Yes, it's actually happening: ESPN College GameDay is coming to Bozeman for the Brawl of the Wild

An all-out blitz of social media fanfare from MSU Athletics, the Big Sky Conference, fans, President Cruzado and even U.S. senators struck gold on Sunday: ESPN College GameDay announced it is coming to Bozeman this weekend for the Brawl of the Wild.

The pre-game college football show travels to different campuses across the country every week to set up its broadcast, drawing out hordes of fans. For over a year, the Big Sky Conference and MSU’s athletics program have been hyping up the Cat-Griz rivalry football game on social media as the greatest football rivalry west of the Mississippi River in an attempt to draw the show to Montana.

“For the folks in Montana, as we’ve heard, this is the Super Bowl,” said Drew Gallagher, coordinating producer for GameDay.

And it’s a high stakes Super Bowl, at that.

The Sunday morning announcement comes on the heels of an FCS Championship run by the Bobcats during the 2021-22 season, which kicked off a year of historic success across all of MSU’s athletics program that was dubbed “The Year of the Bobcat.” The team will be defending the longest home winning streak in FCS history. And it’ll be competing against its 121-year-long rival for a share of the Big Sky Conference title.

“You can’t manufacture a rivalry,” said Leon Costello, MSU’s athletic director. “It’s one that starts from the beginning. And 121 games, that’s a long time.”

A rally of hype videos directed at GameDay social media accounts from across the state last week precipitated the decision for the show to travel to Bozeman for the rivalry game.

The Big Sky Conference and MSU football kicked off the commentary on Wednesday, Nov. 9, with videos posted to Twitter tagging GameDay’s account and soliciting its appearance at the Cat-Griz game. President Cruzado starred as a special guest in Bobcat football’s video, which featured aerial footage of Bozeman and the president’s encouragement for ESPN to come to Bozeman.

Then, there was a tweetstorm. Hype videos multiplied as the football team and MSU Athletics posted more videos to their social media accounts over the next several days, the official university social media account trotted out the “starter pack” meme and Montana’s U.S. Senators Steve Daines and Jon Tester joined in.

“As a proud MSU Bobcat, I know there’s no better place to watch college football than Bozeman, Montana, and there’s no better game than Brawl of the Wild,” Daines said in the video he posted to his account. “ESPN, it’s time to bring College GameDay to the best rivalry in the nation.”

The Big Sky Conference also tweeted a video of the MSU rodeo team’s traditional pre-game gallop onto the field at Bobcat Stadium with the faces of GameDay hosts superimposed on the horse riders on Saturday, Nov. 12.

Meanwhile, the Bobcats travelled home from a 72-28 win over Cal Poly on Nov. 12. The team arrived back in Bozeman in the early hours of Sunday morning, when GameDay announces its next venue each week. Costello said it was a sleepless night.

He got the news about GameDay’s choice from Bill Lamberty, MSU’s sports information director for football, at 7 a.m. They were meeting the ESPN team, which had flown in overnight, in two hours to start planning for the show’s appearance.

Costello hung up and talked with his wife, then called Lamberty back.

“I’ll remember this until the day I die,” Costello said. “I called Bill back. He didn’t even say ‘hello.’ He said ‘you’re not dreaming, this is actually happening.’”

It’s surreal the show is travelling to Bozeman, he said.

“Working throughout this industry, you watch pretty much every Saturday morning,” he said.

The public found out shortly afterward. GameDay announced its decision on Twitter at 9 a.m.

Fans celebrated by nominating a few Montana figures to be the show’s celebrity guest game picker. They included Flint Rasmussen, the arena entertainer for Professional Bull Riders and annual MSU rodeo personality, and actor Cole Hauser, who plays Rip Wheeler in the TV show “Yellowstone.”

Preparation began immediately. Offices across the university have pitched in to plan the stage construction and logistics for the weekend, Costello said, even in the middle of the Montana University System’s annual Board of Regents meeting on campus and a swath of other sporting events.

“It’s a concert that you have to plan and promote in basically six days,” he said.

Gallagher, the GameDay producer, said the rivalry football game between UM and MSU has been on the program’s radar for a few years, especially after a similar social media push from the athletics programs of both schools before last year’s brawl. The teams’ high FCS rankings, passionate fan bases, and Montana’s unique location pushed the decision to travel to town.

“We’re fired up,” Gallagher said. “This is a week for us to open our eyes to a part of college football that we weren’t aware of, and shine a light on that for the rest of the country as well.”

GameDay goes live on Saturday, Nov. 19, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., before the Brawl of the Wild kickoff at noon. The stage will be constructed on Dyche Field, which is between Bobcat Stadium and the North Dome. Fans are admitted to the pit around the stage on a first-come, first-serve basis.

This story was originally published online at msuexponent.com on Sunday, Nov. 13, and has been updated to include interviews and new information.