While college football teams are trying to do away with spring games, Deion Sanders is trying to expand Colorado’s.
In what could be the end of televised spring games, both USC and Texas announced they won’t televise a spring game in 2025. Clemson has since followed suit. The Tigers will play a spring game; it just won’t be broadcast live.
The whole issue came to a head when Nebraska’s Matt Rhule essentially argued that the positives of the spring game didn’t outweigh the negatives of potentially having players poached because a scrimmage was aired nationally.
But Rhule’s opinion isn’t necessarily the consensus in the coaching world. While he’s clearly wary of the risks, many of his counterparts, including Sanders, view spring games as a prime chance to showcase their teams — and expand their brand — on a national stage.
“The Spring Game will be televised on ESPN2 … on the 19th,” Sanders said via On3. “We got to sell this thing out and pack this thing because the way the trend is going, you never know if this is going to be the last spring game. I don’t believe in that. I don’t really want to condone that. I would like to play in the spring. Actually, I (would) like to play against another team in the spring. That’s what I’m trying to do right now.
“To have a competitive (game) against your own guys kind of gets monotonous. You really can’t tell the level of your guys because, you know, it’s the same old, same way. Everybody kind of know each other. Towards the end, I would like to style it like the pros. I would like to practice against someone for a few days, then you have the spring game and I think the public will be satisfied with that tremendously. I think it’s a tremendous idea. I’ve told those personnel who should understand that it’s a tremendous idea.”
It might be a tremendous idea, but is it even allowed?
As the spring game’s future hangs in the balance, Sanders is betting on its potential to boost Colorado’s profile — and possibly set a new standard for college football. While others shy away from the spotlight in the transfer portal and NIL era, he’s leaning in.
Sanders’s push for more competition and exposure shouldn’t come as a surprise, nor should his desire for a more NFL-centric approach to spring football. He wants to align college football with the NFL’s joint practice model during training camp, even though he’s made it clear he has no interest in an NFL job.
Whether the NCAA follows his lead or sticks to tradition, Sanders isn’t waiting around to see how the chips fall.
