A spring game is the public intrasquad scrimmage that caps a team’s 15-practice spring session, typically in April – part exhibition, part open practice, part fan festival, with formats ranging from real halves of football to glorified 7-on-7 showcases.
It’s also an endangered tradition: a growing list of programs have canceled or reformatted theirs, largely over transfer-portal tampering fears. Here’s the whole picture.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL EXPLAINED
The Spring Game
April football, going extinct in public
WHAT IT IS
Intrasquad scrimmage
The public finale of 15 spring practices
WHEN
April, mostly
Spring sessions run March into late April
THE TREND
Cancellations
Portal tampering fears are killing public scrimmages
AT ITS PEAK
Six figures
Blue-blood spring games have drawn 90,000+ fans
The spring game, explained
What it’s for and how it runs
| Element |
Detail |
| The formats |
Offense-vs-defense with gimmick scoring, drafted split squads, or controlled situational periods – few spring games are four real quarters, and quarterbacks are almost always off-limits to contact |
| What coaches want from it |
Live evaluation of position battles, young players in stadium conditions, and a clean injury report at the end – the last item outranks the first two |
| What everyone else wants |
Fans get free-or-cheap stadium access, recruits get gameday-lite visits, and TV gets spring inventory – the scrimmage carries a whole festival on its back |
| The tampering fear |
Coaches argue a televised scrimmage is a free scouting tape for rivals who then tamper ahead of portal windows – the stated reason behind most cancellations |
| The replacements |
Closed scrimmages, fan-fest practices, skills showcases – and floated joint spring practices with other programs, borrowing the NFL preseason model |
| The counterargument |
Spring games are free marketing, season-ticket drivers and recruiting weekends – programs that keep theirs treat the tradition as an asset, not a leak |
Spring practice around the game
The 15-practice session it concludes
| Piece |
Detail |
| 15 practices by rule |
Spring sessions are capped at 15 practices in a defined window – installation, development and evaluation compressed into about a month |
| Who spring ball is really for |
January enrollees and second-year players – the veterans maintain; the young roster gets built in March and April |
| The portal bookend |
The spring transfer window opens right after most spring sessions – the roster that finishes the spring game is not the roster that reports in August |
| Quarterback battles headline |
Spring’s defining storyline is always the QB competition – even when coaches insist nothing will be decided until fall camp, which is usually true |
SPRING GAME FACTS
The 92,000 flex
Peak spring games at places like Ohio State, Alabama and Nebraska have drawn NFL-sized crowds – for a scrimmage with made-up scoring.
Gimmick scoring is an art
Defenses earning points for stops, sacks and turnovers keeps split-squad scoreboards interesting – every program’s formula differs.
The draft show
Programs that split squads via player drafts turn the selection itself into content – captains picking teams like the world’s biggest backyard game.
A Tradition Priced by the Portal
The spring game’s decline is a pure portal-era calculation: the scrimmage’s marketing value now competes with its scouting-tape liability, and coaches who once begged fans to attend now prefer closed doors before transfer windows open. The roster churn that drives the fear is covered in how the transfer portal windows work. Practice limits are set by the NCAA.
The Bottom Line
Fifteen practices, one public scrimmage, gimmick scoring and untouchable quarterbacks – the spring game remains college football’s free April holiday where it survives, and a tampering casualty where it doesn’t.
