Oregon Ducks

Divine interception? Pope visit reportedly affecting CFB coverage in one city

Published Sep. 26, 2015 2:34 p.m. ET

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Since politics and college football have mixed lately (with Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush stepping in it because of recent comments), why not throw religion into the mix?

With Pope Francis making his first visit to the United States the week, the pontiff has toured Washington D.C., New York City and is now in Philadelphia for the weekend. While he is busy spreading his message to the millions who have flocked to see him, he is also having an impact on people in the City of Brotherly Love who want to watch college football, but can’t since all local stations are in Pope coverage mode (it’s a thing . . . trust me). According to College Football Talk:

Notre Dame’s home game against UMass is being moved from NBC n Philadelphia to the My Network TV affiliate . . . it is not often Notre Dame football gets moved from its NBC home, but when the Pope comes to town even the Irish give up their seat.

Other college football games in Philadelphia are also being moved around. The Florida-Tennessee game appearing on CBS is moving over to CW this afternoon. WPVI, the ABC affiliate in Philadelphia, will still air the Michigan-BYU game, but that broadcast will be joined an hour into the game at 1 p.m. eastern. The mid-afternoon Virginia Tech-East Carolina game and Arizona-UCLA game scheduled to appear in primetime on ABC tonight will be moved to the Live Well Network, which means a number of college football fans may learn today that they have the Live Well Network.

Fans hoping to catch Texas Tech-TCU or Oregon-Utah on FOX today in Philadelphia look to be out of luck. The local FOX affiliate in Philadelphia will not carry either game today in lieu of Pope coverage. There are no broadcast alternatives available on TV either.

So, if you are reading this site in the city of Philadelphia . . . sorry.

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