansing); USC at Cal (Berkeley); UCLA at Stanford (Palo Alto); Penn State at Iowa (Iowa City): Miss State at Georgia (Athens); TCU at Okla State (Stillwater); Washington at Colorado (Boulder).

No really big games, but still some decent choices for Gameday. 

I wonder if this is part motivated by cost cutting at ESPN.  Cheaper to do it in Times Square (they already have their studio there) than truck the set and all the crew out to California or Colorado, etc.?

Iowa City or Palo Alto would have been the best from the available options.

club_med

September 14th, 2017 at 12:22 PM ^

I'd be surprised if its much, if any, cheaper to set up in Times Square. The logistics for sending a crew/set to a campus are obviously expensive, but the college itself rolls out the red carpet for that kind of TV interest and probably provides a lot of support.

In Times Square, I'd imagine the planning, permitting and costs associated with security and set up/break down (can't just park the trucks wherever) have to make that extremely expensive.

Ghost of Fritz…

September 14th, 2017 at 1:23 PM ^

Times Square hosts losts of live TV things throughout the year.  Not really a logistically complex thing for Times Square.  Road closures are not needed B/C Times Square now has large pedestrian only plaza areas that will be used.  And there are not a lot of people there at 9 a.m.-noon on Saturdays anyway. 

I doubt that the policing and crowd control/event cost is that high for a few hours on a Saturday morning in Times Square with no road closures.  More than Iowa City, but not that much more to be decisive.

The real cost is moving the whole production around the nation.  They already have a permanent studio in NYC, so maybe that is a cost savings.

The cost of moving equipment and personnel probably depends on where the equipment trucks are located.  If they are in Bristol, CT, getting that stuff out to Palo Alto (for example) for UCLA at Stanford would be expensive/complex.   

OTOH it is possible that the Gameday set/equipment trucks are stored somewhere else in the U.S. that is more centrally located, or even that they will just be where ever Gameday was the week before.

Perkis-Size Me

September 14th, 2017 at 12:39 PM ^

I'd argue that it's more expensive (maybe exponentially more) to set up in Times Square, the most crowded place in one of the biggest cities in the world, than driving out to Iowa or Colorado and set up on a big expansive university space. Everything is at a premium X 10 in NYC because there's only so much space. 

If ESPN was concerned about cutting costs, they wouldn't have done Gameday twice in two days to open the season

stephenrjking

September 14th, 2017 at 12:16 PM ^

Not sure what the angle is here. I mean, I guess it's good to think outside of the box for weeks when nothing is going on, and this is a weekend when nothing is really moving the needle. But NYC? College football is irrelevant there. It's not like the city is going to get all excited that a tv network is actually broadcasting from their own city ("Wow! We might see NEW YORK CITY on TELEVISION! How novel!"). No significant football activities take place there. 

It's pointless. I guess this is better than just doing the pregame in studio, and they've done the 1-AA thing at NDSU before, and stuff, but this seems silly. 

Go to a D-2 or D-3 school (Northwest Missouri State! Mount Union!) or go to the location of the first football game between Princeton and Rutgers or go to Houston and promote relief efforts. 

1VaBlue1

September 14th, 2017 at 12:30 PM ^

They went to James Madison late in the season last year for a D-2 game, and the campus was rocking!  I thought that was perfect, because JMU and Richmond played a huge game in terms of the D-2 playoffs (which JMU eventually won, beating NDSU).  It also meant a lot of money for both schools.  Its unfortunate that ESPN decided to go to a place that cares not about CFB simply because it thinks NYC is a happening place...

Ghost of Fritz…

September 14th, 2017 at 1:33 PM ^

They would get a bigger crowd for Gameday on a college campus than they will get in Times Square. 

College students on the campus will show up in bigger numbers at 9 a.m. Saturday morning than alumni in NYC who have to take the train to Times Square from Brooklyn , Queens, etc.  Social scene in NYC  on Friday night ends at 4 a.m.   When do bars in Iowa City close?

 

NittanyFan

September 14th, 2017 at 1:17 PM ^

2-time D-2 National Champions --- that's pretty good!  They're at home on the 23rd also.  And there's really no logistical problems getting Kirk to the Saturday night game.  45 minute drive south to St Joseph, MO and a 220 mile flight to Iowa City.  Easy as can be.  Just getting from Times Square to Teterboro (no less the 900 mile flight) is going to be more difficult.

Everything lined up for a choice like that.  Boo to ESPN for the very "corporate" decision.

Harbaugh's Lef…

September 14th, 2017 at 3:27 PM ^

True... but not entirely. If you're from NYC or grow up in the suburbs, you don't care much about college football because there are no teams in the area, at all. Though, as people get older, go to school, and either come back or move here entirely, it changes the story. 

Bars, every sports bar is packed on Saturdays because you have bars either completely dedicated to specific schools or to college football as a whole.