There’s a lot that goes into picking a site for ESPN’s College GameDay. Not only is the show trying to travel to the best game in college football each week, it’s trying to go where the best story is. Those aren’t always necessarily the same.
Throw in that GameDay tries to avoid traveling to repeat schools and locations too often, and it becomes a bit trickier to decide where to go each week. For example, if you know you’re likely going to be at Alabama-Georgia in a couple weeks, you’ll try to avoid those schools in the weeks leading up.
As GameDay travels to Salt Lake City this week for a game between Cincinnati and Utah, host Rece Davis caught up with local reporters to discuss how the show goes about picking a site each week.
What’s the College Gameday site selection process? @ReceDavis talks to @FOXNashville about the outlook and considering schools beyond the Power 4
He says he likes the Battle of the Ravine in a few weeks
cc: Arkadelphia pic.twitter.com/sXq1Df1P98
— Johnny Maffei (@MaffeiInTheMorn) October 28, 2025
“What goes into that selection process and is there any, you know, beyond Power 4 talk there too?” a reporter asked Davis.
“Yeah, every week. All the time,” Davis replied. “I mean, this is probably going to get me in trouble, I’m pitching the Battle of the Ravine in a few weeks depending on what else happens. You always try to go where the best story is for that week. And you try to judge what the buzz is. And you also try to look at the landscape.
“You can get in trouble making every decision looking three weeks down the road, especially early in the season. But you do try to take inventory of what the landscape looks like over the next month. …And beyond the Power 4, there are numerous opportunities over the next few weeks, until the end of November really, to be able to do that. Is it contingent on performance? Of course. But there are a lot of opportunities to be able to do so.”
Over the years, GameDay had always traveled to a good mix of “best game” versus “best story.” Often those two things overlap, but the show is also able to highlight some of the underappreciated storylines that make college football what it is. Traveling to the Battle of the Ravine in a few weeks would fit that mold.
Davis himself seems to be rather active in the site selection process too. Just last week he revealed that he pushed for the show to travel to Memphis before they were upset by UAB.
At the end of the day, picking a location is equal parts art and science. And for the most part, GameDay has done an impressive job spreading the love without compromising its reputation as going to the most important game of the week.