ESPN continues to lose the stranglehold they once had over the sports fan day by day. ESPN College GameDay has been a staple of ESPN for a long time. There’s a new big gun in town. Fox Sports has surpassed GameDay with their Big Noon Kickoff pregame show. Fox had higher ratings than ESPN. The World Wide Leader In Sports continues to get beat up.
Andrew Marchand of the New York Post had this:
While the margin was close, ESPN used to have this by a wide margin. Urban Meyer has been a game changer for Fox. It also helps that Fox hosted the Ohio State vs. Michigan Game which got the highest rating of the season. Meyer made it an even more intriguing watch. Marchand also wrote an article earlier in the season about how Meyer has really provided Fox with inside info. It’s really helped. Meyer’s addition to the show likely leaped ESPN by himself.
Fox has really invested in talent. They spent a ton of money to make this show work. Reggie Bush, Brady Quinn, Rob Stone, and Charles Woodson make up the other members of the show. Compare that to what ESPN is bringing to the table. Kirk Herbstreit is a plus but nobody else really stands out. Urban Meyer has closed what seemed like an insurmountable gap and put Fox on top of ESPN. If Meyer goes back into coaching, then Fox will probably be back in trouble. The addition of Meyer was the best decision Fox made probably all year.
Lee Corso is killing GameDay. The show is already too long and there are gaps where nothing entertaining is happening. Corso just lost a step out there. It’s hard to watch him. Father time kills everybody. Corso is past his prime and that’s putting it as nicely as possible. The people are turning on ESPN. It’s another example of how they get nothing right.
