Vanishing A-Day crowd should be a wakeup call: Fans are not happy

The Alabama Crimson Tide held its annual A-Day event Saturday afternoon — but things looked and felt a lot different than usual.

Upon the hiring of new head coach Kalen DeBoer last season, though the wound of losing Nick Saban was still fresh, the excitement from the fanbase was palpable.

This was reflected from the moment DeBoer stepped off the plane in Tuscaloosa and continued throughout the spring, culminating in the largest crowd for the annual A-Day spring game tradition that Bryant-Denny Stadium has seen in a very long time.

Over 70,000 packed in to mark the official transition.

While nothing will ever match the 92,000 who filled the massive cathedral of college football and marked Nick Saban’s first spring as the Alabama head coach, there was a similar feeling in Bryant-Denny last spring.

However, with the changing times of college football, numerous traditions — even the most iconic and cherished ones — have begun to disappear.

As a fair amount of programs throughout the country announced over the last few months that they would not be hosting a spring game at all due to their players being poached in the transfer portal after the nationally-televised showcases, the Crimson Tide became one of them this weekend.

DeBoer announced at the outset of the spring that the A-Day game this year would be “modified” and as more details were released, it became clear the event — which was not televised — was going to be no more than a glorified practice session.

As a result, the fans showed their dissatisfaction in numbers and attendance.

A stadium that saw over 70,000 last year and over 90,000 back in 2007, as well and numerous other staggering figures over the years, looked empty and barren.

The attendance was not announced during the game, but it was estimated by media members there to roughly 10,000 — and by looking at the pictures — that figure may even be generous.

What a difference a format makes pic.twitter.com/WcOatPBBn0

— Nick Kelly (@_NickKelly) April 12, 2025

On an absolutely picture perfect weather day, fans could simply not be bothered to show up for the latest example of the watering down of college football.

And who could blame them?

A-Day used to be the best ‘thank you’ the program could offer fans — free admission and a day full of fun, especially important to the many-thousand fans from around the state who can’t afford the ever-increasing ticket prices of admittance into an actual game.

For those fans, A-Day was the closest they would ever get to experiencing a game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Instead, those who did show up were treated to a hollow shell of what A-Day once was, the latest great thing about the unique sport of college football to be swallowed up by the NIL and portal monster which seems to get bigger every year, and has no solution in sight.

Alabama tried to bring back a modified version of the iconic “Running of the Gumps” where fans would get to go on the field and wait in line to get their piece of memorabilia signed by or photo taken with various Tide coaches and stars — a tradition that disappeared with COVID — with an on-field autograph session after the practice this weekend.

However, in true 2025 college football fashion, the session was only open to those who are members of the program’s NIL collective, Yea Alabama.

It’s understandable why these decisions were made, and the program can hardly be blamed.

Adapt or die, as they say, a mindset that simply must be applied in order to stay relevant in this day and age of the sport.

However, the loser in this is the one who has been the loser through virtually every single change in the sport over the last half decade: the fan.

College football has a product on its hands that is made so unique and special because of the passion of the fans, not just in Alabama but across the country and especially in this region.

Those same fans sent a message loud and clear by not showing up for the diet version of A-Day this weekend.

They aren’t happy, and they have no reason to be.

Fandom in college football was never going to disappear overnight. But as soon as that relentless and fiery passion that makes the sport what it is begins to wane, the eroding of the very fabric of the sport starts as well.

The train may already be off the tracks. And if the decision-makers don’t recognize the signs, it won’t be long before fans decide they’ve had enough.

Once that happens, it won’t matter what’s left.

Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.