Minneapolis to host ESPN's "College GameDay" before Badgers-Gophers game
ESPN's "College GameDay" is finally heading to Minnesota.
The popular national college football pregame show will broadcast from Minneapolis starting at 8 a.m. next Saturday ahead of the Minnesota-Wisconsin game at TCF Bank Stadium. Game time is 2:30 p.m.
The exact location for the broadcast had not been announced as of Saturday night.
There's a lot more than Paul Bunyan's Axe on the line this time around. The winner of the game will claim the Big Ten West Division title and a spot in the conference championship game against Ohio State.
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The Gophers (10-1) beat Northwestern and the Badgers (9-2) beat Purdue on Saturday to set up the decisive game to end the regular season.
It'll be the 129th meeting in the Minnesota-Wisconsin rivalry, with the series tied 60-60-8. The Gophers won last year's matchup in Madison.
Gophers coach P.J. Fleck had previously lobbied for Minneapolis to host "GameDay" ahead of the Nov. 9 game against Penn State, when both the Gophers and Nittany Lions were undefeated. The show opted to broadcast from Tuscaloosa, Ala., that week, ahead of the LSU-Alabama game.
It’s the first "GameDay" stop in Minnesota. The show has previously broadcast from states neighboring Minnesota — including stops in Fargo and in Brookings, S.D.