Spring games, Coach Prime and a turbulent tale of relevance
- Lincoln Roch
- 2 minutes ago
- 5 min read
To quote the late Hunter S. Thompson, the Colorado Buffaloes' spring game is dead and decrepit.
On April 11, roughly one hour prior to the kickoff of the annual Black and Gold Day, it felt like somebody had forgotten to inform CU’s student body. Walking from the hill to Folsom Field, there were no pre-game darties or tailgates or beligerant fans. It felt like just a regular, calm Saturday on campus.
In 2022, now quasi-retired Athletic Director Rick George hired coach Deion Sanders to save the school’s football program after a 1-11 season. Sanders has delivered mixed results, with two losing seasons, a Heisman Trophy and the school’s third consecutive loss at the Alamo Bowl.
But his 27-6 record in four years at Jackson State is not what shot him from the FCS to the Power Four. George wanted relevance, and Sanders delivered. In his time at CU, Coach Prime has put on a masterclass in navigating college football's attention economy and reviving a withering fanbase.
Now, as his win column stagnates, college football's chief aura farmer is falling out of the spotlight. The spring game, in all of its insignificance, can track CU football's rise, fall and provide a path forward in its fight for relevance.
The rise
Just 1,950 fans took time out of their Saturdays to get a preview of coach Karl Dorrell’s third season at Colorado in the spring of 2022. Things were a bit different for Prime’s first go-around.
A team that coach Mel Tucker once abandoned for the big leagues now had its spring game on ESPN. Sanders’ Folsom Field debut in 2023 was the first time the school sold tickets to the event. The showcase saw 47,277 attendees. George seized the moment, charging the general public for entry — a first in program history. The game was a sellout in every sense of the word.
It was the precursor to Prime Mania, the greatest three-week period in Colorado football history if you asked anyone whose first piece of CU apparel had the words “We Coming,” or “I Believe” plastered across it. The Buffs would finish with more home sellouts (six) than wins (four), but there was no denying Colorado was a program alive and on the national stage.
Prime’s second spring game was smaller with just 28,424 attendees, and served as the team’s swan song on the Pac-12 Network. While it was a noticeable decline from the year prior, it would have still shattered the pre-Prime record of 17,800 from 2009.
Similarly, it foreshadowed Prime Mania round two. While the product on the field was superior, the team couldn’t quite reach the media mayhem levels that triggered a trip by 60 Minutes. That's not to say it still didn’t keep the nation talking. Every game they played was on national television (NBC, CBS, ESPN and Fox), and while College Gameday didn’t show back up, its ugly stepsister did.
The fall
Sanders’ third spring game and the season that followed were a national embarrassment. Still charging for tickets, George had the idea to retire the jerseys of quarterback Shedeur Sanders and wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter.
It helped turn out 20,430 fans — another decline that still shattered pre-Prime attendance — and attracted ESPN2. The cash grab also alienated former players and reinforced the narrative best described by Oregon coach Dan Lanning as “they’re fighting for clicks, we’re fighting for wins.”
As the season dragged on, losses piled, ratings declined and both the networks and fans noticed. Buffs faithful learned the awful truth that TNT broadcasts college football, and the sight of empty metal bleachers started to return to Folsom Field as attendance declined. The bandwagon Prime had assembled began to fall apart.
A real path forward
Enter the 2026 spring game. The theme: embrace reality headfirst.
Free admission returned with the school reporting 27,772 tickets “claimed.” The actual crowd looked smaller (Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler estimated around 17,000-18,000 and the broadcast was on CU’s YouTube channel.
While that might sound like rock bottom, it's actually a testament to Prime’s revival of the fanbase that anyone showed up at all. As change throws college sports into a tizzy, spring games have become collateral damage. Outside of the Big Ten Network, no games made it on linear TV this year, and attendance is in a national downward spiral.
“No one’s valuing spring anymore. You’ve got several major colleges not even having spring games,” Sanders said after the showcase. “Things are so different in college football right now with kids moving, kids leaving … So it’s hard for the fanbase to get to know all these kids and to buy in.”
“Winning also helps … but people get tired of the same-old, same-old, at a certain point.”
The 2026 game, even if it was Prime’s least attended, told a different story than the year prior. On the field, quarterback Julian Lewis, wide receiver Danny Scudero and new offensive coordinator Brennan Marion’s “Go-Go” offense looked fun, but who cares? More importantly, it was the first glimpse of incoming AD Fernando Lovo’s relationship with Sanders.
Lovo found a way to bring in some money without making the school a laughingstock. After the game, fans had an opportunity to interact with the players (if they paid up in advance). It’s the latest attempt by the AD to fill more seats and increase revenue by prioritizing fan engagement.
Sanders also refloated his truly genius plan to stop America's pastime, the college football spring game, from bleeding out, if only the NCAA would let him.
“The only thing that would bring it back is if we compete against another school,” Sanders said.
He’s made two separate attempts to play Syracuse for the spring finale. Now, he’s pitching a return to the Rocky Mountain Showdown, which CU will not play in the regular season till 2029.
The proposal would face the same roadblock, but if the football gods approved, the humble spring game could instantly become one of the most important games of the year. Fans would show up. Cameras probably would too.
If 2026 continues the trend of the spring fortune-telling the fall, don’t count the Buffs out (from reaching 6-6). The schedule is daunting, and a Texas billionaire might run the Big 12, but if everyone can embrace reality as a starting point, things might just be alright.