LAWRENCE, Kan. – It will be a weekend to remember on The Hill starting Thursday as ESPN’s College GameDay will roll into town for the first time ever to set up the matchup between No. 19 Kansas vs. No. 17 TCU in front of a third-straight sold-out crowd at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
The flagship college football show will set up shop on The Hill, northeast of the Campanile with the stage facing southwest.
The festivities officially begin Thursday at 2 p.m., when the Home Depot Bus pulls into town on the south end of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Kansas fans are encouraged to be there Thursday afternoon to greet the GameDay bus and welcome it to Lawrence.
The stage will be setup all day Friday with television segments being filmed beginning at 6:45 a.m.
Pat McAfee will host his show live on set at 12 p.m., for an hour with fans welcome to attend. ESPN’s College Football Live will then be broadcast live at 2 p.m., with Jen Lada, Desmond Howard and David Pollack.
Following the 30-minute show, fans are encouraged to head to the bottom of the hill to send off the football team as the Jayhawks depart for their team hotel Friday afternoon.
On Saturday, GameDay will take over as the primary attraction on The Hill with the “pit” opening for fans at 5:30 a.m. The following items are not permitted in the pit: Bags (of any kind), food and drinks, pens, pencils, markers or dry erase boards and signs on sticks. Those rules pertain only to the pit, not the general fan area.
Parking lots will open at 6 a.m. for those with valid football parking passes in the tailgating lots around David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
Those without valid football parking permits should plan to park on the south side of campus or in the two downtown parking garages (8th and Vermont and 6th and New Hampshire) and take the football shuttle to the stadium. The shuttle stops on campus are lot 72 (Burge Union) and lot 34 (Price Computing Center), and for this game, will begin running at 6 a.m.
The shuttle will make return trips from the stadium to the south side of campus and downtown after kickoff.
Parking is available on campus without a permit in lots 90, 125, 127, 70, 71, and the Central District parking garage. All parking near the stadium will be closed to vehicular traffic beginning Friday evening and overnight.
Admission into College GameDay is free, and no tickets are required.
Leading up to College GameDay, there will be live SportsCenter segments on set at 6:45 a.m., and 7:30 a.m.
College GameDay will then go live at 8 a.m., and will broadcast until 11 a.m. Fans are encouraged to make signs to hold up in the crowd during the broadcast. GameDay does not allow vulgar signs, .com, .net, .org, political or religious signs. All signs brought to the taping will be inspected before entry and must abide by College GameDay’s sign policies.
The show will be set on The Hill for the first two-plus hours, before moving inside to Memorial Stadium for the final few segments, leading into KU’s game with TCU, set for 11 a.m., on FS1.
Fans are encouraged to download their game tickets prior to arriving at the stadium to expedite the entry process. Additionally, with portions of K-10 and 23rd street undergoing construction, fans are encouraged to arrive early to avoid delays and seek alternate routes.
