Josh Pate sends strong message on college football games played internationally

Josh Pate blasts overseas games, saying college football’s soul belongs on campus

College football analyst Josh Pate spoke at length about the problems of playing games internationally, such as last year's ISU vs. KSU game, which was played in Dublin's Aviva Stadium. | INPHO via Imagn Images

College football's self-appointed commissioner, Josh Pate, did not mince words. On Thursday’s episode of his College Football Show podcast, the analyst delivered a blistering, extended monologue aimed at the sport’s growing push to stage regular-season games overseas.

“International college football games are among the dumbest things that decision makers in this sport, who are very prone to dumbness, do. International college football is dead on arrival as a concept to me,” Pate said, framing the issue as an integrity question rather than a marketing opportunity.

The spark was a report outlining a multi-year “Union Jack Classic” at London’s Wembley Stadium. In Pate’s telling, the idea is not merely flawed. It cuts against the core of the sport. He argued the appeal of college football is inseparable from campus life, in-stadium rituals, and regional identity.

“What makes college football great? College. That’s what makes college football great. Campuses. That’s what makes college football great,” he said, contending that exporting midseason conference games strips the product of the context that gives it meaning.

Pate’s tone hardened as he addressed the Wembley plan and the broader trend line. “I don’t care how dumb you think it is, Kenneth. It’s dumber. No matter how dumb you think this is, it is dumber,” he said, recounting a listener question about sending more games overseas.

He added that while he understands the financial motivations, “there is a line in the sand past which you sacrifice the very integrity of the product you’re looking to cash in on.”

Pate’s Case Against Overseas Games And The Wembley Plan

Pate situated his critique in the week’s news: a Post and Courier report of a multi-year deal to stage the Union Jack Classic at Wembley, beginning with Kansas vs. Arizona State. The game, slotted for Week 3 rather than a kickoff showcase, is designed as a Big 12-branded foray into England. Pate’s response was unequivocal. “Now, I already know how dumb that sounds to you, but trust me, it’s a whole lot dumber,” he said.

His core argument is cultural, not logistical. Pate believes the sport’s “magic” does not travel well because it is embedded in place. “They’ve seen the best athletes playing this sport in the world,” he said of European fans used to the NFL’s London slate.

“They have no clue about the tradition and pageantry you speak of about college football. All they’re seeing is a second-rate football product on the field.” The comparison he makes is deliberate: NFL games abroad export the top tier of the sport; college football abroad exports something that, without campus culture, reads as a lesser version.

Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham and the Sun Devils will play the Kansas Jayhawks in London next year. | Arianna Grainey-Imagn Images

He also pushed back at comparisons to global soccer tours. “European soccer teams come here all the time. Pro soccer teams come here all the time,” Pate said. “What teams? Did you say pro teams? Oh, yeah. You mean kind of like the pro football teams that we send over there to play?”

The point, he argued, is that college football’s essence — the bands, the student sections, the stadium traditions, the regional rivalries — cannot be recreated at a neutral, midseason venue thousands of miles from home. “You cannot take college football to Europe because once you take the product off campus, you have removed the college portion of the football,” he said. “What they’re sending them over there is just football. It’s not college football.”

Pate even drew a line to his own operation, saying he routinely turns down money-making opportunities that would undercut his show’s identity. “We’ve had meetings just this afternoon for this very show where we left large sums of money on the table,” he said. “We would sacrifice the integrity of the show in the process of the payday, which makes it not worth it.”

The Union Jack Classic In Context And What Comes Next

The Wembley idea arrives as the Big 12 leans into international branding under commissioner Brett Yormark. According to the report, the Union Jack Classic is part of a multi-year push that could also include other league matchups abroad.

Pate’s pushback underscores the tension at the heart of this strategy: exposure versus essence. He argued that taking a conference game off campus in Week 3 — while league races are taking shape — decontextualizes the very stakes that make the sport compelling. Neutral fields, he suggested, are launch pads or capstones in limited doses, not midseason stages for league positioning.

The sport’s history abroad is longer than many realize, and it contains both curiosities and successes. Early international contests date to 1874 with Harvard and McGill, and later chapters include the Bacardi Bowl in Havana and a decades-long run of late-season games in Tokyo.

College football analyst Josh Pate spoke passionately about what makes the sport unique and how it doesn't translate internationally. | James Lang-Imagn Images

Europe has hosted a mix of one-offs and the modern Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, which has drawn strong crowds and garnered significant TV coverage in the United States. Those examples, though, typically sit at the edges of the calendar and, critically, are sold as unique events — not as routine, mid-September conference fixtures.

Pate’s rhetorical edge drew from more than tradition talk. He argued perception matters. To a London fan base familiar with the NFL, seeing college teams without their campus frameworks risks casting the sport as the junior version of American football.

“Those guys look smaller than the pro guys. They look a little bit slower. They drop more footballs. Why are we watching this? That’s the European mind,” he said, imagining the reaction from a crowd with little context for college rivalries or pageantry.

He did offer a path he’d support: invite international fans to the source. “Go get folks from Europe, bring them over here,” Pate said. “Take them to Athens or to Columbus or Ann Arbor and show them that… That’s college football.” In his view, growing the game means exporting the experience through visitors — not exporting the schedule.

Pate ended where he began: on principle. “International college football is dead on arrival as a concept to me,” he said. “That’s all I have to say on the matter.”

The Union Jack Classic’s first edition is scheduled to feature Kansas and Arizona State at Wembley Stadium on Sept. 19, 2026.