Air Force Academy to host ESPN's College GameDay

The hosts of ESPN's College GameDay visited the Air Force Academy in 2001. (Air Force Academy photo)

Lee Corso, Chris Fowler and Kirk Hirbstreit will be headed to the Air Force Academy to host ESPN’s College Gameday on Nov. 7 when Air Force hosts Army.

It’s the third time the Air Force Academy has hosted Gameday, a college football pre-game show which has become appointment television for any college football fan.

Gameday last came to Colorado Springs, Col., in 2002 when Air Force narrowly lost to Notre Dame 21-14. It also came the year before for a special 9/11 broadcast which preceded an Air Force win over Army, 34-21.

ESPN will broadcast from the Academy Terrazzo, which is the main cadet square that sits next to the 17-spire cadet chapel.

The news of ESPN’s choice of the Air Force Academy wasn’t met with unanimous joy across the services. Rumors of GameDay’s future travels to Colorado Springs swirled around the parking lot outside Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium this weekend. Many Naval Academy alumni questioned why Gameday has chosen Air Force three times without visiting the Naval Academy once.

A better question might be why ESPN has yet to host their GameDay show prior to Army-Navy. This could have been the perfect year as the Army-Navy game is scheduled for Dec. 12, the week after Big 12 and ACC championships are played. What perfect chance to capture the traditions of college football’s greatest rivalry and preview this year’s upcoming bowl matchups.