ESPN ‘College GameDay’ Stars Forced to Return Emmys After Fake Name Scheme, per Report

One of ESPN's flagship programs is reportedly in hot water for violating the rules of engagement in the cutthroat world of sports television awards.

According to a Thursday morning report from Katie Strang of The Athletic, College GameDay has been forced to return 37 Emmys to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) after investigations revealed that ESPN had submitted bogus names for award consideration—presumably to circumvent NATAS rules governing who can win awards.

Per the report, the scheme dated to at least 2010, and resulted in “[stars] Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Chris Fowler, Desmond Howard and Samantha Ponder, among others” being given Emmys they were not eligible to win.

ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’ was the focus of the reported scheme to land network talent additional Emmy trophies.

Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports

Under NATAS rules, on-air talent was not eligible to win two awards for the same work until 2023. For instance, Herbstreit could win for his work as an analyst but he could not win an award won by College GameDay as a program.

To rectify this, according to Strang, ESPN would take the Emmys given to the nonexistent persons they submitted to NATAS as “associate producers”—often similar in name to actual on-air talent; for instance, “Kirk Henry” and “Lee Clark” for Herbstreit and Corso—and give them to its stars, later re-engraving the correct names on the statuettes.

Per Strang, no evidence exists the show's on-air personalities were aware of the scheme.

"This was a misguided attempt to recognize on-air individuals who were important members of our production team. Once current leadership was made aware, we apologized to NATAS for violating guidelines and worked closely with them to completely overhaul our submission process to safeguard against anything like this happening again," ESPN said in a statement.

ESPN vice president Craig Lazarus, former senior vice president Lee Fitting and College GameDay coordinating producer Drew Gallagher have been “ruled ineligible from future Emmy participation,” per the report.

College GameDay as a show has won eight Emmys for Outstanding Studio Show, most recently in 2018.