The Alabama Crimson Tide held its annual A-Day event over the weekend on Saturday afternoon, although things looked a little bit differently than they usually might have.
Upon the hiring of new head coach Kalen DeBoer last season, though the wound of losing Nick Saban was still fresh, the excitement from the fanbase for something new for the first time in the better part of two decades was palpable.
This was reflected from the moment DeBoer stepped off the plane in Tuscaloosa and continued throughout the spring, culminating in the largest crowd for the annual A-Day spring game tradition that Bryant-Denny Stadium has seen in a very long time as over 70,000 packed in to mark the official transition.
While nothing will ever match the 92,000+ which filled the massive cathedral of college football marking Nick Saban’s first spring as the Alabama head coach, there was a similar feeling in Bryant-Denny last spring.
However, with the changing times of college football, numerous traditions — even the most iconic and cherished ones — have begun to disappear over the years.
As a fair amount of programs throughout the country announced over the last few months that they would not be hosting a spring game at all due to their players being poached in the transfer portal after the nationally televised showcases, the Crimson Tide became one of them.
DeBoer announced at the outset of the spring that the A-Day game this year would be “modified” and as more details were released, it became clear the event — which was not televised — was going to be no more than a glorified practice session.
As a result, the fans showed their dissatisfaction in numbers and attendance.
A stadium that saw over 70,000 last year and over 90,000 back in 2007 as well and numerous other staggering figures over the years especially if the weather was ideal looked completely empty and barren.
The attendance was not even announced during the game, but it was estimated by media members there to be in the range of 10,000 or so, and by looking at the pictures that figure may even be generous.
What a difference a format makes pic.twitter.com/WcOatPBBn0
— Nick Kelly (@_NickKelly) April 12, 2025
On an absolutely picture perfect weather day, fans could simply not be bothered to show up for the latest example of the watering down of college football.
And who could blame them?
A-Day used to be the best thank you the program could offer fans with free admission and a day full of fun, especially important to the tens of thousands of fans from around the state who cannot afford the ever-increasing ballooned ticket prices for an actual game.
For those fans, A-Day was the closest they would ever get to experiencing a game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Instead, those who did show up were treated to a hollow shell of what A-Day once was, the latest great thing about the unique sport of college football to be swallowed up by the NIL and portal monster which seems to get bigger every year and have no solution in sight.
Alabama tried to bring back a modified version of the iconic “Running of the Gumps” where fans would get to go on the field and wait in line to get their piece of memorabilia signed by or photo taken with various Tide coaches and stars — a tradition that disappeared with COVID — with an on-field autograph session after the practice this weekend.
However, in true 2025 college football fashion, the session was only open to those who are members of the program’s NIL collective Yea Alabama.
It’s understandable why these decisions were made and the program can hardly be blamed.
Adapt or die as they say, a mindset that simply must be applied in order to stay relevant in this day and age of the sport.
However, the loser in this is the one who has been the loser through virtually every single change in the sport over the last half decade: the fan.
College football has a product on its hands that is made so unique and special because of the passion of the fans, not just in Alabama but across the country and especially in this region.
Those same fans sent a message loud and clear by not showing up for the diet version of A-Day this weekend.
They aren’t happy, and they have no reason to be.
Fandom in college football was never going to disappear overnight. But as soon as that relentless and fiery passion that makes the sport what it is begins to wane, the eroding of the very fabric of the sport starts as well.
The train is already off the tracks so to speak and fans have seen changes over the last several years which are never going to reverse themselves.
The sport is not disappearing tomorrow, but most everyone would agree that things are not moving in a sustainable direction.
Until Saturdays in the fall don’t feel the same anymore however, college football is still college football.
Year by year though the 12 Saturdays a year that fans cherish so dearly feel like they are becoming less sacred, and fan indifference is perhaps the one thing that has the potential to kill the sport entirely.
This weekend in Tuscaloosa should be a five alarm warning to the decision makers in suits who run this sport despise having no understanding of what its heart and soul are that those who make college football what it is are beginning to get fed up.
And once you lose the fans, everything else might as well already be gone.
