The College Football Playoff National Championship pitting No. 1 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia is set to kick off Monday at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ESPN, the hub of the network’s “MegaCast” coverage across 13 brands and platforms including Spanish-language ESPN Deportes, the ESPN app, the SEC Network and ESPN Radio.
The game, from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, pits Alabama, looking to repeat as champions after winning in three of their past five appearances in the title game, against rival Georgia, this after the Crimson Tide beat the Bulldogs in the SEC championship game December 4 — Alabama’s seventh consecutive win against their conference rivals (that win streak includes a 26-23 victory in the 2018 title game).
Pre-game coverage begins with Championship Drive followed by the network’s flagship College GameDay led by host Rece Davis and analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, David Pollack and Lee Corso.
On social media, the pregame includes Countdown to the College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T 5G which begins at 6:30 p.m. ET across Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and the ESPN app with contributions from Christine Williamson, Gary Striewski, Jason Fitz, Skubie Mageza, Harry Douglas and Mike Golic Jr.
On ESPN, Chris Fowler and Herbstreit will handle play-by-play and commentary for call their eighth CFP National Championship telecast together, with Holly Rowe and Molly McGrath handling sideline reporting. Sean McDonough and Todd Blackledge will handle the call for ESPN Radio. ESPN Deportes has Eduardo Varela, Pablo Viruega and Rebeca Landa as its announcing team.
Among ESPN’s coverage setups during the game include Film Room on ESPN2, featuring Texas A&M’s head coach Jimbo Fisher and his staff and ESPN college football analyst Dusty Dvoracek providing insight during the game (Texas A&M beat Alabama earlier this year for the Tide’s only loss). Command Center on ESPNU will feature a multi-angle presentation, statistics and real-time drive charts. ESPNNEWS will offer SkyCast, with Anish Shroff and Kelly Stouffer providing commentary and context out of commercial breaks above the action and behind the offense on most plays; the viewing option will also be available in 4K on Comcast, DirecTV, YouTube TV and Verizon.
On Hometown Radio, fans can listen to the local radio broadcast of each team, with their audio feed synced up with ESPN’s presentation. SEC Network will carry the Alabama feed in the first half and the Georgia feed in the second half, with both radio broadcasts available in full on the ESPN app.
The ESPN app will also feature All-22, with a vantage point above the field of play in which all 22 players can be seen at all times. Commentary will be provided by the national ESPN Radio broadcast, which will be available on more than 400 stations in addition to the ESPN App, ESPNRadio.com, SiriusXM, Apple Music, iHeartRadio and TuneIn.
In all, about 100 cameras and 100 microphones will be used to present the game, ESPN said.
