NO SPRING GAME! Gophers start spring practice March 21; open practice for the public is April 11

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Per the U:

The University of Minnesota football team will start spring football practice on Thursday, March 21.

The Gophers will have two open practices – one for members of Dinkytown Athletes and one for the general public – this spring. Minnesota will once again hold a public fan event around training camp in the fall prior to the 2024 season. The details of this family-friendly event in the fall will be announced later.

The practice for Dinkytown Athletes members is at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 23and will be at Huntington Bank Stadium. Dinkytown Athletes will communicate directly with its membership about registering to attend practice. Dinkytown Athletes is the Official NIL Collective of Gopher Athletics, and fans can learn more about membership and Dinkytown Athletes by visiting DinkytownAthletes.com.

The open practice for the general public will be at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 11 at Athletes Village.
 

Minnesota also announced that it will not have a public spring game this year. The Gophers last held a traditional Saturday spring game open to the public in 2017. The 2018 game was moved to Thursday, while the 2019, 2022 and 2023 games were moved indoors. The 2020 game was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2021 game was played under Covid-19 guidelines and with a reduced crowd.

Go Gophers!!
 


I really hope the lack of a Spring game is because of roster depth issues and not some sort of paranoia on PJ's part. I have heard speculation elswhere that PJ is either concerned with other teams being able to see what we run OR other teams being able to see our players and poach them after they perform well in the Spring game.

We've had to move planned Spring game's indoors the past few years due to weather, so I am not sure not having one is that big of a deal. It would be different if we had one every year and got 10-20K in the stands. Of course it's tough to build that type of tradition if you don't keep having the event.
 

EG#9 said:
We've had to move planned Spring game's indoors the past few years due to weather, so I am not sure not having one is that big of a deal. It would be different if we had one every year and got 10-20K in the stands.
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It’s not embarrassing and sad that we’re the only P5 in the country that chooses not to have one??

Isn’t it giving the middle finger to fans? Certainly feels like it
 


MplsGopher said:
It’s not embarrassing and sad that we’re the only P5 in the country that chooses not to have one??

Isn’t it giving the middle finger to fans? Certainly feels like it
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Do you know for a fact that we are the ONLY power 5 team that chooses not to have a public spring game? Willing to bet there are others. Spring "games" are just glorified practices and as far as being a middle finger to fans.....get over yourself.

They are doing a fan event in the fall instead.
 

I've seen some people on Twitter outraged by this, and others who are mocking those people. Our group likes to go, as long as it's above 40 degrees and not raining. No game? We'll survive.

But it sure seems like a missed marketing opportunity. I know we don't fill the stadium for this, but it's a great chance for mom and dad to bring the kids to the stadium, watch the players for free and maybe have a burger. Who knows -- maybe the kids will have fun and ask mom and dad when they can go to a real game. Stranger things have happened.
 

Are they flat out not having one? Or are they doing what they've done in the past because of weather (indoor at Athlete's Village, covered by BTN)

It's fine either way, I honestly don't think it matters, but I would love to get a preview of what we're in store for with new offensive skill players.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Do you know for a fact that we are the ONLY power 5 team that chooses not to have a public spring game? Willing to bet there are others. Spring "games" are just glorified practices and as far as being a middle finger to fans.....get over yourself.

They are doing a fan event in the fall instead.
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We are not the only team foregoing a traditional public spring game, he's wrong about that.
 



PJ is dumb. Another example. He cares not about the fans. Employs a terrible to watch O and feels fine about kicking the fans in the nuts on the spring game every year.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Do you know for a fact that we are the ONLY power 5 team that chooses not to have a public spring game? Willing to bet there are others. Spring "games" are just glorified practices and as far as being a middle finger to fans.....get over yourself.

They are doing a fan event in the fall instead.
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Many programs are moving toward the open spring practice/scrimmage hybrid instead of having a game. Illinois, Wisconsin, & Iowa all being examples of this.
 

I personally could not care less about the spring football game. And I am a huge Gopher fan. The average fan wouldn't be able to tell you if we had one last year or not. I don't care who the coach is or what his reasons are. This is just another thing for people to get worked up about and act outraged. Honestly - Who cares?
 

I'm bummed about the lack of a spring game.

But I recognize that I was one of the few folks who was often there and I get they would want to focus efforts on other things.
 



my question is this: is there any contractual obligation to hold a spring game/scrimmage to be shown on BTN?

