Long before the Miami Hurricanes score their first touchdown during the team’s much-anticipated matchup against the Florida Gators Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium, the University of Miami will have already notched an important victory: achieving unparalleled national exposure when ESPN’s College GameDay airs live from the Lakeside Patio on the Coral Gables Campus.
“It’s very much like the exposure a university gets when its team plays on national television, the same type of positive brand push,” vice president and director of UM Athletics Dan Radakovich said of the wildly popular pregame show. “All of the elements of College GameDay, from the in-show features to the television breaks to the ambiance created around the stage and in some of the other things that are done within the show, highlight and continuously feature the University of Miami and our campus. So, from that perspective, it’s positive exposure for the institution—and a lot of fun for our students and the community.”
Saturday’s 9 a.m. to noon broadcast will mark the first time in nearly eight years that the traveling show, which sets up shop at college campuses for marquee matchups, will broadcast from the University.
The last GameDay aired live from the University on Nov. 11, 2017, for the Miami-Notre Dame game, a resounding 41-8 Hurricanes victory.
Rece Davis will host Saturday’s three-hour show and will be joined by analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, and Nick Saban. Legendary broadcaster Lee Corso departed the program after the Aug. 30 broadcast, following his retirement announcement.
With fan contests, a celebrity guest picker, and other fun elements, the show will create a lifetime of memories for students, said Radakovich.
“Students come to the University of Miami to get a great educational experience, but they also want to leave here with lifelong memories,” he said. “College GameDay is unique. Obviously, it hasn’t been here in eight years. So, we had a group of folks, a generation so to speak, that has not had the opportunity to experience it. The students who are on campus now will graduate, and years from now, as they get involved in alumni opportunities, they’ll be able to look back and talk about that day in September of 2025, when GameDay came a-calling.”
Excitement among the student body has been building to a crescendo ever since ESPN announced that GameDay would be coming to the Coral Gables Campus. The show traditionally picks its next location about a week out.
“I’ll definitely be there,” said Student Government president Ivana Liberatore. Hosting College GameDay, she said, means more than shining a spotlight on the University’s storied five-time national championship football program. “It’s a way to celebrate the energy and the passion our students bring to campus every day,” Liberatore said. “It will give us a national platform to showcase to the rest of the country what makes being a Cane so special.”
Category 5, an agency of Student Government focused on preserving and implementing traditions related to sports and spirit at the University, has been busy the past few days promoting the GameDay show and the Florida game, designating the matchup at Hard Rock Stadium as a White Out game.
“We’re just trying to continue to bring the noise and pack the Lakeside Patio and Hard Rock Stadium,” said senior David Kuper, chair of Category 5, who admits that he was in disbelief when he learned College GameDay was coming to the University of Miami.
“But ultimately, it all settled in,” Kuper said. “Our planning to help promote the event began that night after hearing the announcement. Our team opened a Google Doc and started brainstorming how we were going to promote the event throughout the week and integrate a White Out theme to show unity, to show power, to show that students can be difference makers as [head football] coach Cristobal has pointed out.”
Saturday’s GameDay show should also prove to be a boon for students interested in careers in sports journalism, giving them the opportunity to observe how a major sports network stages an event of such magnitude.
GameDay arrives on campus just as the University’s School of Communication has launched a new minor in sports media that is tailored to the needs of students, according to senior lecturer Erin Brown, a former sports journalist and producer for media entities such as ESPN, CBS Sports, and Fox Sports, who has helped design the new minor. “Students, for example, who want to be on a show like College GameDay can focus on the broadcast element within the minor,” she explained.
“And we’re encouraging students to get real-world experience,” Brown continued. “South Florida is arguably one of the best places in the world to practice sports journalism because of the plethora of professional teams and international events that come through here.”
Much like ESPN’s College GameDay, UMTV’s award-winning SportsDesk is already affording students real-world sports journalism experience. “It’s a terrific way for students to get involved in the production of a live sports broadcast,” said Ed Julbe, senior lecturer, who oversees the program. “It’s entirely student-run, and students fill the same roles industry professionals do in the real world—from producers to directors to video editors and technical directors, not to mention anchoring and reporting on all things Hurricanes sports.”
For the University’s athletics program, Saturday’s GameDay broadcast could also provide a boost for recruiting.
“It’ll be another positive reinforcement for potential student-athletes, certainly in football,” Radakovich said. “But the broadcast will also have a residual effect for our other sports as well.”
The 3-0 Hurricanes come into their matchup with the Gators ranked No. 4 in the nation.
Here’s a look at the history of the University on College GameDay:
By the Numbers
3 |
The most times the Miami Hurricanes have been on GameDay in a single season. This was first done in the 2001 season, when the program won its most recent national championship, and then matched in the 2002 season and again during the 2020 campaign. |
7-1 |
The Hurricanes home record in previous GameDay matchups. |
26 |
The number of times the Hurricanes have been featured on College GameDay. |
4 |
The number of times, including Saturday’s game, that the Hurricanes will face the Gators in College GameDay matchup. |
