The list of schools canceling their spring games is growing — and while the explanations vary depending on the coach or school — it’s clear that the fan-forward intra-squad scrimmage that has become a staple of the sport’s offseason is fading away.
That’s a disappointing development for fans, who have been routinely pushed to the side as college football endures the growing pains of the modern era. While the current college football calendar needs adjustment, those changes shouldn’t include chopping out one of the most accessible avenues for fans to experience big-time college football.
The sport is becoming increasingly professionalized, and that cold and calculated approach to costs is passed along to the fans. Prices for tickets, parking and concessions continue to rise across the country. Some power conference schools are marking up 2025 season tickets by 10% to include a “talent fee” intended to help pay the athletes.
Getting a family of four to a college football game has long been a logistical nightmare, but now the price tag is making more families reconsider the preferred location to watch their favorite team.
But the spring game, on the other hand, has never taxed fans for the stadium experience.
Many spring games are free, or at least free admission with a charitable cause, like a canned food drive at the gate. Even the most-coveted spring game tickets in the country only cost pennies on the dollar compared to a game in the fall. Ohio State had an announced attendance of more than 80,000 for last year’s spring game. Ohio State is doing away with its traditional spring game format in 2025, though a fan event will be held on April 12.
Ohio State, Nebraska among teams eschewing spring games as part of college football’s changing offseason
Will Backus
Eliminating opportunities for fans to experience the stadium and their favorite college football team at a discount limits the opportunities to grow your fan base. The human connection that can be made with new college football fans — especially with a young fan — does not require a top-10 made-for-TV matchup with a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff. Getting young people into the stadium for what coaches have long called a “dress rehearsal” is a path to building a real relationship with the next generation of fans.
Since college football seems to be increasingly focused on money and growth these days, let’s speak their language for a second.
If spring games are eliminated in favor of NFL-style OTAs — an idea gaining traction among coaches — then universities are limiting their future earning potential by shutting out the very customers they will be catering to in future decades.
We discussed this growing OTA trend on the Cover 3 Podcast this week and got some interesting feedback from fans who had great experiences either falling in love with their favorite team through spring games or passing along the tradition to their own family. One Ohio State fan sent along a photo with his boys on the 20-yard line in Ohio Stadium, pointing out that it’s potentially the best seats they will get in that building.
“They thought it was a real game,” he added.
Because that’s the thing with young fans: It doesn’t matter if the game is competitive. If there are jerseys, pads, helmets, whistles, music when someone scores a touchdown, cheerleaders and snacks, it’s a football game. It doesn’t take much, but even that small investment seems to be on the chopping block at many top programs across the country.
Now, to be clear, not every school has an Ohio State-like environment or demand for spring games. Fans of many schools won’t miss them one bit. Some programs have slowly phased out the spring game tradition with conveniently timed stadium renovations while other coaches have been out on the public scrimmage long before this recent trend.
The spring game as a way to connect with regular fans, or future fans, might only be a factor with a couple dozen programs across the country. But when you consider the totality of those 20-30 fan bases it’s still a large number of potential future undergrads and season ticket holders.
So what can be done to save the spring game? The first issue is the timing and setup of the transfer portal. In January the American Football Coaches Association unanimously approved a shorter winter window (10 days in early January) and the elimination of the spring window altogether — though the initiative is likely to face a stiff headwind in its NCAA approval process. Coaches are concerned about roster disruption after all of the work put in during the NCAA-mandated 15 practice sessions during the spring semester.
Some coaches will tell you that broadcasting a spring game on TV doesn’t affect tampering, because if a player is talented they will be found. But some paranoia is understandable when all of the efforts to organize a roster throughout spring can be disrupted just before the beginning of summer conditioning.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian voiced a more sympathetic angle to why the Longhorns, who drew an estimated 40,000 fans to their spring game in 2024, would not be holding a spring game this year. He pointed to the 30 games played over the past two seasons by a Texas program that has made two College Football Playoff runs. Texas’ spring, it seems, will be more of a slow ramp up to scrimmage action and much more familiar to the OTAs of the NFL, where Sarkisian was an offensive coordinator as recently as 2018. He’s not the only coach to voice injury concerns as the primary reason for getting out of the spring game business, as the modern pressures to win big fast have coaches slightly less inclined to continue some of the romantic traditions of college football’s past.
Lane Kiffin deserves credit for being on the cutting edge creatively when it comes to the spring game, as the Rebels engage in more of a carnival atmosphere that includes eating contests, tug-of-war and some 7-on-7 action in what’s called the Grove Bowl Games. Fans seemed to enjoy the event, which could become a blueprint for the future.
Future of college football spring games? Ole Miss’ blueprint is fun and mostly football-free
John Talty
Despite what some coaches might say, a spring game is not a shopping menu for rival staffs to scout your roster. The event is meant to drive fans back to campus, into the stadium with a chance to connect with their favorite school and football team. The competition does not need to be fierce to carry great significance. While a low-cost event will not increase revenue, there is an ROI potential that is being ignored.
If college football is going to have a lifespan that extends beyond TV contract windows, it needs to remember that its next generation deserves the same opportunities we had to fall in love with the sport. All you need is to open the gates, strike up the band, take the field and break a light sweat on a spring Saturday in front of a couple thousand fans, many of whom are experiencing their only chance in that calendar year to watch their favorite college football team in person.
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