The NCAA doesn’t much care what college football fans think about anything. It doesn’t answer to them, after all, it only profits from them. So if the push by coaches at Colorado and Syracuse for NCAA permission to hold joint practices in the spring comes to pass — and by all indications, it’s legitimately possible as early as 2027 — consider the win for fans to be a mere byproduct.
And consider Alabama’s A-Day to be Exhibit A for why it’s a good idea.
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CU coach Deion Sanders and Syracuse coach Fran Brown have lobbied the NCAA for the allowance of joint practices for the last two years, and the request for 2026 has been rejected. Their advocacy for this change comes amid a growing number of schools abandoning spring games in favor of holding a practice that’s open to the public. To be clear, they’re not pushing for joint practices in response to the Case of the Disappearing Spring Game, but from a fan experience standpoint, their timing is impeccable.
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Alabama‘s A-Day game wasn’t played last year for only the fourth time in the last 80 years. Instead, a 90-minute practice was opened to the public — and there’s every possibility that 2026 will mark the fifth time in 81.
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As a result, the 2025 A-Day crowd absolutely cratered — 10-12,000 would be a fair guess — and it’s no surprise that UA released no official attendance figure. Quite a few of the fans who did show up left no doubt about their disdain for the format change.
The empty seats spoke even louder.
Now imagine Alabama football hosting another school for a joint practice, or even some scrimmage work, to conclude spring drills. What about the fan experience for the visiting school, you say? Well, that school could always host somebody else on a different day. This isn’t hard, and it isn’t radical. Fans are continually having to pay more only to get less from college football, and joint practices would cut against that dangerous trend. Crowds would flock to a joint practice.
Would Alabama holding a joint practice with, say, Mississippi State, bring back the massive A-Day crowds of yesteryear? Not a chance. But it would add some much-needed juice to the abomination that was A-Day 2025. How about a joint practice with Auburn? Nobody who says no can cite a fan experience-based reason.
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Of course, there’s always the hope that UA will return to a legitimate game format for A-Day 2026, but consider that hope a slim one. The reason given last year by coach Kalen DeBoer for holding an open practice on A-Day was a rash of injuries at particular positions, namely tight end. That’s not long-term rationale; it’s circumstantial rationale. But Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox has suggested there are more factors than just injuries involved in the disappearance of a true A-Day game. Meanwhile, nobody in the UA athletic department that I’ve spoken with foresees the game format returning this year.
For all the transformational changes college sports have gone through over the last decade, joint practices shouldn’t be the least bit controversial. Nor should they any longer be against NCAA rules.
Bring them on.
A-Day needs all the help it can get.
Tuscaloosa News sport columnist Chase Goodbread.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Why Alabama football is Exhibit A for holding joint spring practices
