ESPN is pulling out all the stops for the 2014 edition of the Iron Bowl.
College GameDay will broadcast throughout the day from Tuscaloosa, the second time it has done that in the past three weeks.
ESPN’s flagship station will then for the first time since 2007 air the Alabama-Auburn matchup, which kicks of Saturday evening at 6:45 p.m. Central Time.
But the big surprise is that ESPN will also air a special edition of The Paul Finebaum Show during the same window on the SEC Network.
Sports Illustrated explains:
The special is titled Finebaum Film Room: Iron Bowl Live, with Finebaum hosting a call-in show throughout the game. The call-in show will start after the conclusion of SEC Network’s airing of Vanderbilt-Tennessee, and SEC Network viewers will see both Finebaum’s set and the live game concurrently on their screens. Finebaum, an SEC Network analyst, will be joined by some SEC Network regulars (such as Marcus Spears and Greg McElroy) during the broadcast.
Paul Finebaum. Taking calls. Live. During the Iron Bowl. What could possibly go wrong?
“We hope fans will call in and you can get fan reaction as the game is going live,” ESPN senior vice president of college sports programming Burke Magnus told Sports Illustrated. “The feeling for us was this is authentically SEC. Paul is sort of the cornerstone voice of the network in a lot of ways, from his daily radio show to his work on SEC Nation. It is something we have not tried before and we felt like this was unique to the SEC.”
What do you think about ESPN’s decision? Will you be watching the special edition of Finebaum, or will you keep it locked on Brent Musburger, Jesse Palmer and Maria Taylor calling the game on the flagship station?
RT @richarddeitsch ESPN to air Alabama-Auburn broadcast featuring @finebaum taking calls live: http://t.co/qiPMohKJ8U pic.twitter.com/Dwl3o472iL
— Taylor Nichols (@taylornichols) November 24, 2014
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