Florida Gators have highest spring game attendance
What’s even more impressive about the Gators’ spring game attendance was being over 15,000 higher than every other college, including Ohio State, who had their lowest attendance in years. It wasn’t just the highest in the nation for the Gators, they also had their highest attendance since Tim Tebow’s senior season.

Having a spring game has been a point of contention for many in the world of college football. Some schools have opted to not have the game because it can be a recruting tool for other teams with the transfer portal.

The Gators have taken a different philosophy. They used it to continue developing their young roster. With DJ Lagway not throwing during the spring, the Gators got important reps for backup quarterbacks Aidan Warner and Harrison Bailey, and the performance of the former earned him a scholarship.

Another important element for the Gators was they had 98% of their roster “locked up” for the 2025 season. You can feel a lot more comfortable about having a full fledged spring game when you feel that confident about your roster.

The success Florida had this year could be the catalyst for other teams to potentially bring them back, especially with revenue sharing adding another element to NIL and the transfer portal.

Someone forgot to tell Florida fans that spring games are a thing of the past. According to The Gainesville Sun, the Gators attracted their largest crowd since 2009 when they filled more than half of The Swamp. It did not hurt that Florida scheduled its men’s basketball national championship celebration ceremony as the halftime show for the spring game, but the football team itself was a big draw because of the newfound excitement over the 2025 roster.