ESPN announced it’s College Football 150 initiative back in August of 2017. It is a promotion throughout 2019 celebrating the 150th anniversary of college football. Today, the network dropped the first trailer for the celebration and two docuseries, The American Game and The Greatest, celebrating the sport’s history.
The American Game will debut on September 17, 2019. The 11-episode series will explore the history and evolution of the game. Some of the topics explored in The American Game will include the Heisman Trophy, how the sport picks its national championship, and college football’s relationship with the NFL.
The Greatest sounds similar to the old ESPN Classic show Who’s Number 1. It will be dedicated to counting down a variety of different college football subjects including uniforms, rivalry games, and voices of the game. The Greatest will debut on September 19, 2019.
The Herzog Company will produce the two series. That is the same company behind CNN’s hit decade-themed documentaries. You can see the trailer below.
One of the interesting things about the trailer is noticing former ESPN personalities that have left the network for other opportunities (ie Erin Andrews) and Fox personalities (ie Charles Davis). It appears that ESPN wants to do the same thing with college football that it has done for basketball with its Basketball: A Love Story docuseries, bringing in the biggest, most relevant voices regardless of network affiliation.
ESPN is quick to point out in its press release that the debut dates for The American Game and The Greatest are just the first of many announcements to come regarding the College Football 150 campaign. The network will being its College Football 150 programming on January 2, 2019.
