Missoula Reacts to ESPN College Gameday Going to Bozeman
We got the news over the weekend that the Brawl of the Wild will finally get to the attention it deserves. The rivalry will soon be at the center of all NCAA college football this upcoming Saturday. ESPN is loading up their semi trucks and shipping the entire ESPN College GameDay set to Bozeman for the 121st Brawl of the Wild game.
This is upsetting to some people in Missoula, as we campaigned hard last year to host the ESPN crew in Missoula.
Many UM Alumni and celebrities joined the campaign to get ESPN to pack up their trucks and bring GameDay to Washington/Grizzly stadium. You may remember when Oscar award-winning actor and UM Alum, JK Simmons released a short video requesting ESPN come to Missoula.
Even Pearl Jam bassist, Jeff Ament is campaigned for ESPN to come to town.
But, unfortunately, things didn't line up properly to get ESPN here. Over the weekend, some key football games were lost, which made the decision to come to Bozeman much easier. Our theory is because ULCA lost over the weekend, they chose Montana as their destination. If UCLA would have won, ESPN would likely be at the Rose Bowl for UCLA vs USC game. So things somewhat did work out in our favor.
We wanted to know how Missoula reacted to the news of the ESPN coverage going to Bozeman, instead of Missoula. For the most part, the comments are pretty positive. Granted we are not Bobcat fans, lots of Griz fans are just happy to see the Grizzlies play on ESPN's College Gameday. Regardless of what stadium they are playing in.