In a suprising accurate description fowler tells us what we all suspected on the game day location(its a free insider article so i posted the part explaing it here) http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/insider/columns/story?columnist=fowler_chris&id=2588686 This is why I believe an explanation is needed for why GameDay won't be in Auburn for LSU's visit this Saturday. For 13 seasons, the locations of the GameDay road shows have been editorial decisions based on the college football landscape. The basic principle was to (almost) always come from the site of the "biggest game," or occasionally, "the best story." Several times, we have visited the edge of the radar screen to pay tribute to the Mid American Conference's rise (at Bowling Green), the service academies (Air Force and West Point) or the tradition of the Bayou Classic. Now, the philosophy has been rethought by upper management. For the first time, the competitive landscape of football programming is a frequent consideration. Serving the needs of ABC's new prime-time package of games is often a priority. The decision on GameDay's site is less a clear-cut "best game" philosophy now and is more complicated, made on a landscape where terms like "synergy" and "branding" live. Please know this: Lee, Kirk and I have no say in decisions on GameDay's location. But as host of the show for 17 years, I am mainly concerned with the show's specific legacy, not the global college football landscape. The first two weeks of the season were no-brainers. It made sense to follow Notre Dame to Georgia Tech and sit ringside for the first 1-vs.-2 regular-season game in 10 years last week in Austin. This week, the decision was made to come from the Los Angeles Coliseum, where ABC will be set up. Executive vice president Norby Williamson asked me to relay his reasoning: Nebraska and USC, both visible programs with storied pasts, are colliding for the first time in 35 years, and this might be one of the few chances to showcase a Pac-10 location, keeping the show regionally balanced. The SEC should feature a lot more big ones in the coming months. This is important: Williamson said fans still can expect to see GameDay return to the SEC or to Notre Dame for games televised on CBS and NBC. That's a relief to me. LSU's visits to Florida and Tennessee loom large, as does Auburn's trip to the Swamp. Georgia versus the winner of the Vols-Gators clash will be huge. Any of those games could carry national title weight. So, who knows? I am hopeful. But just in case we don't make it there quite as often, I would truly miss broadcasting from Gainesville, Knoxville, Athens, Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Baton Rouge and Columbia. SEC campuses have consistently provided the most passionate, colorful and, uh … "spirit"-ed backdrops for the show. Hands down. No other conference is close. Even if we don't visit you as much, please don't stop visiting us Saturday mornings. We will continue to give teams from America's strongest football conference, and the Fighting Irish, their due any way we can.
First off, I am sort of amazed that 'upper management' let him post this blunt article. But I agree with Blackjack's point, once everyone realizes that the focus has changed from a show for passionate college football fans to a promotional network vehicle the interest will die.
Neither was Herbstreit who also publicly commented on it. He said "We expected to be in Auburn". I bet they back off this policy soon. They are already getting criticism for subjectively driving the polls and if they openly neglect the SEC and Notre Dame, it will kill their credibility.
lets see how they do this. with herbie in the ABC booth and the only real "football" guy(say what you want about his opinions) how do they expect to not go to the ABC game? he does seem worried about his apparent pride and joy. to bad the higher ups and $$$ threw integrity out the window a few years ago. like it usually does with everything these days.
Since Insider is free this weekend, I'll start posting stuff (excerpts), like this idiotic piece from Fowler's column: Yeah, focus on LSU "scares" (which were still wins, last time I checked) because Auburn under Tubs "gets things going" in September...execpt when they lose to Ga Tech (2005) or USC (2002, 2003) all "earlier in the season". Yep, clearly an Aubie team with 3 losses the past 4 Septembers can sure show an LSU team that's lost...3 games the past 4 Septembers a thing or two about getting "things going" early in the season. :nope:
I think Gameday is going to see a sharp decline in ratings as they continue to snub the SEC. None of us are a big market by ourselves, but together, I'm willing to bet that the SEC traditionally accounts for a pretty large chunk of Gameday viewership. I'm ready to boycott. How about you?
