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AUSTIN, Texas – Just outside the Circuit of the Americas, there’s a large, multi-colored billboard.
On the right side, against a black background, are the Formula One logo, Sting and Eminem’s concert dates, and the Texas Longhorns and Georgia Bulldogs logos. Written on the left is a phrase displayed in various parts of Austin this weekend: “Biggest Weekend Ever.”
The United States Grand Prix has been held during the college football season since COTA joined the calendar in 2012 (with the exception of 2022, when COVID-19 impacted the Formula 1 schedule). The two sports have competed in Austin on the same weekends before, such as in 2013 when Texas lost to Oklahoma State, in 2015 when it beat Kansas State and a 2017 overtime loss to Oklahoma State.
But this weekend’s game, in which the top-ranked Longhorns host the No. 5 Bulldogs, is one of the biggest college football showdowns of the year, with two Southeastern Conference teams set to face off.
ESPN’s College GameDay is in town as well, and the media company is planning plenty of crossover between F1 and college football this weekend, as are live SportsCenter segments from COTA and The Elle Duncan Show also on site. Legendary football coach Nick Saban He made a hot lap on Fridayand Jess Sims tested the knowledge of several American college football drivers, including Lando Norris.
It’s a weekend like nothing Formula 1 has seen, especially since the popularity boom.
“It’s really exciting to see these two cultures blend because they’re great. The iconic American college football and Formula One racing are great,” said Drew Martin, Texas Athletics’ senior executive director of external affairs. “It’s really unique and really special sporting cultures, and to watch them come together on a weekend like this, there’s nowhere else in the world that this happens.”
College football, especially within the SEC, is a different beast.
Sure, you have the typical tailgates and ritual chants. But Texas has upped the ante, with the university reinventing what gameday looks like in Austin. “When you come to a University of Texas football game, you’re going to get the best of Austin culture, which starts with the live music capital (of the world),” Martin said.
The Longhorns hold a pre-game concert at Longhorn City Limits, which leans into the city’s street festival culture, such as Bevo Boulevard. Then there’s Smokey Midway, a reference to the state fair.
“It’s the best football playing environment in the country, even though it’s unconventional,” Martin added. “It’s not your huge acreage, your acreage, your backyard lot. It’s a giant three-ring circus, really.
And when College GameDay comes to town, it adds a little to the chaos. Texas received notice more than a week in advance, but this is the fifth time in seven years that the university has hosted the production. It’s a massive logistical feat regardless, Martin says, but given the relationships they’ve built over the years, “it’s more of a known entity of what they need, what they expect, how to activate it around the show, how to draw a fan base because we’re not going to start that match until 7: 30 PM ET.
Jess Sims interviews Lando Norris for ESPN. (via ESPN)
It will be a marathon day – College GameDay for three hours in the morning, and then the festivities will begin.
“I know Europeans are particularly fond of college football, especially the halftime show. It’s surprising, but we have groups from Europe that come when there’s a college football game because it adds to the special weekend,” said Bobby Epstein, president of COTA. “And they, in particular, love the band’s halftime shows. “And that’s something we might take for granted here, but the pomp and circumstance and all the fun surrounding a college football atmosphere is something so uniquely American that we know our visitors from abroad by that. way and we look for that on the weekends just to elevate the overall experience.”
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Between the Texas-Georgia game and Formula 1, Epstein expects “at least a quarter of a million people that night in downtown Austin” by Saturday. Martin believes more than 100,000 people will be on the college’s downtown Austin campus that night.
Formula 1 qualifying runs from 5-6pm Cairo time, and the college football game will start at 6:30pm Cairo time, making it a tight detour for those attending both sporting events. There’s no added stress when it comes to security or traffic management; COTA Stadium and Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium are about 17.5 miles away (if you use toll roads). But Eminem’s concert will take place that evening as well.
Oscar Piastri visited the Longhorns’ outfield this week. (via McLaren)
Saturday’s lineup is packed, but COTA has created another ticket package option for football fans called the ‘Split the Uprights Package’. “Tickets sold out on Saturday, largely due to Eminem,” Epstein said, but there was still availability for Friday and Sunday. It’s a Friday-Sunday general admission ticket package that costs less – $289. According to COTA, this is cheaper than individual tickets for each day.
“I think most hotels are three or four nights minimum,” Epstein said. “So, if you’re a Georgia fan coming to this event, you’re like, ‘What else am I going to do the rest of the weekend?’ Well, you can buy Friday and Sunday. Get out to the track.”
Martin said talks about the package began in the spring, but it “came to fruition very late in the process, as we started defining what availability looked like, how we were able to operationalize that, and knowing that as people moved forward relative to the match, there was going to be a lot of demand.” .
He added: “Texas football tickets are sold on a seasonal basis, so we knew that we would not have any individual stock of tickets for this match, and the ability to attend later in the lead-up to the weekend, with the added opportunity to enjoy both activities.” Both sporting events are really attractive.
Doing a Saturday like this requires cooperation.
“The first reaction was a deep breath of a huge, huge, international Formula 1 race, not just a little soccer match, but it has massive national implications with this match specifically with the SEC,” Martin said. “I think it was a very deep breath. How are we going to handle this?”
University of Texas Athletics and Circuit of the Americas have begun discussing how to work together. Some factors are beyond their control, such as restaurant availability and skyrocketing hotel prices. “Some of these things are inevitable when you put two huge sporting events on the same weekend,” Martin said. But the challenges extend beyond the downtown area. Due to the large number of flights coming into the metropolitan area, air traffic control is diverting some flights.
This is an important weekend for Austin, as fans from around the world flock to Texas for two of the biggest events on both sports’ calendars. Formula 1 is locked in a title battle as the first of the year’s final six races gets under way, and a new technical controversy is unfolding at COTA. Meanwhile, the Longhorns want to continue proving their value during their first year in the SEC and hold on to their No. 1 position.
“Either it scares you, or you worry about what may or may not go wrong, or you can accept it and say, ‘The whole world will be watching Austin, Texas, on the weekend of October 19.’”
“This is exciting.”
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Top photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
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