Over the last few years, the football world has gotten very accustomed to seeing how much Kirk Herbstreit travels.

It’s not uncommon to see the football analyst call Thursday Night Football for Prime Video, travel to wherever ESPN’s College GameDay is for Saturday morning, and schlep it to another city to call an ESPN on ABC college football game that evening.

In fact, Kirk’s travels (and his canine companions) have become fodder for his shows and social media.

A few times a year, the Saturday schedule is truncated enough that Herbstreit has to leave GameDay during the live show to board a plane (or helicopter) and arrive in time for the game he’s calling later that day.

That was the case this past Saturday, when Herbstreit hoofed it on a motorcycle to leave in Eugene, Oregon, so that he could make it to Dallas, Texas, for the Red River Rivalry showdown between the No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns at 3:30 p.m. ET. Not only did Herbie (and Peter) transition from a motorcycle to a jeep to a private jet, but he also continued to provide live commentary along the way. Herbstreit’s analysis was sometimes echo-y or got lost in a choppy signal due to all the movement.

Herbstreit has traveled more than 5,400 miles for his various football responsibilities this week, according to ESPN.

The whole schtick may have been amusing for some GameDay viewers, but don’t count The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand among them. The sports media insider took to X on Saturday during the segment to send the message that viewers don’t find this kind of content interesting.

Marchand extrapolated on that thought on Monday’s episode of Marchand & Meat: Everybody Loves Sports Media. Each week, Marchand and co-host Jon Meterparel offer a What’s Up/What’s Down segment, and Marchand singled out the Herbstreit travel bit for his What’s Down this week.

“Nobody cares about any sports personalities’ travel, especially when they’re going private,” said Marchand. “On Saturday, Herbstreit is in Oregon, then has the private jet to get him to the Texas-Oklahoma game. They travel him out there. He leaves the show early. Then they have him on the private jet trying to do it. It’s locking up. Every time he talks, it’s like when you talk to somebody on a cell phone. ‘Can you hear me? Can you hear me?’ That’s not good TV.

“I think ESPN and their execs, they got to ask themselves, Is Kirk Herbstreit the only one who can do this? Would you be better off just having someone else sub in for Herbstreit on GameDay or have someone else do the or make it so it’s logistically makes sense?”

Marchand also noted that ESPN needed to have analyst Andre Ware on call in Dallas as a backup in case Herbstreit couldn’t make it in time (he cut it extremely close in 2024).

“I get it, Andre Ware, former Heisman Trophy winner, is a team guy, but he had to be on hand in case Herbstreit’s plane didn’t get in for the Texas-Oklahoma game,” he said. “I mean, that’s totally disrespectful, in my opinion, for Andre Ware to have to be a backup Plan B in case Herbstreit’s private jet can’t get in.

“I just think overall, is it about the show or are you making it about the individual? You’re making more about Herbstreit, and I think you want to make it more the show. You got to pick your poison there. Have them do the game or have them do the pregame show. But when you have them do both and you make the time crunch and you make it all about, will Herbstreit get there? Then you got the dog with it. It’s just too much.”

Given that Pat McAfee’s force of nature persona, as well as Herbstreit and his golden retrievers, have become mainstays of College GameDay, Marchand’s question might already be answered. We are in ESPN’s superstar era, so perhaps dedicating substantial effort to following Kirk Herbstreit across the country is worth it in that respect. The technical difficulties associated with these Herbstreit travel segments certainly undercut some value they provide, but so far, it seems that the Worldwide Leader is happy with his worldwide travel as a segment to build around, even if it creates headaches.