Oct. 14, 2015
ESPN will broadcast live from the historic Horseshoe at the University of South Carolina for the fourth time in six years when SportsCenter on the Road visits for a live show airing 7-9 a.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015. The Gamecocks take on the Vanderbilt Commodores in a Homecoming matchup at 4 p.m. on the SEC Network.
Anchors Matt Barrie and Sara Walsh will host the telecast, which will include highlights and analysis of Friday night’s sports and a look ahead to the weekend’s key matchups. Another homecoming of sorts is for Barrie as he was a sports reporter/anchor for Columbia’s WLTX-19 until 2008. Barrie and Walsh will be joined by reporter Marty Smith, ESPN.com college football writer Chris Low and ESPN.com columnist Mark Schlabach.
The event is free and open to the public Saturday morning. Carolina students, alumni and fans should wear garnet, bring white rally towels, arrive at the Horseshoe starting at 5:45 a.m. and be in place by 6:30 a.m. Overnight camping on the Horseshoe will not be permitted. Parking is available in the Pendleton Street Parking Garage and at meters around campus. Portable restrooms are available in the parking lots behind Harper-Elliott and Pinckney-Legare and in front of the Russell House.
The SportsCenter on the Road bus will arrive in Columbia on Friday, and SportsCenter will air a live segment Friday afternoon between 4 and 5 p.m. from Greene Street in front of the Russell House University Union during the final Homecoming Week event, called “There’s No Place Like Carolina Celebration.” Students are encouraged to wear garnet and attend the event, which will be held 4-5:30 p.m. It will showcase the university community and feature food and drinks, giveaways, community speakers, recognition of local first responders and UofSC volunteers who have helped with the recent flood relief efforts and a display of banners, photos, float displays and more from the Homecoming week.
UofSC previously attracted ESPN’s College GameDay to broadcast its three-hour show live from the Horseshoe preceding home games most recently in 2014 against Missouri, 2012 against Georgia and 2010 against Alabama. Carolina has hosted GameDay a total of seven times since 2001.
The SportsCenter on the Road bus is a mobile production facility that carries the equipment needed for doing a SportsCenter broadcast at a remote location. It also contains production facilities for an on-site producer, director and sound engineer, and equipment for feeding signals via satellite to ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn.
The Columbia appearance is part of the SportsCenter on the Road series, which takes the program out of the studio to events and fans. The show visited Notre Dame, Michigan, Boston College, St. John’s (Minn.), Clemson and North Dakota State earlier this season. It also has originated in the last year from the NBA Finals, NFL Draft, Super Bowl and the College Football Playoff.
SportsCenter debuted on ESPN’s launch day (Sept. 7, 1979) and is the network’s first and flagship show. Viewership averages up to 115 million viewers a month.
