Utah AD Mark Harlan on ‘College GameDay,’ late kickoffs and more

It’s an exciting week for the University of Utah.

The No. 10 Utes, one of just six college football teams that are still undefeated, are gearing up for the biggest game of their season so far — a late-night matchup against No. 14 Houston.

Saturday’s Utah-Houston clash is one of the premier games on the Week 8 schedule and is one of just two ranked-vs-ranked games on the slate, No. 7 Ole Miss at No. 19 Texas being the other. Since “College GameDay” already visited Austin this year and Texas lost last week, it made Salt Lake City a no-brainer choice for the traveling pregame show.

The “GameDay” production crew won’t have to travel very far to set up shop. After airing live from BYU ahead of the Cougars’ win over Notre Dame, “GameDay” will make the short drive up I-15 to set up in Salt Lake City for the third time in four years.

“GameDay,” which draws millions of viewers each week, will essentially be a three-hour advertisement for the university and the football program.

“Anytime we get to show off our campus and our student body and everything’s great about Salt Lake City, University of Utah, I think it’s fantastic for the nation to see,” said Utah coach Morgan Scalley

While “GameDay” presents another good opportunity to pitch Utah to the nation, the best pitch for the program won’t come on the pregame show, it’ll come during the game.

“I think the biggest recruiting tool you have is winning games,” Scalley said. “That’s the biggest recruiting tool you have. So our players understand that it’s all about game day and what they do on the field and the best thing they can do to maximize the ”College GameDay" experience is to win.”

“... Yes, it can be a lot of fun, but ultimately at the end of the day, it’s only fun if you win that game.”

Hosting “GameDay” has become old hat for the University of Utah.

Saturday will mark the seventh “GameDay” broadcast from Utah’s campus. In 2004, the first time the show originated from Utah, Scalley was a senior safety and ESPN’s pregame show kicked off a day that saw Utah close out an 11-0 regular season with a 52-21 pummeling of BYU.

“If you want to know who the first rhino was, it was Steve Fifita. He scored a touchdown in that game as they handed the ball off to him,” Scalley said, referring to the defensive tackle’s punctuating touchdown in that game.

Two decades later, Scalley is the head coach of Utah and “GameDay” is coming back yet again.

“I really want to thank coach Scalley and this staff and this football team for giving us this incredible opportunity with ESPN ‘GameDay’ coming in,” said Utah athletic director Mark Harlan. “I think it’s remarkable. There’s not a lot of schools out there that have been able to host three of the last four years. There’s some in the Big Ten and SEC would dream of that, but we’ve got it here at Utah.”

Utah has always had a good crowd for the ESPN pregame show, and the expectation is that it’ll be a packed background at Presidents Circle on Saturday morning. The show starts at 7 a.m. MDT and runs until 10 a.m. The final hour features Rece Davis, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, Nick Saban and Kirk Herbstreit, along with a to-be-announced guest, selecting the day’s games.

The show is free to attend and there will be free parking available.

“GameDay” broadcasting from the state of Utah two weeks in a row speaks volumes to the excellent programs in the Beehive State.

“I think what’s going on in the state of Utah in football is remarkable,” Harlan said. “That story I imagine is going to be told pretty profoundly. To have two teams here in the top 10 in this era is just incredible. Listen, we all know, I mean, I’m really close with Kalani (Sitake). He’s awesome.

“And what Morgan’s doing, I mean, it’s remarkable. I’m on the CFP (committee), so I’m watching every game, but I certainly have been watching them and watching a lot of other teams. But to see both teams win in this way and be undefeated, it’s remarkable.”

As exciting as it is for “GameDay” to be in Salt Lake City, it’ll make for a long day for Utah fans. Kickoff for Saturday is set for 8:15 p.m. MDT on ESPN.

Saturday will mark the fourth time this season that Utah has been scheduled for an 8:15 p.m. kickoff. Three of those games have come at home, though the Kansas game scheduled for 8:15 p.m. was moved up to 6 p.m. due to forecasted inclement weather.

The Pac-12 built a brand on “after dark” games, but the conference actually had rules about how many late-night games each team could play. In the Big 12, there is no such rule, and as a result, West Coast teams like Utah and BYU bear the brunt of games with late starts.

Harlan acknowledges that the constant late-night starts are a sacrifice by fans.

“I also want to take a moment to just thank our fans. Our fans have been so incredible. I recognize that as happy as I was, quite candidly, about ‘GameDay’ coming, I was equally as disappointed that we got another night game on ESPN,” Harlan said. “I like our record at night and I know our players love playing at night, but I know that is a sacrifice and I just want to acknowledge that.”

Harlan has talked to television partners and Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark about spreading out the late-night games.

ESPN and Fox reportedly paid $2.28 billion over six years for the TV rights to the Big 12 Conference, and with that money comes the ability to dictate game times. It’s a bit puzzling that ESPN is broadcasting one of the best games of the week at 10:15 p.m. eastern time, but the network is doing what is best for it and making sure there’s football on from dawn to dusk.

