Jason Sudeikis is trading Richmond's locker room for Notre Dame's campus. The Emmy-winning Ted Lasso star has been tapped as the guest picker for ESPN's College GameDay ahead of the Fighting Irish's showdown with Miami, a selection rooted in a family history that stretches back generations in South Bend.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Athletics made the announcement on social media, according to abc57.com. The outlet reports the show is coming to town Saturday, November 7, ahead of Notre Dame's game against top-ranked Miami. A separate report from sports.yahoo.com states College GameDay will air live from 9 a.m. to noon ET that same Saturday from Notre Dame's campus in South Bend, Indiana. Other reporting, including from the seed article at LehighValleyLive.com, had listed the broadcast for Saturday, October 24, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. local time — a discrepancy in the reporting that has not been resolved.
A Family Built on Golden Domes
For Sudeikis, this isn't just a gig — it's personal. He said on the Pat McAfee Show that the Irish has always been “big in my family,” per mlive.com. Though his parents are from Chicago, Sudeikis's maternal grandfather graduated from Notre Dame, and his uncle, actor George Wendt, best known for playing Norm on Cheers, attended the university.
Sudeikis's own history with the Irish goes back decades. He told usatoday.com, “My very first Notre Dame football game I went to was Oct. 15, 1988 – the ‘Catholics vs. Convicts’ game.” He also attended basketball camp on campus in sixth grade, a memory he shared on the Pat McAfee Show: “I went to the basketball camp there in 6th grade.”
An Uncle's Unfinished Notre Dame Story
The family's Notre Dame ties even carry a bit of lore involving Wendt's time on campus, though accounts differ on exactly how it ended. USA Today reports that Wendt “attended Notre Dame but was expelled his junior year.” Sudeikis offered a different account on the Pat McAfee Show, saying, “My uncle George, the actor, George Wendt, Norm on Cheers, he went to Notre Dame and dropped out after his junior year.”
The GameDay Crew Heads to South Bend
Whichever version of Wendt's exit is accurate, the Sudeikis family's connection to Notre Dame made him an easy pick for the guest-picker chair. College GameDay airs on ESPN with Rece Davis returning as host, joined at the desk by analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban. The 2026 cast also includes college football insider Pete Thamel, analyst “Stanford Steve” Coughlin, and reporters Jen Lada and Jess Sims.
The broadcast's trip to South Bend sets the stage for a marquee matchup between Notre Dame and Miami, with Sudeikis set to make his picks alongside the panel before kickoff. For a guy whose first taste of Notre Dame football came watching the Catholics vs. Convicts game as a kid, sitting at the GameDay desk ahead of a top-ranked Miami visit brings his family's decades-long tie to the Golden Dome full circle.
