Krown Countdown U

It first aired as CIS Countdown in September 2011 with Jim Mullin as host and Chad Klassen and Andrew Wadden as commentators, providing an overview of Canadian university football games on SHAW TV throughout Western Canada. The show was developed in conjunction with MRX and Associates as a means to promote the 2011 Vanier Cup at BC Place Stadium. In the first season, there were 10 episodes produced.

There were changes for the 2012 season, after Krown Produce became the title sponsor of the show. This included a name change to "Canadian University Countdown". Ryan Sullivan joined Wadden on the highlight desk as an anchor team, eliminating most of the duties of the host position. Mullin shifted to the panel with Hec Crighton Award winning quarterback Billy Greene joining the show as a full-time panelist and the two would remain together through the 2013-14 season. The number of stations carrying the show grew as well, with COGECO TV carrying the show in Kingston and Windsor-Essex. Cable 14 broadcast the show throughout the Hamilton region. The show was integrated into Canada West broadcast coverage on SHAW TV. Additional panelists from across the country were included via Skype, including former Sherbrooke quarterback J.P. Shoiry, Rogers Sportsnet contributor Donnovan Bennett, Justin Dunk, Charles-Antoine Sinotte and freelance writer Andrew Bucholtz rotating in the guest panelist position. There were 16 episodes produced, running from September through December.

The show changed its name again for the 2013 season, to the current Krown Countdown U. The show expanded to 20 episodes, with monthly off-season episodes running from January through May. Rogers TV stations throughout Ontario picked up the show in Ottawa, Guelph, London and Kitchener-Waterloo. Eastlink cable picked up the show for broadcast throughout the four Atlantic provinces.

The format remained mainly intact from the previous two seasons. The show went on location to start the Canada West Football season on Shaw TV, with the kickoff game in Saskatoon in 2013[5] and 2014. The show became the pregame show for Krown Canada West Football on Shaw.

The on-screen antics of Wadden and Sullivan developed a minor cult following in the football world. In a feature on the Laval Rouge et Or football team Newsweek wrote, "There is a weekly highlight show, Krown Countdown U, that resembles what would happen if ESPN’s College GameDay mated with SCTV’s Bob and Doug McKenzie. During a recent highlights package, co-host Ryan Sullivan quipped of a player who ran back a punt for a touchdown, “He is gone, like a bullet that was shot out of a gun that shoots bullets.”[6][7]

In 2014, former UBC Thunderbirds and Queen's Gaels offensive lineman Gord Randall replaced Greene, who left Canada to play football in Europe. Also in 2014, former UBC Thunderbirds head coach Shawn Olson[8] hosted a segment named "X's and Olson" which uses a telestrator to break down plays in 12-man football. Through 2015 and 2016 the format remained the same, with Justin Dunk assuming most of the guest panel spots from Toronto. There were 15 in-season episodes from late August through November, and monthly episodes from January through CFL/NFL draft season in May. The show's producer won the Paul Carson Award in 2016 for promotion and development of varsity sports in Canada.[9]

L. David Dube is the principal owner of Krown Produce and has underwritten the cost of production through sponsorship of the program. Dube and Mullin as project partners started planning and discussion around the Northern 8, a proposed schedule of competition which would place the best CIS/USports football teams from across the country in a nationally televised game of the week.[10] Much of the discussion surrounding the proposal was content for the panel on KCU. During the height of the first attempt to broaden competition in the winter of 2014-15, KCU produced a specific show about what the Northern 8 was, with Dube explaining the concept.[11][12][13]

There were many changes for the 2017 season with the shutdown of Shaw TV operations in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.[14] Canada West moved to an online pay-per-view model with games and paired with SaskTel Max for games of the week.[15] Mullin, who had been the play-by-play voice of Canada West football for 10 years was not included in the new conference broadcast package. This resulted in the show finding a new home on CHCH, which significantly increased the household reach across Canada to 6.8 million[16] and aligned the product with the OUA. An online edition was posted[17] on 3DownNation after the show was distributed to CHCH. The anchoring team of Wadden and Sullivan was replaced by Mullin as the anchor, with Randall and TSN 1050 and Toronto Argonauts play-by-play voice Mike Hogan completing the roster of the full panel. Olson continued X's and Olson. With Mullin off the play-by-play beat, more focus was placed on NCAA Football and Canadian players on Division I teams. This included Mullin anchoring from Knoxville, Tennessee[18] and Grand Forks, North Dakota[19] along with on-site interviews and visits in Atlanta, Georgia, Athens, Ohio, Seattle, Washington and Buffalo, New York. There was also an episode produced out of the CHCH studios in Hamilton after the Vanier Cup.

Season eight: Partnership with CBC Sports and IFAF

In July 2018, CBC Sports, International Federation of American Football, and KCU announced a partnership to broadcast major IFAF events within Canada on CBC's online service. As part of the agreement, CBC also became the online home for KCU TV.[20]

The show rebranded in 2019 with the move to TSN as "Gridiron Nation presented by Krown Produce" a.k.a. "Krown Gridiron Nation on TSN". The majority of content focused on Canadian participation in the NCAA,[21] with some additional coverage provided to U SPORTS football. The NCAA content is in keeping with TSN's content agreement with the NCAA and ESPN.