I know the BTN crew typically visits each school in the conference and they do interviews with players and coaches. If the Gophers don't hold a spring game, you can bet that Fleck is going to face a lot of questions about that decision.

FWIW - only time I have ever attended a Spring Game was the year they held it at St. Thomas because TCF was still under construction. (Spring of 2009).
 

Do we even have enough QBs to make a spring game with it? I thought Brosmer was mostly sitting out of Spring practices as a precaution, which leaves 2 QBs on roster? One being a walkon? I'm not sure that makes an actual spring game worth it?
 

Xerxes_ said:
Many programs are moving toward the open spring practice/scrimmage hybrid instead of having a game. Illinois, Wisconsin, & Iowa all being examples of this.
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They're having a game, it just won't be open to the public which sucks. Word on the street is that they feel really good about what they have and don't want to show the public just yet.
 
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So the first year when the message was, "We need everyone, you all matter to the success of the team, etc." was just some big scam to get everyone to bring in an oar. I bet those oars aren't even in the stadium anymore, they've all been sold on the black market.
 

swelna said:
Do we even have enough QBs to make a spring game with it? I thought Brosmer was mostly sitting out of Spring practices as a precaution, which leaves 2 QBs on roster? One being a walkon? I'm not sure that makes an actual spring game worth it?
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Brosmer is sitting out as a precaution for ... what? He'd have the red jersey on so he doesn't get hit. Why would the new presumptive starting QB sit out?
 



A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
The dozens of us fans who go will get over it ...

That's not a middle finger, it's just life.
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And instead of going to a glorified practice in potentially dicey weather in the spring you can instead go to a fan focused event in the fall when the weather will probably be way nicer or at least more predictable. :)
 

MNVCGUY said:
And instead of going to a glorified practice in potentially dicey weather in the spring you can instead go to a fan focused event in the fall when the weather will probably be way nicer or at least more predictable. :)
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Also games that count.

Well unless you're Nebraska ... I think they once put out a media guide for a game that showed the spring game listed as a "W" ;)
 

short ornery norwegian said:
my question is this: is there any contractual obligation to hold a spring game/scrimmage to be shown on BTN?

I know the BTN crew typically visits each school in the conference and they do interviews with players and coaches. If the Gophers don't hold a spring game, you can bet that Fleck is going to face a lot of questions about that decision.

FWIW - only time I have ever attended a Spring Game was the year they held it at St. Thomas because TCF was still under construction. (Spring of 2009).
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Pretty sure that focus (visits, interviews) from BTN is more shows in the Fall.
 


Breakin' The Plane said:
So the first year when the message was, "We need everyone, you all matter to the success of the team, etc." was just some big scam to get everyone to bring in an oar. I bet those oars aren't even in the stadium anymore, they've all been sold on the black market.
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Sarcasm? Hyperbole?

One of two I hope.

The oars line the inside of the stadium as the team walks the tunnel from the locker room to the field.

You can see them on the video board as the team makes it down for the entrance.....every game.

Also, they're still having fans at spring practice and a fall event when the weather will probably be in the 80s and sunny. The horror 😉
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
We are not the only team foregoing a traditional public spring game
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Note how "traditional" got inserted here, when I never said any such thing.


Which other Big Ten programs cancelled any form of open to the public, in the stadium, spring football event for fans, before they even held their first spring practice??

Pathetic
 

pharmacygopher said:
Sarcasm? Hyperbole?

One of two I hope.

The oars line the inside of the stadium as the team walks the tunnel from the locker room to the field.

You can see them on the video board as the team makes it down for the entrance.....every game.

Also, they're still having fans at spring practice and a fall event when the weather will probably be in the 80s and sunny. The horror 😉
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Can confirm, oars are still there too. Was there a couple weeks ago. It's a cool tradition.
 


If I was desperate to get fans to donate money to ease the burden of trying to pay and keep the best players, I'd take every opportunity I could to get those players in public in front of as many people as possible as often as the rules allowed.
 

Hates Monikers said:
Brosmer is sitting out as a precaution for ... what? He'd have the red jersey on so he doesn't get hit. Why would the new presumptive starting QB sit out?
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Someone in the other thread said him and lindenberg were sitting out as precautions, idk why
 

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