As we approach the long-awaited college football playoff in 2015, the BCS is still in effect and ESPN will air the entire five game sequence which includes the National Championship Game on January 7. The BCS begins on Tuesday with the Rose Bowl and the Orange Bowl. It then proceeds to the Sugar Bowl on Wednesday and the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday. It all culminates with the BCS National Championship Game on Monday night as Alabama takes on Notre Dame in South Florida.
ESPN plans extensive coverage of the BCS starting on Tuesday, New Year’s Day with all types of pregame and wraparound programming on several of its platforms on TV, radio, mobiles, tablets and computers.
Let’s take a look at the extensive ESPN press release which details its coverage plans.
Extensive BCS Bowls Coverage Includes ESPNU’s Week of Programming, ESPN Radio Live from South Beach and ESPN Deportes’ Spanish-Language Telecasts
ESPN’s extensive college football programming is culminated by all five of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) matchups, including the BCS National Championship (No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Alabama) from Miami Gardens, Fla., Monday, Jan. 7, at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio, ESPN 3D and WatchESPN.
Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit will work their sixth consecutive BCS National Championship game, calling ESPN’s telecast with Saturday Night Football reporter Heather Cox and College GameDay reporter Tom Rinaldi. For the second straight year, ESPN’s Monday Night Football signal caller Mike Tirico will work ESPN Radio’s broadcast with ESPN college football analyst Todd Blackledge and reporters Holly Rowe and Joe Schad: http://es.pn/11VjVQy.
Studio Coverage
Beginning New Year’s Day, ESPN will provide viewers with daily updates from all the action including all five BCS bowl games. College Football Live at the BCS will be televised daily from 3 – 4 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 2, through Friday, Jan. 4, and again on Monday, Jan. 7, providing all the latest news and analysis of the upcoming matchups. The network’s Emmy Award-winning pre-game show College GameDay will be live from the Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl and the BCS National Championship where the crew will be joined by guest analysts and current head coaches Urban Meyer (Ohio State) and Kevin Sumlin (Texas A&M): http://es.pn/VCx3UR.
Kicking off 2013, ESPNU will feature its largest on-site presence to-date with seven studio shows from Miami Gardens, Fla. The network’s 74 hours of content begins Tuesday, Jan. 1, and leads into the BCS National Championship. The schedule is punctuated by a marathon of more than 24 hours of BCS-themed content beginning Sunday, Jan. 6, at 10 p.m. and extending until mid-morning Tuesday, Jan. 8: http://es.pn/W5AHXK.
ESPN Radio Shows
Mike & Mike in the Morning (6-10 a.m. ET M-F, simulcast on ESPN2) and SVP & Russillo (1-4 p.m. M-F, simulcast on ESPNEWS 1-3 p.m.) will originate from Miami’s South Beach Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 7-8. Notre Dame alum and morning co-host Mike Golic will watch his sons Mike Jr. and Jake play Monday night against Alabama.
Also, The Herd with Colin Cowherd (10 a.m.-1 p.m. M-F, simulcast on ESPNU) will be in South Beach on January 7, as will Trevor Matich and Brad Edwards, joining Ryen Russillo for a special 2-1/2-hour edition of College GameDay on ESPN Radio at 4 p.m.
Additionally, ESPN Radio will present a 2013 BCS Special hosted by College GameDay’s Russillo, Matich and Edwards. They will be joined by ESPN college football experts, as well as ESPN Radio’s Mikes Golic & Greenberg, Cowherd, Scott Van Pelt, Russillo, and Dari Nowkhah and Mel Kiper Jr. The special will run multiple times the weekend before the title game and will be available for download at ESPNRadio.com.
Additional details:
- ESPN Radio will present exclusive, live national coverage of all BCS contests culminating with the championship game Monday, Jan. 7.
- ESPN Radio has broadcast every BCS bowl game since the inception of the BCS. ESPN Radio’s bowl games – 37 announcers spread across 16 days – has been available to more than 400stations nationwide.
- Internationally, ESPN Radio’s BCS coverage can be heard in Canada (TSN 1050 in Toronto) and the U.S Virgin Islands (WVWI-AM 1000/St. Thomas).
ESPN Deportes:
ESPN Deportes is the Spanish-language television home for the BCS. ESPN Deportes, for the first time, will air all five BCS bowls, including the BCS National Championship: http://es.pn/SE1kpt for U.S. Hispanic sports fans.
ESPN International
ESPN International will televise the BCS National Championship live to more than 100 countries, across six continents, reaching more than 100 million households:
- Latin America (49 countries): ESPN networks in Spanish-speaking Latin America, Brazil, and the Caribbean.
- Israel and Sub-Saharan Africa (47 countries): ESPN Israel and ESPN Africa
- PacRim (six countries; 2.6 million households): ESPN PacRim
- Canada (12.5 million households): TSN and RDS
- Asia (22 countries; 176 million households): ESPN China, SE Asia, India, Taiwan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Japan (J Sports 2).
In addition, ESPN America (only European network devoted exclusively to the best in North American sport, available to 19 million homes in more than 40 countries) will broadcast live and exclusive coverage of all five BCS bowls including the title game with all available online through the live and on-demand streaming service ESPNPlayer.com: http://bit.ly/ESPNIntlBowls
ESPN Digital
- WatchESPN: Every live BCS game on ESPN is accessible on computers, smartphones, tablets and Xbox.
- ESPN3: Replays of every bowl game available shortly after the conclusion of the games.
- ESPN.com: Stories, columns, blogs, video elements and more. The bowls homepage will provide previews and post-game content on every game, as well as an in-depth look at all five BCS bowls with an individual page dedicated to the coverage of each: Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl and BCS National Championship.
- ESPN Mobile: Clips, highlights, news and scores available through the ScoreCenter app and via the ESPN College Football app.
- Fans can follow @ESPNCFB on Twitter for the latest scores, news and highlights.
ESPN 3D
ESPN 3D will televise ESPN’s coverage of the Sugar Bowl and the BCS National Championship. In addition, Joe Tessitore and Rod Gilmore will provide extended coverage of the title game during select commercial breaks of the ESPN telecast.
There you have it.
