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Winning an Emmy is one of the highest honors you can receive if you work in television, and while some members of the College GameDay crew were under the impression they’d joined that club, they’ve been forced to return trophies they didn’t actually earn courtesy of a scandal ESPN has found itself embroiled in.
College GameDay has been going strong since 1987 but really came into its own when the show started visiting campuses around the country every Saturday midway through the 1990s.
I don’t think there are many people out there who would deny its impressive influence and reputation, and there’s little doubt the folks at ESPN would point to the fact that it’s won a Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Studio Show on eight separate occasions to highlight its prestige.
However, the network recently ended up in hot water thanks to those honors.
According to The Athletic, a number of College GameDay personalities—including Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Chris Fowler, and Desmond Howard—have been forced to forfeit Emmy trophies they were given for their work after being informed they didn’t actually win them.
Now, to be clear, College GameDay did win all of the aforementioned awards. However, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (which oversees the Emmys) has rules that prevent on-air talent from receiving trophies that are reserved for members of the production crew (any hardware they’re given must be secured in categories for audience-facing personnel).
However, ESPN decided to skirt the rules by submitting the names of nonexistent College GameDay crew members who had a fair amount in common with actual personalities (i.e. “Dirk Howard” and “Steven Ponder”) to the Academy. Then, they had the trophies reengraved before presenting them to the hosts of the show (who reportedly had no knowledge of the strange scheme or the rule in question and simply assumed they were eligible).
The outlet reports College GameDay was ineligible for nomination in 2023 because of the ruse (which has led to the repossession of 37 statuettes) and multiple producers can no longer be considered due to the role they played.