When ESPN announced in October that “College Gameday” was headed to Augusta National for the Masters, more than a few eyes rolled.
The network’s beloved college football preview show has embedded at dozens of venues over the years, but few locations have fit the show’s rollicking ethos less than Augusta. For years, “Gameday” has not just existed, but thrived on the fine line between undergraduate debauchery and buttoned-up sports television. It is what has made the show among the most celebrated at ESPN, and is what makes students (in pre-pandemic times) wake up in the middle of the night to wait in line for the chance to see.
Even in recent years, as “Gameday” has experimented with atypical venues, the selections seemed to follow a common theme. The U.S.S. San Diego and the middle of Times Square might sound different, but they’re both locations that exude energy and excitement. Augusta National certainly exudes energy, but the kind of energy that makes you want to crawl up on your couch for a light afternoon nap.
It’s not exactly the sort of place that leaves you clamoring for your college days, but as “Gameday” host Rece Davis explained, that might not be a bad thing. With no fans permitted for any taping this year, there’s perhaps no better time for the show to head to the Masters than right now.
“Augusta will be very natural for us now,” Davis said. “You know, a hush over the crowd, we will be in our element in that regard. There’s certain iconic moments on a sports calendar that you’re either lucky enough to go to in person or watch and the Masters, to me, is in that stratosphere.”
For Davis and the “Gameday” crew, their biggest concern for the Masters wasn’t in their capacity to do the show, it was in their capacity to do the show without disturbing Augusta’s carefully choreographed presentation.
“Now we’re going to do our show, and that’s what the people that Augusta National wants us to do, they want us to do the show from there,” Davis said. “It was one of the first questions when we first started talking about it. I said, are we going to have to — not that we really a bunch of yellers and screamers anyway — but are we going to have to manage our volume level and our tone during discussions and we are far enough removed so that we can speak as we normally would?”
Ultimately, the “Gameday” crew believes they need not worry about interfering with the players on the course. Augusta and ESPN agreed on a set overlooking the par-3 course — a safe distance from the action. Even if Davis and co. decide to become yellers and screamers, they’ll be able to do their show.
But that’s not to say their show won’t be affected by its setting. “Gameday” is built on the ebb-and-flow between its constants (the talent) and its variables (the setting). Augusta National doesn’t allow many newcomers with cameras through the door (this year, they’re celebrating their 65th anniversary on CBS), a fact “Gameday” plans to use to its advantage. Expect some golf talk, some golfers talking football, and yes, even some Masters-themed football helmets.
The show anticipates it will lean on Tom Rinaldi and Gene Wojciechowski for their golf knowledge. The pair of analysts are seasoned golf voices who assisted on ESPN’s PGA Championship coverage in August.
Yes, it’s a rollicking college football show in golf’s most austere setting, but there’s a common thread between the two: reverence.
“It’s one of the cathedrals of sport, it’s a place that is synonymous with excellence and tradition and you want to go in there and be extraordinarily respectful of that venue,” Davis said. “I’ve hosted ‘College GameDay’ basketball for a number of years and I’ve done numerous shows at the Rose Bowl. When you go to places like Allen Fieldhouse at Kansas in basketball and the Rose Bowl for football or any of the great stadiums, Notre Dame Stadium where we were last week, you start putting into context where things are in the realm of the great cathedrals of sport and there’s a certain reverence that goes along with that.”
