ESPN's College GameDay is heading back to BYU for the first time in 17 years, and the fact that it took this long for a nationally ranked faith-based school to earn a return visit exposes the quiet bias mainstream sports media holds against religious institutions.
No. 8 BYU hosts No. 3 Notre Dame next Saturday in what the Deseret News called "arguably the most monumental contest in the history of LaVell Edwards Stadium." The primetime matchup kicks off at 5:30 p.m. on ABC, with GameDay broadcasting live from campus from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. BYU sits at 5-0 after Friday's 24-10 win over Iowa State; Notre Dame is 6-0 after dismantling Stanford 58-7.
Seventeen years. That's how long a school owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been shut out from hosting college football's marquee pregame show — despite fielding competitive teams, building a national brand, and now sitting undefeated and ranked in the top 10. The last time GameDay visited Provo was 2009, when TCU routed BYU 38-7. The Cougars are 0-4 all-time in GameDay appearances, including a loss last season at Texas Tech.
The Salt Lake Tribune framed the return straightforwardly, noting the GameDay "curse" and BYU's playoff implications. The Deseret News — owned by the LDS Church's for-profit arm, Deseret Management Corporation — emphasized the 17-year gap and the magnitude of the matchup. Neither outlet asked the obvious question: why did it take so long?
Major programs from secular power-conference schools get GameDay visits like clockwork. Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan — they rotate through routinely. BYU, an independent with a loyal national following and a football tradition that produced Steve Young and Jim McMahon, got one visit in 2009 and was effectively ghosted. The message from Bristol is clear: faith-based institutions are tolerated, not celebrated.
The GameDay cast for the Provo broadcast includes host Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Nick Saban, and Pat McAfee. Herbstreit and Howard were on the 2009 broadcast as well. The specific campus location will be announced later.
BYU's all-time record against Notre Dame stands at 2-7, though two of those Irish losses were later vacated by Notre Dame. The programs last met in 2022 in Las Vegas, a 28-20 Notre Dame win. BYU hasn't beaten the Irish since 2004.
A top-10 showdown between two storied independent programs should have been enough to bring the cameras back years ago. That it took until now raises a question neither ESPN nor the establishment sports press wants to answer: what exactly were they waiting for?
