Executive Voice: ESPN VP Seth Markman on College GameDay’s Debut in Dublin

Markman: "Dublin has a unique relationship with American football, and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to bring that relationship to life for fans on site and viewers across the United States."

Seth Markman, Vice President, Production, surveys the College GameDay set in Dublin, Ireland. (Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Seth Markman is a Vice President of Production for ESPN. He oversees all college football and NFL studio shows, including the 11-time Emmy Award-winning College GameDay, College Football Live, the CFP Rankings show, Sunday NFL Countdown, Monday Night Countdown, NFL Live and NFL PrimeTime. He reflects on ESPN’s first international College GameDay that precedes the Aer Lingus College Football Classic: No. 10 Florida State vs. Georgia Tech (Saturday, Aug. 24 | Noon ET on ESPN).

DUBLIN, Ireland – As the 2024-25 college football season kicks off in Dublin this weekend, College GameDay Built by The Home Depot is in the thick of the action, as we always are. For the first time ever, we’re going global with GameDay, taking the show overseas for Week 0 (Saturday, Aug. 24 | 9 a.m. ET on ESPN).

It’s rare to have “firsts” on a show that is in its fourth decade of existence. It’s something none of us take for granted, especially considering where the world was when we last planned to take this trip in 2020.

Dublin has a unique relationship with American football, and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to bring that relationship to life for fans on site and viewers across the United States. We’re all confident that we will honor both Ireland and its culture in a meaningful way.

Since the official announcement of our Dublin location in late 2023, every department has collaborated with our counterparts overseas and across The Walt Disney Company in the planning and execution of this show. While a production of this scale overseas presents its own set of challenges, our operations team has risen to the occasion as they always do, ensuring we’re good to go for Saturday from College Green. There is no better group in the business, and we always had complete confidence they would be able to handle a show of this magnitude.

Bringing College GameDay to Dublin and presenting it to a new audience is truly special, and we’re not doing it alone. The Aer Lingus College Football Classic between Georgia Tech and Florida State will be live on ESPN (Saturday at noon ET, ESPN), and some of our studio teammates on ACC Network – fresh off ACCN’s fifth anniversary – will be live in Dublin to commemorate an all-ACC clash.

There are so many people who touch College GameDay in some way, and their hard work is so appreciated. We will continue to make our show a memorable experience for fans around the world as we present one of the most exciting kickoff weekends in college football history.

SHAMROCKS AND LOGISTICS: THE CHALLENGES OF STAGING GAMEDAY'S FIRST INTERNATIONAL SHOW
Dublin’s “College Green” is the site of College GameDay’s Aug. 24 show. (Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images)

Remote operations producers Daniel Reifert and Spencer Chmiel were two of the many operations team members involved in the planning for Saturday’s show. They share their thoughts on the history-making episode:

What are some unique challenges you’ve come across in the planning of GameDay’s first international show?
The main set location, being on one of the busiest streets in downtown Dublin (College Green), is by far the biggest challenge. The closure of College Green doesn’t happen until 8 p.m. local on Friday night so the main set will be built from 8 p.m.-6 a.m., and then the set will get turned over to our team to deploy all the hardware and technical gear before we go live with our first TV hits at 12:40 p.m. local time. On a typical week of CGD, we have a minimum of two days to accomplish this; in Dublin, we will have less than 16 hours from road closure to live TV! Time zones were also a big challenge in preparing this show, as we’ve never had to coordinate a CGD show five hours ahead of EST. Scheduling Zoom calls, emails, or phone calls all had to happen in the early part of your day, or it would get pushed to the next day.

Can you describe the process for coordinating with local vendors and universities to make the show successful? How did the team decide on this specific location?
The set location decision was a collaborative effort between CGD Production and the City of Dublin. This show was by far the longest planning/coordination time frame we have ever had. The first site survey in Dublin was in February 2024, and probably 100+ Zoom calls with local vendors and the City of Dublin followed that, leading to us landing in Dublin on Tuesday for the first day of work on Wednesday.

The turnaround between shows week to week during the season is already a massive effort. What does that turnaround look like when one of your shows is overseas?
The CGD crew that came to Dublin will have a much quicker turnaround than they do on a normal week. They will fly back to the States on Sunday, and the first set day for Week 1 at Texas A&M is Tuesday, so they will only get a day or two at home when they would normally get three or four.

– Amanda Brooks

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