ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is coming to USC for lecture. Here’s how to get tickets
Paul Finebaum isn’t shy about sharing his opinions. The longtime journalist has been paid to do it for decades at ESPN, and this week he’ll do it again while giving a lecture on the University of South Carolina’s campus in Columbia.
Finebaum will bring his knowledge on college sports, specifically football, to the annual Buchheit Family Lecture. The event will be held Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., at USC’s Darla Moore School of Business in the W.W. Hootie Johnson Hall, Room 101, university officials said Monday in a news release.
Tickets are free for Finebaum’s lecture and it’s open to the public, but online registrations are required, according to the release. The event is expected to last about 90 minutes and seating is limited, so it’s recommended that guests arrive early.
“The host of the ‘Paul Finebaum Show,’ Finebaum is known for his passionate discussions and debates across the spectrum of college sports,” USC officials said in the release. “He is an award-winning columnist and investigative reporter with stints at the ‘Birmingham Post-Herald’ and the ‘Mobile Press-Register.’ He launched the Paul Finebaum Radio Network in 2001.”
Finebaum also is a commentator on “SEC Nation” and appears on other ESPN platforms, including “First Take,” “Get Up,” “SportsCenter,” “College Football Live” and more. ESPN said Finebaum “is known by many as the leading sports authority in the South and the ‘Voice of the SEC.’ ”
He’s never been shy expressing his thoughts about USC athletics, and often weighs in on the significant events impacting the Gamecocks football team. The subject of Wednesday’s lecture wasn’t available.
USC said the Buchheit Lecture is sponsored by the Buchheit Family Endowment, which provides undergraduate scholarships and graduate and doctoral fellowships to students at the University’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications. The Buchheit Family Lecture Series was created in 2000 in honor of the late Phil Buchheit, the former president and chairman of Mid-South Management Company and the former publisher of the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.
Last year’s Buchheit Lecture featured Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist Bob Woodward.
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This story was originally published April 21, 2025 at 1:09 PM.
