Fox is mounting a challenge to ESPN’s stranglehold on college football viewers on Saturday mornings before kickoff. The network is putting together a pregame show of its own to take on the four-letter’s College GameDay.
According to the New York Post reporter Andrew Marchand, Fox is making a big play for college football audiences by assembling what’s been described as a “Mount Rushmore” of college football legends.
Fox has signed what it feels, as one source put it, is a “Mount Rushmore of college football over the last 15 years,” for its new, yet-to-be-named Saturday morning pregame show that will air on network TV.
Sources say Fox has hired former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer and one of the greatest running backs in the college game’s history, Reggie Bush, for its new team.
Also on Fox’s list is host Rob Stone, who will anchor the desk along with Matt Leinart and Brady Quinn. Leinart is a former Heisman-winning quarterback that had worked with Stone on FS1’s pregame show, while Quinn was in the booth broadcasting games before this season. One note about the unnamed Fox one is that while GameDay travels from college campus to campus each Saturday, Fox’s show will likely stay put in the studio.
“GameDay” is considered one of the great pregame shows of all time and is famous for its on-campus experiences.
Initially, Fox’s show will mostly emanate from its Los Angeles studios, but it will take its program on the road for a handful of games that will be showcased on Fox.
Whether viewers will shy away from GameDay for a Fox show with Urban Meyer and Reggie Bush is yet to be seen, but it seems that Fox is looking to replicate its MLB and NFL broadcast experiences rather than bring a GameDay-like show to the network.
