Paul Finebaum believes the future of spring games are in trouble

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum believes the future of college football spring games are in jeopardy because they are a fraction of what they used to be.

Most games at this point are light scrimmages and internal competitions. Some spring games have weird scoring and are just a showcase event, whether the fans enjoy it to the max or not.

Finebaum struggled to come up with a logical solution but put the onus on the coaches.

“I think they’re in trouble, I agree with you,” Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic. “To go back to the Ohio State game for a second. I swear, I thought they were playing touch football for a few minutes. Literally as soon as you touched the guy, the whistle blew. And I understand that. But I think there has to be a better way. Maybe Lane’s come up with it. Fans come out, I’m not sure they really want to see vicious tackles, but they do want to see something that they can follow and keep score with. So I think it’s up to coaches to come up with a better way.” 

Let’s not forget the spring transfer portal window opened Monday, amid the conclusion of some spring games and before other teams finished their spring seasons.

“These games are in many ways not as important as they used to be,” Finebaum said. “Because I remember 10, 12 years ago, Greg, I mean, this was a big deal and maybe because of Saban showing up, but I think way too much is made out of them. 

“And I think coaches know that. And we all know coaches who have studied Spring Games, looking for one tendency, so coaches are not going to give anything away. So as a result, there has to be more to it than an actual competition that nobody really cares about other than the players.”

Finebaum is of the mind that spring games are on their way out. Meanwhile, his own network ESPN released a full schedule of spring game broadcasts last month.

So what’s the future of spring games? Perhaps they are just glorified practices of two hand touch football and vanilla game plans.

That’s what they have been and likely will be in the future, especially with the portal hovering over the spring window. But perhaps they become events with concerts, family fun activities and a more laid back environment than a regular game day.