This is awesome.

One of the weird quirks of COVID-19 is that various sporting events have been moved around on the calendar, resulting in an overlap that doesn’t happen during a typical year. As such, The Masters will be played during college football season, which already resulted in the biggest football weekend in Augusta GA history, but now, to top it off, College Gameday is going to broadcast live from Augusta National:

Fred Ridley, Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, announced today the 2020 Masters Tournament, scheduled for November 9-15, will provide an expansive slate of content across multiple platforms, including ESPN’s College GameDay airing live from Augusta National on Saturday, November 14. 

“Given the circumstances brought about by the pandemic, the delivery of quality content is as important as ever to the storytelling of the Masters Tournament,” said Ridley. “While we will dearly miss our patrons at Augusta National this fall, we are excited to showcase what promises to be a truly memorable Masters in a variety of ways for viewers around the world.”

One such way is the addition of College GameDay, which is scheduled to take place from 9 a.m. – Noon before the live CBS broadcast of the third round. The studio will be staged overlooking Ike’s Pond and the 9th green of the Par 3 course.

Words can’t explain how big this is for the city of Augusta, pandemic or not. The #1 thing in the CSRA (Central Savannah River Area) is The Masters golf tournament, and the #2 thing is Georgia Bulldogs football (though there are a huge number of Carolina Gamecock fans living on the border, too). To play The Masters on a college football weekend, then bring College Gameday to Augusta National is the greatest confluence of sporting events to ever grace the Disgusta Augusta. That city is all about golf and college football and everything else is a DISTANT third.

The Philadelphia equivalent would be the Phillies hosting game seven of the World Series on the same day that the Eagles beat the Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field, on the same day of the Penn Relays and Live Aid. Everybody would take off from work and it would be a ridiculous party atmosphere around town.

Ike’s Pond, where the set will be located, is a pretty cool location. It’s on the Par 3 course, and the 8th and 9th holes both play around it, which makes for some nice shots like this, courtesy Golf Advisor:

Georgia and Carolina are both on the road on November 14th, playing at Missouri and Ole’ Miss. There are a good chunk of Clemson fans in Augusta as well, but the Tigers look to have a bye that week. The best game on November 14th right now looks to be Wisconsin/Michigan, though Notre Dame/BC and Miami/Virginia Tech look like good matchups also.