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Look: Crowd shots, final attendance numbers for every SEC spring game

Christopher Smith

By Christopher Smith

Published:

Arkansas and its “two summers” philosophy closed out spring practice Saturday, the 13th and final SEC team to conduct a spring game.

Ole Miss, the other team, did not hold a game due to renovations at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

Now begins the long wait for September. The SEC will hold its spring meetings starting on May 31. SEC Media Days take place July 11-14, and then fall practice begins about three weeks after that.

The SEC once again managed to display its fanaticism for its football teams, claiming five of the 10 largest spring football attendance numbers this year. (More on that below.)

Ohio State packed more than 100,000 fans into its stadium this year, and Georgia set an all-time SEC record with an announced crowd of 93,000.

Attendance at SEC spring games

School 2016 Attendance 2015 Attendance
Georgia 93,000* 46,815
Alabama 76,212 65,175
Tennessee 67,027 63,016
Florida 46,000 21,000
Auburn 45,723 62,143
South Carolina 32,916 22,580
Arkansas 30,546 41,220
Kentucky 28,441 N/A
Texas A&M 27,412 N/A
Missouri 24,473 30,117
LSU 21,000 Est. 15,000
Mississippi State 15,717 21,500
Vanderbilt Est. 3,500 5,000

*New all-time record

For comparison purposes, here’s a look at the spring game attendance record for all 14 teams prior to 2016.

Also, here are some shots of all 13 crowds.

Arkansas

The Razorbacks crowd fell by a large amount compared to 2015, when Hogs fans anticipated a major breakthrough. And we all suspect that SIDs inflate the spring game numbers. Still, “30,000” fans attending a glorified spring practice remains impressive. And those fans will be very happy if Austin Allen can continue what brother Brandon Allen started last year.

Alabama

The national championship seems to have boosted the Tide’s spring game attendance. Saturday’s crowd was the largest since ’13, when Bama was coming off back-to-back national titles. So much for the theory that Alabama fans are getting bored with winning.

https://twitter.com/DanielSAshford/status/721420666117955584

Georgia

It seemed almost comical how much the Bulldogs poured into marketing the first G-Day game of Kirby Smart. The team’s “call to action” video was well done, but since when is it normal to hype up a spring game like it’s life and death? Then Saturday arrived, and man, was that crowd impressive. Mission accomplished in terms of generating fan interest in this team.

Kentucky

We all suspect that most teams fudge on their spring attendance numbers, and UK is one of those under deep suspicion. Still, the Wildcats ranked ahead of several teams in terms of the spring game crowd.

LSU

For being such a renowned football crowd during the season, Tigers fans annually rank near the bottom of spring football attendance. Maybe Cajuns just have a refined taste for what is an event (a real SEC football game) vs. what is fairly trivial (a spring football practice).

Mississippi State

Outside of Vanderbilt, the Bulldogs crowd has been the smallest SEC group of the spring by far. There’s a core group of Mississippi State fans that are as passionate and knowledgable as any in the SEC, but the team may have a tough time getting the fringe type fans excited about this coming season.

Missouri

The Tigers didn’t get the typical spring attendance boost provided by first-year head coaches. Attendance fell by more than 5,000 from last year’s game. But to be fair, that team was coming off back-to-back SEC East titles.

Tennessee

Vols fans are stoked for the ’16 season, and it showed Saturday with a strong spring attendance. The photo below isn’t a great depiction as it was taken a decent interval before kickoff. But nonetheless, Tennessee boasted the largest spring crowd outside of Georgia and Alabama — far outdoing SEC East rival Florida, though the Gators held their game on a Friday night.

Florida

Attendance last year was low — 21,000 — but the Gators were so thin at offensive line that the team couldn’t hold a traditional scrimmage. This year, Florida fans seemed excited to see a quarterback not named Treon Harris throwing passes — or maybe the big draw was placekicker Eddy Piniero.

Auburn

Despite a gorgeous weather day and the school account trying to tout its large crowd, this was the lowest spring game attendance of the Gus Malzahn era, down a huge amount from the 62,143 it drew last year.

South Carolina

Will Muschamp managed to get 10,000 extra fans in the stands as opposed to the ’15 numbers. Generally, first-year head coaches draw the biggest crowds, as fans want a glimpse at what’s new.

Texas A&M

The Aggies saw a significant decline in spring game numbers from 2013 — the last time Texas A&M staged a spring game. Kyle Field renovations scrapped the game in ’14 and ’15.

Vanderbilt

The Commodores did not release an official spring attendance number, perhaps to avoid being a punch line. That doesn’t appear to have worked.

Vandy did beat Florida with the “Friday Night Lights” idea, and again was one of the first schools in the country to stage a spring game.

And for what it’s worth, the SEC closed the weekend with five of the nation’s 10 highest spring game attendance totals. Take a look at the national top 10:

School Attendance
Ohio State 100,189
Georgia 93,000
Alabama 76,212
Nebraska 72,992
Tennessee 67,027
Penn State 65,000
Clemson 50,500
Florida State 49,913
Florida 46,000
Auburn 45,723
Christopher Smith

An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.

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