Costs to hold ESPN’s iconic College GameDay and unique pre-requisites revealed

College GameDay is one of the most unique shows in all of sports.

Every week during the college football season, a travelling band led by Pat McAfee and a talented production team travel far and wide across the United States to be in the thick of the action for ESPN’s chosen marquee matchup for that given week.

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With huge TV personalities including Kirk Herbstreit and McAfee fronting its pre-game coverage – three hours of it – tuning into the show is usually a must-see for football fans.

But with all the travelling comes additional costs as opposed to that of just being situated in the same studio all season long.

Just how much, though, hasn’t really been given much thought, up until now.

But David Covucci, the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of FOIAball, decided to investigate just how much goes into hosting a show like College GameDay.

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Through requesting, and obtaining, various documents including contracts, agreements and spec sheets from various schools around the country who have had the privilege of hosting ESPN’s team, Covucci has estimated the costs that schools pay.

It must be noted that the schools, including LSU, Oregon and Oklahoma, provided him data from the 2024 season.

The demands from ESPN’s production crew is a lengthy list, also, with the team needing adequate space for four staging semis, two production trucks, a generator truck and a backup generator truck – just in case.

They also require space for the official GameDay bus, as well as a satellite truck, and room – though not an official prerequisite – space for McAfee’s Prevost motor coach.

Unique, and oddly specific, requests

Their list of demands doesn’t stop there, though.

They reportedly also require up to 110 parking spaces, as well as exactly 3,660 gallons of water, as well as two fridges, two conference rooms – one which can accommodate up to 35 people – as well as dining space for 65 people.

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X @CollegeGameDay

The production crew also needs ample time to set up in the days leading up to the Saturday show, so they also ask for the host university to provide campus catering on the Friday night and Saturday morning.

But some members of the crew arrive as early as noon on the Wednesday that week.

According to the call sheet that Covucci obtained, on the day of the show itself, the call time for engineers and tech operations can begin from as early as 2:15AM when they’re out on the West Coast.

On the East Coast that is 5:15AM.

Once the show wraps up at 12:00PM EST, the crew almost immediately get to work to dismantle the set, and estimate to have completed the knockdown within a seven-hour window before hitting the road again.

As for how much all of that costs? Well, it appears to be nothing.

The universities simply welcome them in with open arms, except Cal it seems.

That’s because the Golden Bears were shown to have charged ESPN $4,500, citing that it was for “consideration for the grant of the License.”

It must be noted, however, that it was the first time that the Pac-12 Conference team had ever hosted ESPN’s show – and it was one of their most popular broadcasts to date.