Rece Davis weighs in on College GameDay visiting Big Ten games after television deal

A longstanding relationship between ESPN and the Big Ten is over, with the conference signing broadcast rights elsewhere. CBS, Fox, and NBC will now televise marquee Big Ten matchups on a weekly basis, leaving ESPN with the SEC.

Even through all of this realignment, College Gameday has been the premier pregame show in college football, visiting the biggest game of the week. When questioned as to whether or not the new deal would jeopardize a conference matchup being selected, host Rece Davis dismissed the idea.

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Davis acknowledged he doesn’t make the final decision in the process but said ESPN does consult with the crew. He said following the biggest storyline or game of the week is the show’s top priority. If the Big Ten does so, College Gameday will be there.

“Our intention is to continue on the model that built GameDay, which is be at the biggest story every week, whether that’s the Big Ten, SEC, ACC wherever,” Davis said via the Paul Finebaum Show. “I don’t see us avoiding the Big Ten.”

Big Ten frequent host for College Gameday during 2021 season

During the 2021 regular season, College Gameday visits four of the Big Ten’s campuses. If you include Wisconsin facing Notre Dame in Chicago, five different weekends involved the Big Ten. Compared to the SEC, only three schools hosted the pregame show. However, the opening weekend for Georgia against Clemson saw Davis and the gang in Charlotte, plus the SEC Championship game.

ESPN will take Gameday to Colombus to kick off the 2022 regular season when Ohio State plays host to Notre Dame. Of course, the schedule is not predetermined and decisions will be made on a weekly basis. There will be plenty of top matchups during the year to visit one of the midwest schools.

Fox has recently begun running their own pregame show, with Big Noon Kickoff being a similar style to College Gameday. The network will also get first rights to selecting Big Ten games, meaning they will have all of the access. Being in the same location has not been an issue thus far for the two programs but network and conference rivalries are becoming a real thing.