2008 College Football Spring Game Attendance

College football spring games were once merely scrimmages held mostly for the benefit of the coaches and players. Now they are full fledged fan festivals and recruiting events complete with rock concerts and nation-wide television coverage.

Over 80,000 Husker fans poured into Memorial Stadium for the 2008 Red-White Game. It was the most well attended spring scrimmage in the nation. Alabama, Ohio State, Penn State and Florida each had over 60,000 fans in attendance and many schools saw their attendance climb from last year's spring game.

Attendance Up Nation-Wide

Many programs saw increased spring game attendance compared to last year. Many schools organize fan festivals around the spring scrimmage that include concerts and family-friendly entertainment in an effort to boost interest.

Illinois, West Virginia, Arkansas, Virginia, Colorado, and Missouri all saw crowds that were at least twice the size as last year. Notre Dame stood out as one of the bigger losers in attendance, with 40% fewer fans attending this year compared to last.

School	2008	2007	Difference	% Change
Nebraska	80149	54288	25861	48%
Alabama	78200	92138	-13938	-15%
Ohio State	76346	75310	1036	1%
Penn State	73000	71000	2000	3%
Florida	61000	47500	13500	28%
Texas	43000	42500	500	1%
Arkansas	40200	4000	36200	5%
Auburn	35000	31757	3243	10%
LSU	33624	14375	19249	134%
Texas A&M	32000
South Carolina	31125	35153	-4028	-11%
Notre Dame	30286	51852	-21566	-42%
Florida State	30000	25000	5000	20%
Virginia Tech	30000
Ole Miss	28311	17000	11311	67%
Tennessee	28000	17409	10591	61%
Michigan State	27000	25000	2000	8%
Missouri	26322	10000	16322	163%
Clemson	25000	20000	5000	25%
Oklahoma	23306	21020	2286	11%
USC	22000	15000	7000	47%
Wisconsin	22000	18020	3980	22%
Oklahoma State	20000	15000	5000	33%
Georgia	19874	21407	-1533	-7%
West Virginia	18000	1000	17000	1,700%
Colorado	17800	6000	11800	197%
BYU	16700	16752	-52	-0%
Kansas State	15523	16732	-1209	-7%
Iowa	15352	19000	-3648	-19%
NC State	15273	14800	473	3%
UCLA	15052
Rutgers	14501	11079	3422	31%
Oregon	14107
Illinois	12531	500	12031	2,406%
Miami	11000	7000	4000	57%
Maryland	10221
Cincinnati	10142	5200	4942	95%
Kansas	10000	8000	2000	25%
Kentucky	8500	5000	3500	70%
Georgia Tech	8500
Iowa State	8000	7000	1000	14%
Marshall	6107
Utah	4500
Wake Forest	4100
Virginia	4000	1000	3000	300%
Arizona	4000	9500	-5500	-58%
Syracuse	3428	2000	1428	71%
SMU	3428
Arizona State	3000	5250	-2250	-43%
California	2000	2000	0	0%
Michigan	1000	5500	-4500	-82%

Husker Spring Game Attendance

Husker spring games saw a resurgence during the Callahan/Pederson era, but this was the first sell out in school history.

The NU staff reportedly did not want this year's spring game to be televised to prevent opposing teams from getting game film of the new program. Once that decision was made, the push was on to sell out the game. Husker fans were happy to oblige given the renewed optimism surrounding the return of Tom Osborne and Bo Pelini.

Related

Here are the attendance numbers from the 2007 Spring Games and 2006 Spring Games.

If I missed anything, feel free to send me your additions or corrections to [e-mail] or leave a comment below.