ESPN's College GameDay to broadcast live from Alumni Mall

More details for fans attending the college football's premier pregame show

September 26, 2017

BLACKSBURG – ESPN confirmed Tuesday that College GameDay will broadcast live from Alumni Mall on the Virginia Tech campus on Saturday morning. The show will be a precursor to Saturday night’s game between No. 12 Virginia Tech and No. 2 Clemson. The rematch of the 2016 ACC Championship Game will mark the first time two undefeated teams ranked in the top 12 of the AP Poll will square off at Lane Stadium.

The College GameDay stage will be set on Alumni Mall with the Torgersen Bridge as the backdrop. As a result, parking will be unavailable on Alumni Mall from Wednesday, Sept. 27 though Sun., Oct. 1. The road will close to all traffic at noon Friday, Sept. 29 and reopen Sunday, Oct. 1. Alumni Mall will be closed to traffic beginning at noon on Friday.

SportsCenter will do live hits on location throughout the day on Friday and College Football Live will tape at 3 p.m. On Saturday, fans can arrive as early as 4 a.m. to begin lining up. “The Pit” area will open at 6:30 a.m. SportsCenter hits will start during the 7 a.m. hour before GameDay goes live at 9 a.m.

Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Lee Corso, David Pollack, Maria Taylor, Tom Rinaldi and Gene Wojciechowski will go live on campus at 9 a.m. ET.

ESPN's College GameDay has been on site for 10 Virginia Tech games since 1999, including last season’s game vs. Tennessee at the Battle at Bristol on Sept. 10. Saturday will mark the sixth appearance of College GameDay in Blacksburg and the first since 2007. The Hokies are 4-1 in home GameDay contests.

The following are rules set by ESPN for fans that wish to attend:

• Fans entering the pit will be checked by a security wand.

• No bags, backpacks or purses will be permitted in the pit.

• No offensive, vulgar, inappropriate or solicitation signage will be allowed (i.e., no political, religious, or .com, .org, .net signage).

• No signs on a stick.

• No pens, pencils, markers or dry erase boards.

• No food or drinks.

• Throwing of objects is prohibited.

Since GameDay’s first show in Blacksburg on Oct. 16, 1999, the Hokies and the live production have always enjoyed a special connection. Virginia Tech became only the third school to serve as the host for GameDay twice in the same season, as GameDay served as the opening act for Tech victories over No. 16 Syracuse and No. 19 Miami in 1999. In an effort to bring a sense of normalcy back to a vulnerable community, GameDay and ESPN broadcast the first Tech football game after the April 16 tragedy on Sept. 1, 2007 vs. East Carolina.

ABC will televise the Virginia Tech-Clemson game to a national audience at 8 p.m. ET. Visit HokieSports.com for information on attending the game, plus details on TV, radio and internet coverage for fans following the Hokies across the nation.

Important Parking Information

To accommodate the increase volume of vehicular traffic on campus for the Sept. 30 home football game, a number of parking and traffic changes will be in place. Vehicles must be removed from these lots and roads or are subject to being towed.

The following lots and roads will be restricted to no additional parking after 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 29. All vehicles must be removed from these lots and roads by 10 p.m., also on Friday:

· Litton–Reaves/Wallace (located off Washington Street and Duck Pond Drive)

· Coliseum (located off Washington Street and Beamer Way)

· Stadium

· Chicken Hill

· Track/Field House on Beamer Way)

· Vet–Medicine (north–side only)

· Health and Safety Lot (located off Research Center Drive)

· Food Sciences

· Maintenance (located off Southgate Drive)

· Engel/Cheatham

· Price Hall

· Davidson

· Smithfield (located off Smithfield Road)

· Architecture Annex–Media

· Lower Stanger

· Rec Field Lot (off Research Center Drive)

· Wright House

· Hahn

· Duck Pond Drive

(The cage) only the commuter/graduate interior section at the south end of the lot near Vet-Med

· Beamer Way

· Duck Pond–Overflow (located off Oak Lane)

· Perry Street Lot #3

· Hahn Hurst Lot and the Basketball Extension

· VTES/University Library Storage Facility

· Washington Street (parallel spaces from West Campus Drive to Kent Street)

· West Stadium (small lot adjacent to the stadium)

Commuter, graduate, and resident student vehicles parked along the outside perimeter of the Duck Pond Road Lot (the cage) must be relocated by 5 p.m. All resident student vehicles must be removed from the Stadium and Chicken Hill lots by 10 p.m.

Resident students may park in one of the following areas:

· Resident section of Duck Pond Drive Lot (the cage) interior spaces only. (Perimeter of the lot is reserved for RV vehicles)

· Prices Fork Lot 5 and 6

Resident student vehicles must be back in resident lots by 7 a.m. Monday, Oct. 2. For more information contact the Office of Parking and Transportation at 540-231-3200, or visit www.parking.vt.edu.

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