College football fans can't get enough of spring games

Fans from across the nation will be able to tune in and watch Tim Tebow and Florida in its spring game. AP

When Urban Meyer coached his first spring game at Florida in 2005, he gazed out into the stands at Florida Field and saw more than 59,000 people. "I was kind of like, 'What are you people doing? Go play golf or something,'" Meyer said this week.

Meyer won't encourage anyone to hit the links when his Gators scrimmage Saturday. Florida will be the first school to host the next logical step in the spring game's evolution from casual, sneak-peek scrimmage to full-fledged event/major recruiting tool when ESPN's College GameDay broadcasts live from Florida Field at 11 a.m. on ESPN2. After GameDay, the network will broadcast the first two hours of Florida's spring game on ESPN and on its broadband Internet platforms.

While casual fans may still consider the game to be a glorified practice, die-hards consider it a welcome relief from NBA playoff games and regular-season Major League Baseball games. "People," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said this week, "are starved for football."

Dave Brown, the ESPN vice president for programming who made the call to devote the resources and manpower to broadcast GameDay from a spring game, said spring games give his network a platform to cover big offseason stories in a sport that draws significant viewership. "The bottom line is we haven't had any games for three months," Brown said. "Spring football is the only time period where you will see the team and get a glimpse of what it might look like next year. It's a little bit like an oasis in the middle of an eight-month desert."

Brown said he can envision in future years broadcasting from multiple sites during a three- or four-week period after the Final Four. Meanwhile, more schools will offer free parking and free-or-heavily-discounted admission to lure fans and turn the games into events that keep interest stoked and donations flowing through the doldrums between the BCS title game and the opening of preseason camp in August. Coaches, always on the lookout for an edge in recruiting, have found that a packed stadium on an April Saturday can offer a final chance to fire up recruits, many of whom will commit to schools before the football season begins.

Last year, Alabama coach Nick Saban reaped the benefits of such a recruiting boost. When more than 90,000 packed Bryant-Denny Stadium for Saban's first spring game, recruits in attendance could sense the renewed excitement. Meanwhile, reports of fans getting turned away because the stadium was full ran across the country. Alabama wound up signing the nation's top-ranked recruiting class.

"The fan support, the positive energy that the fans had to support the program, had as much to do with having the No. 1 recruiting class as anything," Saban said. "Their continued support and interest is something that can help us be successful here, and they need to know that. They need to understand that."

Perhaps the best Web site for predicting attendance at spring games is Weather.com. The nicer the weather, the better the chances of packing the house. When 'Bama's A-Day game kicks off at 2 p.m. CST on Saturday it should be sunny, breezy and 68 degrees. That forecast could bode well for signing day next February.

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