ESPN’s Live Studio Coverage Blankets New Year’s Six Bowl Games

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ESPN’s Live Studio Coverage Blankets New Year’s Six Bowl Games

 

SportsCenter at All Six New Year’s Bowls; SEC Network in Atlanta

ESPN’s non-stop studio coverage of the New Year’s Six begins Wednesday, Dec. 28, from the sites of both College Football Playoff Semifinals – the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta and the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz. The sets located inside the Georgia Dome in Atlanta and from Westgate Entertainment Center in Glendale begin the network’s coverage, which also has a studio presence from the Capital One Orange Bowl, Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual and the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

SportsCenter will have an anchor and be present at all New Year’s Six games, while SEC Network will be providing pre- and post-game coverage for Alabama’s first-ever Peach Bowl appearance.

Semifinal Saturday – December 31

  • A set will be staged from Westgate Entertainment Center in Glendale, Ariz., beginning Wednesday, Dec. 28, in anticipation of No. 3 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Clemson in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl
    • Host Rece Davis is joined all week by analysts Lee Corso, Desmond Howard, David Pollack and Joey Galloway, with Gene Wojciechowski contributing features and reports
    • Samantha Ponder will cover Clemson and Tom Rinaldi will report on Ohio State
    • A special edition of College GameDay Built by The Home Depot will originate from inside University of Phoenix Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 31 (8-11 a.m. ET)
    • The 6:30 p.m. pregame show on game day will also be set inside the stadium for pre-game, halftime and post-game coverage
  • ESPN’s coverage at the Peach Bowl – No. 4 Washington vs. No. 1 Alabama – will originate from inside the Georgia Dome
    • Hosts Stan Verrett with analysts Mack Brown, Mark May, Booger McFarland and Tim Tebow
    • Kaylee Hartung will report on Washington, while Marty Smith will cover Alabama

New Year’s Six

  • A special one-hour College Football Pregame Show Presented by H&R Block will come from the Orange Bowl and Hard Rock Stadium – prior to the No. 6 Michigan vs. No. 11 Florida – on Friday, Dec. 30, at 7 p.m. with host Adnan Virk and analysts Danny Kanell and Jonathan Vilma
  • A special airing of Championship Drive (10 a.m.-12:50 p.m.) from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., just before the No. 9 USC vs. No. 5 Penn State game on Monday, Jan. 2, with Davis, Herbstreit, Howard and Pollack with Rinaldi and Wojciechowski contributing
  • The Cotton Bowl – showcasing No. 15 Western Michigan vs. No. 8 Wisconsin – from AT&T Stadium halftime segment, as well as Rose Bowl reporting, will all originate from Pasadena
  • Halftime of the Sugar Bowl – pitting No. 14 Auburn vs. No. 7 Oklahoma from Mercedes-Benz Superdome – will be onsite in New Orleans with Verrett, Brown and May

SportsCenter

SportsCenter on the Road powered by Ford will have extensive coverage of the New Year’s Six beginning on Wednesday, Dec. 28, including full shows, live segments and Media Day reporting.

  • Full coverage of media day on Thursday, Dec. 29, from the Peach Bowl (8-9 a.m., 9:30-10:30 a.m.) and Fiesta Bowl (10:30-11 a.m., noon-1 p.m.)
  • In addition, coverage from the head coach press conferences on Friday, Dec. 30, from the Peach Bowl (9:30 a.m.) and Fiesta Bowl (10:30 a.m.)
  • Anchors Matt Barrie and Sara Walsh, along with reporters Smith and Hartung, will be reporting from the Peach Bowl in Atlanta
  • Anchors Sage Steele and Jay Crawford, along with reporters Rinaldi and Ponder, will originate from the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale
  • Additional reporting from Zubin Mehenti (Cotton Bowl), Jeannine Edwards (Orange Bowl), Michael Eaves (Rose Bowl) and Verrett and May (Sugar Bowl)

SEC Network

SEC Now, SEC Nation and The Paul Finebaum Show will all originate from Atlanta, on December 30-31, surrounding the Peach Bowl with expert SEC opinion and special guests. Additional details of SEC Network’s two-days of live coverage

  • Alabama head coach Nick Saban’s press conference on Thursday, Dec. 29, at 9:30 a.m., will air as part of SEC Now
  • The Paul Finebaum Show (3 p.m.) and SEC Now (7:30 p.m.) both live in Atlanta on Friday, Dec. 30
  • SEC Nation will air on game day from noon- 3 p.m.
  • SEC Now will provide post-game coverage at 6:30 p.m.

ESPN’s exclusive telecast of the College Football Playoff, including the New Year’s Six and the National Championship, will air on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Radio. Full game coverage details will be announced later this week.

ESPN Radio’s full bowl schedule can be found here.

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Anna Negron

It was always a dream of mine to work at ESPN, and here I am! I joined the College Sports PR team in March 2016. Hailing from the great Garden State, I graduated from Seton Hall University (Go Pirates!) with a degree in sport management, where I not only sang the National Anthem at games, but was also a member of the Seton Hall Sapphires Dance Team and a student reporter for Pirate Sports Network. Before joining ESPN, I served as a Public Relations Associate for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
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