The entire country will be looking live at TCF Bank Stadium when the Gophers and Michigan finally kick off the Big Ten football season.
Inside the stadium, not so much.
Among the conditions the Big Ten set to restart football in the fall instead of pushing it to spring… limiting in-person attendance to family members of players and coaching personnel.
That might bring in less than half the 1,500 fans mandated for outdoor activities by the Minnesota Department of Health as everyone deals with the coronavirus pandemic.
“If that changes throughout the season, we’ll be sure to update our loyal fans,” said U of M athletics director Mark Coyle on the WCCO Morning News.
Right now, the Gophers are ranked No. 25 in the Associated Press poll, with Michigan 20th.
With the nation’s oldest traveling college football trophy, the Little Brown Jug, on the line in the first weekend of Big Ten football, there’s more than enough excitement to draw national interest.
And that interest is expected to come from ESPN and its popular “College Game Day” program.
“They usually make their announcement (for a College Game Day site) on Saturday or Sunday the week before the game,” said Coyle.
The on-site broadcast will be different because of the pandemic, with no wall-to-wall crowds of college kids carrying clever signs.
If it does happen, it would be College Game Day’s second appearance in Minneapolis in as many Gopher regular season games.
The show originated from in front of Northrup Hall last Nov.
30 as the lead-up to the Gophers’ regular season finale against Wisconsin.
It was the first time the Gophers were part of the Game Day experience, home or away.
