30K tickets sold to CU spring game

Two months before the spring football game, Colorado has already shattered its attendance record.

As of Tuesday morning, CU had sold 30,013 tickets for the April 22 spring game, the first under new head coach Deion Sanders.

For the first time, CU is charging admission for the spring game at Folsom Field, with general admission tickets going for $10. Students get in free and they have accounted for roughly 6,000 of the 30K tickets distributed to this point.

CU has records back to 1953 and the previous high mark for attendance for a spring game was 17,800 in 2008. CU counted 1,950 fans at the 2022 spring showcase and 1,000 in 2021.

“The response for spring game sales has been very exciting,” said Alexis Williams, CU’S senior associate athletic director for external operations. “I think it exceeded anything we thought it would, so we’re excited to have thousands of fans be here for a spring game. I think it also is allowing fans who won’t be able to attend in the fall a chance to have a sneak peek and come to the game.”

Despite the spring game always being free of charge, it has not attracted many fans to Folsom Field over the years. This year’s attendance is on pace to surpass the combined number of fans at the last seven spring games, with a total of 30,450 showing up from 2015-22.

Nearly 22% of the tickets for this year’s spring game have been purchased by new customers who have never bought tickets from CU.

“Looking at our data, we have so many new people, brand new people in our system buying spring game tickets from other states,” Williams said. “That excitement alone is great that they’ll come out.”

CU has also reached new heights for season ticket renewals. Roughly 97% of last year’s season ticket holders have already decided to renew their seats for this year, believed to be the highest rate for the Buffs in the last 20 years.

In recent years, the highest rate had been 96% in 2017, when CU was coming off a Pac-12 South division title. Last year, only 81% of season ticket holders renewed.

“We’re very, very pleased,” Williams said. “I think it goes to our loyalty to our fans that have stuck with us. We didn’t raise season ticket prices. No matter who the coach was, we made that decision, so it’s very exciting to have all the Buff fans back in the fall.”

CU has sold roughly 3,000 new season tickets for this year, as well.

CU opens its season on Sept. 2 at TCU, with the home opener on Sept. 9 against Nebraska. Singlegame tickets will go on sale to the public in mid to late May.