At the tailgate for yesterday’s game, I decided to stop by Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff set shortly before it went on-air. Over the next hour, their production team begged people using gift cards and Xbox’s to cheer louder, and they paid people with $5 gift cards to hold signs or team flags that production supplied. Very little of the cheering was authentic - most was staged ahead of time by the producers.

For the cold open to the show, they pre-recorded a cheesy clip with an actor in a Stroud jersey painting a stuffed Nittany lion scarlet that was saved by a PSU fan in the crowd. The crowd was told exactly how the cold open would happen and when to cheer or boo. They ended up doing three full takes to get the cold open right - by the third take the audience was audibly groaning for them to stop the nonsense.

I wouldn’t recommend anyone go out of their way to attend Big Noon Kickoff unless you’re looking for an easy gift card. Having seen the weird behind-the-scenes of this show, I certainly won’t be tuning in in the future.