ESPN College GameDay To Visit Palestra For La Salle-Temple Game
Friday, August 16, 2013
The Palestra (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
press release August 14, 2013
PHILADELPHIA – ESPN College GameDay Covered By State Farm, the eight-week national studio show that airs Saturdays, will visit The Palestra on January 18 before La Salle takes on Temple at noon. College GameDay will begin at 10 AM on ESPNU and continues at 11 AM on ESPN. The La Salle versus Temple game will also appear on ESPN or ESPN2.
In addition to this year’s La Salle-Temple game being played at the Palestra, both schools agreed that the 2014-15 edition will also be played at The Palestra. La Salle will be the home team this season with Temple hosting in 2014-15. The schools agreed to bring the game to The Palestra for two straight seasons for the opportunity to bring ESPN GameDay to Philadelphia.
Tickets for the game will be split evenly between the two schools and the student section behind the ESPN GameDay set will also be divided equally.
The game at the Palestra will conclude ESPN’s “My Home Court” initiative – a week-long celebration of college basketball’s greatest venues.
“All college basketball fans watch College GameDay,” La Salle head coach Dr. John Giannini said. “It’s a great honor and opportunity to be chosen from all the nation’s games to have ESPN’s coverage.
“The nation will see a great game in the most historic building in all of college basketball between two strong and tradition-rich rivals. It will also show fans everywhere the unmatched uniqueness of Philadelphia Big5 basketball.”
The two teams shared last year’s Big 5 title with 3-1 records and are located just under five miles apart in Philadelphia. The last 31 regular season meetings have been played on campus with the last Palestra meeting being played on January 4, 1989. Thirty-three of the 113 meetings all-time have been played on Penn’s campus.
For the 10th year, Rece Davis will serve as host for College GameDay. He will be joined by analysts Jay Bilas, Digger Phelps and Jalen Rose to preview all the day’s action and discuss the biggest storylines in college basketball.
“Over the past ten years, College GameDay and the Saturday Primetime series have become a weekly showcase of the best the sport has to offer and this year’s schedule promises to deliver a collection of the biggest and best games from across the country,” said Nick Dawson, Senior Director, ESPN Programming & Acquisitions. “There is no sport with more passionate fans than college basketball and there is no more passionate setting than a Saturday on-campus with GameDay and Saturday Primetime on-site.”
La Salle returns four starters from last year’s Sweet 16 team that finished #24 in the final USA Today/Coaches’ Poll.
Season tickets are on sale now by calling 215-951-1999 or emailing [email protected]. Prices are $350 for VIP seating (requires Explorer Fund donation), $275 for the gold plan and $200 for the blue plan. Young alumni (2009-13 La Salle graduates) and La Salle faculty/staff can pay $175 for the gold plan or $100 for the blue plan.
2014 ESPN College GameDay Covered by State Farm & Saturday Primetime Schedule
(Schedule subject to change)
|
Date |
GameDay Site |
Show Times (ET)* |
Game |
Time (ET) |
|
January 18 |
Philadelphia, Pa. Storrs, Conn. |
10 a.m. 8 p.m. |
Temple vs. La Salle Louisville at Connecticut |
Noon 9 p.m. |
|
January 25 |
East Lansing, Mich. |
10 a.m. & 6 p.m. |
Michigan at Michigan State |
7 p.m. |
|
February 1 |
Syracuse, N.Y. |
10 a.m. & 6 p.m. |
Duke at Syracuse |
6:30 p.m. |
|
February 8 |
Memphis, Tenn. |
10 a.m. & 8 p.m. |
Gonzaga at Memphis |
9 p.m. |
|
February 15 |
Lexington, Ky. |
10 a.m. & 8 p.m. |
Florida at Kentucky |
9 p.m. |
|
February 22 |
Boulder, Colo. or Palo Alto, Calif.^ |
10 a.m. & 8 p.m. |
Arizona at Colorado or UCLA at Stanford |
9 p.m. |
|
March 1 |
Stillwater, Okla. |
10 a.m. & 8 p.m. |
Kansas at Oklahoma State |
9 p.m. |
|
March 8 |
Durham, N.C. |
10 a.m. & 8 p.m. |
North Carolina at Duke |
9 p.m. |
* - The 10 a.m. hour is on ESPNU, continuing at 11 a.m. on ESPN; evening show is on ESPN
^ - Site for Feb. 22 will be announced closer to the game; game not selected will air at 6 p.m. on ESPN or ESPN2
About College GameDay Covered by State Farm
College GameDay Covered by State Farm debuted Jan. 22, 2005 from the University of Connecticut, the same season as the debut of the Saturday Primetime Presented by DIRECTV game-of-the-week. The eight-week road show is hosted by Rece Davis (since 2005) with analysts Jay Bilas (2005), Digger Phelps (2006) and Jalen Rose (2013). Forty-four different campuses have served as College GameDay sites, plus the ACC Tournament Semifinals (March 12, 2005), in a total of 71 stops through 2013. The largest crowd assembled for the show was 22,144 at Kentucky’s Rupp Arena, Feb. 10, 2010.
