Some schools take spring game attendance more seriously than others. Down south, there is great pride taken in a huge turnout for a spring football game or scrimmage, but Auburn appears to be stuck in a downward trend. For the third straight spring, Auburn saw its spring game attendance decline, although the Tigers still managed to bring out a crowd over 45,000 on Saturday.
Auburn’s official spring game attendance was reported at 45,723 by the university, which currently ranks second among the early SEC spring attendance numbers behind the estimated 46,000 that showed up in Gainesville for Florida’s spring game Friday night. With numbers still coming in from this weekend’s spring action, Auburn should be expected to sit fourth in the nation in spring game attendance after two weekends in April. Clemson currently leads the nation with an estimated 50,000 arriving for spring football on Saturday. Florida State trailed by a handful of fans with 49,913 showing up for a spring game in Orlando.
Early spring attendance leaders:
— Kevin McGuire (@KevinOnCFB) April 10, 2016
1 @ClemsonFB 50000
2 @FSU_Football 49913
3 @GatorsFB 46000
4 @AuburnTigers 45723
5 @OU_Athletics 42436
Auburn set a school record with 83,401 fans packing Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first spring game under new head coach Gus Malzahn in 2013. The following season was still impressive with 70,645 fans. Last year saw 62,142 fans attend the spring game. Nobody should read too much into spring game attendance figures, although it is interesting to see the trend developing at Auburn. The spring game attendance numbers are still impressive for Auburn compared to many around the nation, and this year’s total still ranks sixth in school history, but some might look at the annual spring numbers and suggest there is a declining interest or declining support for the program under Malzahn.
This hardly means Malzahn is on a hot seat, but last year was a massive disappointment for the program considering some of the preseason hype for the program. Pouring salt on the wound, Alabama was the team that was crowned national champion of the College Football Playoff. This appears to be a critical season for Malzahn and Auburn.