How crazy is it that the college football schedule lined up to provide all of us with Florida vs. Miami in Orlando a week before the normal start of the season, ESPN has the broadcast & parent company Disney is like 30 minutes down the road and College GameDay will just happen to be at Disney World for the opener that has zero competition from other networks?
So weird, right? No way ESPN/Disney would develop all of this to sell advertising and then create corporate synergy that includes Lee Corso (just turned 84 last week) donning Mickey ears for the promo video. Zero chance.
Look, I don’t have a dog in the fight as far as how the college football schedule is created and is getting off to an earlier start by the season. Content is content and I’m all for it, but this is just straight up sad for College GameDay, a product that has been in an influencing decline for the last couple years — not talking about the TV ratings, which are probably still pretty good.
I’m talking about a decline in people actually caring about the signs, about Corso’s mascot choice, about what David Pollack has to say, etc. I knew the decline was in full effect when we stopped tracking GameDay signs here on BC. The readers spoke with clicks and likes on social posts — their level of caring was at an all-time low last season.
And now ESPN has pretty much taken the college right out of GameDay for a shameless advertisement for its Magic Kingdom. Corso’s going to put on a Mickey head. The mascots are going to be on stage. Disney will bring in one of its BBQ chefs to cook food. Tom Rinaldi will pump out a tear-jerker that will have a Disney twist, probably something where a kid ends up with an all-expenses paid trip to the park.
Did I mention that signs won’t be allowed in and that you’ll have to pay normal park prices to even see the show?
IMPORTANT INFORMATION for fans interested in attending @CollegeGameDay at Magic Kingdom on Aug. 24: pic.twitter.com/i6JqFi45VW
— CampingWorldKickoff (@CWKickoff) August 13, 2019
What’s it going to cost you to see College GameDay at Disney World? $133.13 will get you through the gates. It’s a premium price day at the Magic Kingdom.
Did I mention that ESPN is co-owner of this Camping World Kickoff game? That’s right, we’ve been on a path where ESPN creates bowl games at the beginning of the season for some time like the whole Atlanta Chick fil A kickoff game.
Yeah, because kids really tune in to see GameDay Disney-fied more than it already was:
.@CollegeGameDay will have a magical start to the college football season ✨
The show will be live from Magic Kingdom at @WaltDisneyWorld for Week 0. pic.twitter.com/iguwwATxwg
— ESPN (@espn) August 13, 2019
Notice how in the press release it says visitors may catch a glimpse of the show. GLIMPSE. It’s going to be at the train station at the front of the park. Let’s face it, you’re not going to see much of the show if you see any of the show. You’re wasting time if you go to see the show. Now we get to see how ESPN figures out a way to get the Washington State flag into the park. They’ll probably plant a few fans and have one of them hold the flag.
Walt Disney World 4-6-0 in front of Mainstreet USA Station pic.twitter.com/xQZKNBRBiA
— Martin (@Orett_) June 5, 2017
GameDay Sign of the Year pic.twitter.com/IRaFx9U42N
— Busted Coverage (@bustedcoverage) July 19, 2018
