Dylan Widger/Imagn
The Nebraksa Cornhuskers routinely have one of the most highly attended spring games in all of college football. Last year’s event, which featured superstar freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola, drew 60,452 fans to Memorial Stadium, fourth in the country behind only Ohio State, Alabama and Penn State. But sadly for those Huskers fans, they may not get a chance to watch their team in a scrimmage setting this year.
That’s because Nebraska coach Matt Rhule is concerned that the game might give an opposing team the idea to come and poach one of his best players in the (now irrelevant) transfer portal.
“The word ‘tampering’ doesn’t exist anymore,” Rhule said Saturday during an offseason news conference. “It’s just an absolute free open common market. I don’t necessarily want to open up to the outside world and have people watch our guys and say, ‘He looks like a pretty good player. Let’s go get him.’”
Rhule said that the issue popped up following the Huskers’ spring game a year ago.
“I dealt with a lot of people offering our players a lot of opportunities after that,” he said. “To go out and bring in a bunch of new players and showcase them for all the other schools to watch doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”
Nebraska Cornhuskers Spring Game Generated Tons Of Revenue In 2024
But there’s a good bit of his logic that is severely flawed. For one, by now everyone knows all about players on other rosters. Scouting networks are huge and most “under the radar” kids tend to transfer to places they already have connections to should they leave there current program.
Then there’s the aspect of the revenue that spring games typically generate. As of 2014, reserve tickets for Nebraska’s spring game we $15 with club seats going for $25. Youth of high school age and under will be admitted for $5 and fans must purchase those tickets in advance as well. Students got in free, as did up to 3,000 military personnel.
Some rough estimates suggest that Nebraska generated $1 million on ticket sales alone. That doesn’t even factor in concessions and any potential donations. So by not having the game, Nebraska is eliminating a quick and easy revenue source. That’s a bold move in today’s college football financial arms race.
Maybe Rhule is right. Maybe this saves him from having players leave in the portal. But it sure feels like a stretch and a risk that was poorly calculated.