ESPN confirms Ireland game

ESPN's college football reporters confirmed that BC will play Georgia Tech in Ireland on Saturday September 3, 2016. This game couldn't happen without ESPN, so I think the date and time are pretty solid. This gives ESPN a 7:30 AM kickoff in the Eastern Timezone and enables a day full of games for their opening weekend. It will be interesting to see if anyone discloses ESPN paying extra money for this game. My guess is they probably are throwing in a few extra bucks or this counts as one of the ACC's contractual non-Saturday games.

"...that's nice but let's get back to Tebow"

Before his media tour of Bristol began I predicted ESPN would focus on Tebow. It was worse than I thought. Mike & Mike, First Take, SportsCenter and The Herd with Colin Cowherd all peppered Addazio with questions on football's most famous free agent QB. I will have more on the actual BC talk in another post, but for now sit back and appreciate how ESPN can turn one guest into a pawn for their narrative.

Addazio TV

Steve Addazio will spend most of Tuesday all over the ESPN family of networks. He'll start the day on Mike & Mike, but also be seen on First Take, College Football Live and SportCenter. I don't know how Addazio will do in his various appearances but this has to be viewed as a positive and a major step forward for BC's Marketing efforts.

Given our location and history with ESPN, you would think BC faces would be on ESPN all the time. Unfortunately that hasn't been the case. And it is not all ESPN's fault. Our coaches and players either have not been accessible or have lacked even the littlest bit of charisma or personality. Showing just a little energy and passion goes a long way on TV. TOB and Spaz were obviously not comfortable doing this sort of thing. Jags had his one ESPN halftime show, but didn't do much otherwise. Other schools have sent their coaches across country to ESPN and ESPN gladly put them on air. In the offseason, ESPN is welcoming to any sort of football content. If Addazio is any good, he could be back on before the summer ends.

These sorts of appearances won't win BC any games this fall, but it will work to change the perception of the  program. Recruits will notice as will the ESPN execs in charge of scheduling. I also think our fans will notice. Passion can be contagious. If Addazio truly spreads the message, he will get a lot of leeway out of the gate.

I will recap all the events late Tuesday. Tune in and give your thoughts as Addazio works his way through Bristol.