PROVO, Utah – BYU hosted its ninth annual Football Media Day on Tuesday at the BYU Broadcasting Building ahead of the 2019 season and the 150th anniversary of college football.
More than 70 members of local and national media registered to attend the event and joined BYU administrators, coaches and players. BYU head coach Kalani Sitake and his assistant coaches were all in attendance. There were also 24 players from the 2019 squad who participated in interviews throughout the day.
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The day began with the live broadcast of The State of the Program on BYUtv and ESPN3. Dave McCann hosted the 60-minute show that featured BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe, head coach Kalani Sitake and members of the coaching staff discussing the current status of the team and expectations for the 2019 season.
ESPN football analyst Trevor Matich and College Football 150th Anniversary executive director Kevin Weiberg joined the program to discuss the 150 years of college football and BYU's impact on the game. The show concluded with BYU assistant athletic director of marketing David Almodova joining McCann and Weiberg to introduce a new game-day experience feature called Cougar Canyon along with a partnership with Tailgate Guys to provide premium tailgate services.
Cougar Canyon will be located directly west of the stadium and for three and a half hours prior to kickoff will provide various festivities for fans to enjoy. The partnership with Tailgate Guys, the nation's premium tailgating service, will allow BYU football fans and alumni to save time and simplify the game-day experience at LaVell Edwards Stadium through a variety of turnkey reserved tailgate package options.
BYUtv provided all-around coverage beginning at 8 a.m. with web chats and included a two-hour special of BYU Sports Nation which featured interviews with coaches and players. Following BYU Sports Nation, Greg Wrubell hosted a special edition broadcast of Behind the Mic on BYU Radio with one-on-one interviews live from media day.
A live broadcast of 150 Years of College Football: BYU's impact on the game on BYUtv and ESPN3 wrapped up the events for the day. Weiberg, Matich and ESPN senior writer & editor-at-large for ESPN CFB150 Ivan Maisel discussed in-depth the 150th anniversary of college football and the influence BYU has had on the game. The show specifically highlighted LaVell Edwards and his innovations in the passing game as well as BYU's role in pioneering early televised broadcasts.
BYU Football Media Day also had a significant presence on social media and the web with various outlets publishing content. The event had multiple topics that trended on Twitter throughout the day. In addition to English, several BYU players even did interviews in Spanish.
The players and coaches report for fall camp on July 30 with the first practice occurring July 31. The Cougars will begin the 2019 season with a home opener against rival Utah on Aug. 29 with kickoff at 8:15 p.m. MDT on ESPN.