Every Saturday morning, millions of fans tune in to College GameDay Built by The Home Depot for the picks, the signs and the moments that define college football. What they don’t see is the crew of 130+ people who make it possible before the cameras roll.
This week, College GameDay, one of sports television’s most ambitious weekly productions, arrives in Baton Rouge for its 500th show on the road, while also kicking off its 40th season.
“It’s like putting on a concert every week,” says Judi Weiss, Sr. Manager of Remote Operations and a 16-year GameDay veteran. “We’re moving 11 semis, three buses, a sprinter van and three box trucks all over the country.”
That footprint has grown almost beyond recognition. What started as a pop-up tent in the early days of the road show has evolved into a multi-stage operation complete with a demo field, bleachers, a DJ activation and multiple branded sponsor areas.
The crew has evolved, too. Sr. Remote Operations Producer Daniel Reifert started in 2008 as a runner at the SEC Championship in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park. “I didn’t really think I’d do it long-term,” he admits. 19 years later, he’s helping lead the operation into its next era alongside Jake Daigle, Remote Operations Specialist, who got his start as a local utility hire during the 2012 National Championship in New Orleans. Daigle had attended GameDay as a fan in 2007, watching Clemson set a crowd noise record. He never imagined he’d one day manage the technical side of the show he grew up watching.
“For as big as it is, it’s extremely efficient,” Daigle says. “Everybody who’s here wants to be here. It really is a labor of love.”
The fan-to-crew-member-to-department-leader trajectory is a GameDay hallmark. Even Justin Endres of West River, the staging company that’s helped build the show since the mid-1990s, is still out on the road every single week.
Veteran stage manager Mike Ruhlman perhaps put it best: “This is the kind of job you want to will to your kids.”