The conference turned over control of game times to the television networks as part of the billion-dollar deal. As a result, the conference and its members are beholden to the decisions of the network.

“Listen, it’s such a tough balance. We came into the conference, we inherited the deal, and so I understand it. In some ways the Pac-12 Conference was a little restrictive for the networks because we used to hear from them. Our biggest financier is ESPN and Fox, and they’re great partners. They recognize that this is a lot. This is a lot to have four eight o’clock games,” Harlan said.

Harlan said that Utah didn’t arrive home from its 8:15 p.m. game against Colorado until 5 a.m. Sunday. Arkansas arrived back at its facility at 8 a.m. Sunday following its game at Utah.

“It’s not easy for these young people to turn around and recover and that is a significant issue. We got home at 5 a.m. on Sunday. That stuff matters, but ESPN had the first pick this week and they picked the Utes and that’s just where it went,” Harlan said.

Harlan is also concerned about the fans having to deal with the late-night games, though it hasn’t hurt support. Rice-Eccles Stadium is set for its 100th straight sellout on Saturday and the Utah-Houston game is the most expensive ticket on the college football secondary market this week.

“Listen, we’re complaining about something, but what my concern is really is just the fans. Too many of those start to really add up,” Harlan said.

For what it’s worth, Utah’s game next week at Cincinnati is set for a 1:45 p.m. MDT kickoff on ESPN or ESPN2. The Utes return home the following week for what could be one of the most important rivalry games ever against BYU.

“I will say, be ready. The BYU game could very well likely be a six-day selection. So we may not know what’s going to happen there down the line for a bit,” Harlan said.

Other items of note from Harlan’s meeting with the media

On what has impressed him during Scalley’s first season as head coach

“I would say everything he’s done has been even more than I would’ve expected and I expected a lot. I think the thing that I really appreciate is the relationships and the culture in the program. Guys doing the right things, guys going to class, really focusing in on what they need to do.

“They’ve had some on-field adversity that they’ve just managed their way through. So all of that is really remarkable. Also how he’s integrated new staff into the system. I talked to those guys how they say this is one of the greatest places they’ve ever come and coached. So it’s all good. There’s going to always be tough moments ahead because it’s college football, but I can tell you that with him, I have no worries that we’re absolutely headed in a terrific direction.”

On Crimson Brand Partners, Utah’s new for-profit company created as part of private equity deal

“For CBP, I’m thrilled by the start. This is a journey, multiple-year journey. I think (CBP CEO) Matt Webb and his team have done a great job collaborating with all of us to really, what we said all along, is to create the best possible experience.

“We’re trying stuff at football. We’ll start seeing that in basketball. Some stuff’s working, some stuff doesn’t work. That’s what you do. You’ll see the debut of the new north end zone field suites this weekend. We decided to move it up a week and have some people try it out, see what we learn before the actual folks that bought those seats for the next game.

“Obviously in-game production, quality, they’re surveying how they’re really talking to fans. I mean, this group is primarily all from NFL, NBA and MLB. They’re up to 70 people. We used to have 16 people on it. They’ve got 70. Quantity is important, but quality too. So we’re starting to see a lot of lift on that. Certainly some of the deals they’ve done have been great.”

On Rice-Eccles Stadium renovations

“We’re just going to continue to work with (Crimson Brand Partners). Just so you know, that’s a joint university and CBP investment, so it’s not $40 million just from them. It’s kind of split down the middle in terms of the way we look. We’ll continue to work with them just like we’re going to work with them on the Huntsman renovation project that we’re still chipping away at. It’d be crazy not to because they’re coming from a lot of places they’ve built, a lot of facilities and the jobs they’ve been into.

“It’s a constant collaborative conversation, but it’s also starting to have conversations with the Olympic organizers too, right? I mean, it’s amazing. It’s eight years away, but sometimes it feels like it’s 10 minutes away. So as we look at our facilities going forward, we’re having multiple conversations to see if we can hit the mark.

“It’s always going to be important in Utah. Sports teams that will compete here all the time are the No. 1 priority, but we got to take a good look at everything when we’re renovating going forward.”

On if Utah has any interest in scheduling Notre Dame

“Well, we’d always be interested, but it’s just we’re really locked. Not that I don’t worry about the phone ringing from Baton Rouge (LSU) to get out of a game or Madison (Wisconsin) or where else, I can go on and on, but the phone’s not ringing.

Right now I think with the situation of having to play 10 games (Power Four commissioners are discussing moving to 10 conference games with CFP expansion), to flip from one to another is a challenge. Jeff Rudy still is handling our scheduling and does a great job and he’s done a really good job. But this is also something, to your point, is how far in advance do you schedule, right? You don’t want to go too far because you might have opportunities that come up, but we’re in a good spot.”