ESPN’s “College GameDay” is moving indoors on Saturday.
The upcoming rendition of the college football pregame show set to take place at Alabama is forced to stray away from its traditional outdoor programming due to the impending hurricane expected to slam the area in the coming days.
Hurricane Isaias, which was upgraded to a Category 2 storm Thursday evening, is on a direct path to make landfall on the coasts of Florida, Alabama and Mississippi and is expected to bring extreme weather to the area.
To prepare for the storms, “GameDay” will be hosted inside Coleman Coliseum on Alabama’s campus, and the show is expected to run as usual, according to an announcement from ESPN.
This is not the first time ESPN has been forced to move its flagship college football program indoors this season, with “GameDay” having to temporarily relocate to LSU’s student union in Week 1 because of nearby lightning strikes.
As for Saturday’s SEC matchup between Alabama and Georgia, the game is still on for 7:30 p.m. ET, but the impending hurricane could affect that.
Amid the storms, officials from both Alabama and the SEC say that the hurricane will be closely monitored throughout the upcoming days.
“Alabama athletics continues to closely monitor the weather forecast ahead of Saturday’s football game, with the safety and well-being of the student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans as our highest priority,” the university said in a statement Wednesday night. “We remain in close communication with the National Weather Service, the Southeastern Conference office and the University of Georgia as we observe conditions.
“At this time, kickoff remains scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. We continue to encourage fans to rely on official Alabama athletics and SEC channels for the latest information regarding Saturday’s game.”
