After 1,120 days and 38 episodes without a single visit, ESPN’s College GameDay finally returned to the campus of an active Big 12 member institution this season—and it did so in back-to-back weeks.
College Football’s premier pregame show first aired live from Salt Lake City on November 1 ahead of the Cincinnati vs. Utah matchup.
One week later, it traveled to Lubbock for the top-10 showdown between Texas Tech and BYU.
These appearances were the result of sustained effort from multiple voices within and around the conference.
The Backstory: A Three-Year Absence and Growing Frustration
Big 12-focused bloggers like Pete Mundo of Heartland College Sports and John Kurtz of Open For Business had long voiced frustration over ESPN’s apparent lack of interest in the league.
Their criticism highlighted a growing perception that the network was overlooking compelling Big 12 storylines in favor of more familiar SEC and Big Ten destinations.
The discontent reached a national stage when TNT Sports’ Adam Lefkoe took a subtle but pointed shot at “other networks” during a pregame segment ahead of the Kansas State-Kansas game.
“And there are some other networks, and I don’t know if they care about Big 12 football,” Lefkoe said on TNT. “But I’m telling you right here, that’s all we care about [at TNT].”
“And there are some other networks, and I don’t know if they care about Big 12 football. But I’m telling you right here, that’s all we care about.” – TNT Sports’ Adam Lefkoe 🏈📺🎙️ #CFB https://t.co/w8wdaQHgXP pic.twitter.com/We239HO0w4
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 26, 2025
Behind the scenes, however, the most decisive influence came from Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark.
In a conversation with Jon Wilner of The Mercury News, Yormark revealed the conference’s proactive strategy for courting College GameDay.
Far from waiting passively for ESPN to take notice, the Big 12 plans well in advance for potential high-profile matchups and aggressively pitches unique angles to make its games stand out.
“We are constantly planning for scenarios,” Yormark said. “We say, ‘Here are the schools and here’s what we’ll do … to make the show different.’ We let them know why they should go to Utah or Texas Tech. We’re very aggressive pitching the merits of why they should come to the schools.”
Breaking the SEC-Big Ten Monopoly
As the Big 12 works to maintain relevance alongside the SEC and Big Ten, Yormark emphasized the outsized value that College GameDay brings to the conference and its member institutions.
“The pregame shows are valuable,” Yormark told The Mercury News. “They serve as infomercials for the schools, so those are big moments for us.”
Wilner’s reporting underscored the economic impact of hosting the show. According to his analysis, the exposure generated by a single College GameDay broadcast would require tens of millions of dollars in traditional marketing spend to replicate.
While ESPN has faced ongoing criticism for disproportionately featuring SEC and Big Ten campuses, Yormark believes the recent visits to Salt Lake City and Lubbock left a lasting impression.
“There’s a lot of different things behind the scenes on why they pick and where they pick,” Yormark said. “But I know one thing’s true: It’s because you have a good team and a huge community that will support the show.”
Looking Ahead
College GameDay will not visit a Big 12 campus this Saturday, but it won’t be at an SEC or Big Ten school either.
Instead, the show will broadcast live from Pittsburgh in the ACC for the Notre Dame vs. Pitt game, airing at 9 a.m. EST on ESPN.
