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UConn football put an end to its annual spring game as the team announced a change to their spring schedule. Practice is starting nearly a month earlier as the Huskies will begin on Feb. 12 and conclude on March 15, compared to this past year when they practiced from March 5 to April 14.
In lieu of the game, UConn will hold a youth clinic and fan appreciation event on-campus at Shenkman Training Center on Saturday, April 6.
“We really appreciate the support we have had for our spring games over the years, but due to the change in the recruiting calendar for football and to allow our student-athletes to have a better overall experience in the off-season, we will be holding our spring practice in February and early March,” Edsall said. “This will allow our players more time to recover from injuries and also gets our summer lifting and conditioning program implemented earlier.”
Interest in the game has waned over the years, with attendance hovering around 2,000. It was also expensive to operate Pratt and Whitney Stadium for the day while also letting fans park and get in for free. Additionally, the game is a meaningless exhibition which we aren’t able to draw a whole lot from anyway, so this isn’t a huge loss beyond the opportunity to be at PAWS ARF on a nice day.
As bad as the team has been, the spring game was always a fun event to attend and see how certain players had progressed since the end of the season, while also getting a glimpse at news players, coaches or schemes. But ultimately, the program’s leadership decided financial costs and the risk of players getting injured in a meaningless game were too great to continue with it.