The University of Utah will be in the national spotlight on Saturday, Nov. 1, when it hosts ESPN College GameDay in Presidents Circle, leading into Utah Football’s MUSS Appreciation game against Cincinnati at 8:15 p.m. MT on FOX.
Saturday’s show will be staged at President’s Circle in the center of campus, and fans are encouraged to arrive early to watch the show live from the broadcast location. Students will be admitted into the overnight queuing area beginning Friday, Oct. 31 at 6 p.m. MT. Music, giveaways and free food and drink will be provided on Friday evening to students in the overnight queuing area.
- Student overnight queuing information can be found here.
- Fans are encouraged to arrive early, and may park in select campus lots (map here) or take public transit. A shuttle will run on a continuous loop between Lot 39 (Merrill Engineering) and Presidents Circle between 4-11 a.m.
- On Friday, the College Football Live show will be taped from 1-1:30 p.m., and the Home Depot Hype Hat—a College GameDay-themed photo-op experience for fans—is open from at 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Free t-shirts will be given out to the first 100 fans to come to the Hype Hat activation.
- Saturday’s lineup begins at 5:30 a.m. MT with several live SportsCenter hits featuring ESPN College GameDay talent, followed by the full College GameDay show from 7-10 a.m. MT.
The first College GameDay visit to Salt Lake City was for the Utah-BYU rivalry game in 2004 with a BCS-busting trip to the Fiesta Bowl on the line. The show has also visited in 2010 (vs. TCU), 2015 (vs. California), 2016 (vs. Washington) and 2023 (vs. Oregon).
Overall, Utah has been part of a College GameDay matchup eight times. In addition to the five home games, the show visited for the Utah-TCU game in Fort Worth during 2009, as well as both of the Utes’ trips to the Rose Bowl Game against Ohio State (2021 season) and Penn State (2022 season).
The full Utah Football game-day fan guide for this week can be found here.
Community and campus impacts
ESPN will begin setting up for the broadcast on Wednesday, Oct. 29, and traffic in and around President’s Circle may be impacted until mid-day Saturday, Nov. 1. Temporary lighting will be installed around President’s Circle for safety and the live broadcast and may be visible to those on the west side of campus. Early morning amplified sound checks may occur beginning around 5:30 a.m. on Saturday.
President’s Circle will be closed to all vehicle traffic beginning on Friday morning. Access is limited to emergency vehicles. Parents picking up their kids at UKids will have a spot to temporarily park on Friday and walk to the Alfred Emery Building. Pedestrian access to buildings will remain open but expect periodic impacts on Wednesday and Thursday on sidewalks and the President Circle roads. Campus shuttles will continue to operate with minor route adjustments on Friday
Overnight and day-of security will be provided by the University of Utah Police Department, ESPN Security, and contracted event staff. There will be strict enforcement of all university policies with no alcohol, tobacco, or illegal substances permitted.
Follow along
Fans can follow along with the action and get updates on the Utah ESPN GameDay Central Page on UtahUtes.com.