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ESPN’s College GameDay will be back on our televisions in just a few more weeks. The traveling circus of a pregame show is a staple of college football Saturdays, taking over a different campus every week to preview the biggest games of the day. As David Covucci noted at FOIAball this week, it takes a lot to host the GameDay crew, but not every school treats the opportunity the same way. In 2024, Cal football was off to an unexpectedly hot start, scoring an impressive 21–14 win at Auburn in Week 2 followed by a 31–10 win at home against San Diego State to move to 3–0 on the season. Around this time, the “Calgorithm” took hold, with Cal fans invoking the power of the “woke mob” to push them to victory. There was an excitement around Cal football that hadn’t been seen in years, and even despite a loss to Florida State in Week 4, the Golden Bears were chosen to host GameDay for the first time in school history ahead of their matchup against No. 8 Miami. According to Covucci, while most schools allow ESPN to shoot on campus for free, the University of California charged the Worldwide Leader $4,500 for setting up shop with the Golden Bears for a show in 2024. Most schools let College GameDay come for free. But the good folks at Cal would not waive their fees https://t.co/xxHoVIFwoB pic.twitter.com/XMEbKerMCh — David Covucci (@DavidCovucci) August 6, 2026 It was the first time Cal had ever hosted GameDay, so it’s possible they hadn’t gotten the memo that schools usually waive the fee, or maybe the payment was a bit of a needle at ESPN for taking so long to finally come out to California to shoot. GameDay serves as some of the best advertising imaginable for universities, as the show highlights the joy of the student body, the beauty of whichever campus they’re shooting from, and the big-game atmosphere that GameDay’s presence helps set. This publicity is more than enough of a trade-off for most schools to waive whatever fees might normally come with shooting on campus. But Cal is not most schools. That said, ESPN definitely got its money’s worth from the day, with Cal fans showing out in impressive numbers despite the shockingly early start for the show on the West Coast. It was one of the most memorable GameDay episodes of the year, and ESPN would undoubtedly be ready to return to Berkeley if the team caught fire again. WHO ARE WE… 🗣️🗣️CAL 🗣️🗣️ROLL BEARS WHAT A MORNING IN BERKELEY #CollegeGameDay https://t.co/NdYWaZ39dF pic.twitter.com/2mv6vK3jUT — Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 5, 2024 Covucci has great notes on the wild logistics that go into getting a school GameDay ready, and the whole story is well worth the read. ESPN’s earliest arrivals start setting up on Wednesday leading up to Saturday’s show, after which the whole set is packed up and prepared for another trip the following week. Cal’s day hosting GameDay was a success, but their game against Miami that night was too much to handle. The Cal-gorithm burned bright and burned fast, but at its peak, it finally did enough to bring ESPN to Berkeley.