SALT LAKE CITY — The spring football game has been a small respite in the drought of the offseason period.
It's not real football — at least in what we all crave in fall — but it's enough to whet the palate in a dearth of sports in the early part of the year. For the diehards, it's a chance to learn about some of the new players on the roster and get a vibe check for the upcoming season.
But with an ever-changing landscape of college football, spring games have slowly dwindled around the country as schools look to protect themselves from poaching interests around the country.
Sure, there's no longer a spring transfer portal to worry about, but that doesn't prevent a player from unenrolling at a school and then later enrolling with another school in fall as a walk-on in a quasi transfer portal loophole, or a "blind-transfer," the NCAA can't ultimately enforce.
With NIL being a factor, a scholarship is no longer a binding incentive for an athlete to stay committed to a school.
It's an issue the NCAA Division I Cabinet will be reviewing next week to potentially put restrictive measures in place for schools that try to use the blind-transfer as an option. The proposal in question would include a six-game suspension of the head coach, a 20% fine to the school's football budget, and other measures should a school accept a player outside of the standard transfer period.
But even if the NCAA passes such a measure, it's almost certainly guaranteed to be fought through the courts in what could be another blow to the governing body of the collegiate system.
It's for that reason, many coaches around the country have opted to seemingly protect their rosters and eliminate the public spring game in favor of an additional practice.
On Tuesday, Utah became the latest school to do away with its spring game, with head coach Morgan Scalley saying he opted for an additional practice instead of the spring contest.
Though Scalley did not explicitly state the blind-transfer as a reason for canceling the game, it's a factor that every school must take into consideration amid uncertainty — including Utah.
"I wanted the extra practice," Scalley said. "We've got enough new in the system that I really want to take advantage of that 15th practice. But we are going to open things up. We've already opened things up more to you guys, and also going to do that to our fans a little bit."
He added that the university will host a "fan day" on April 18 so that supporters of the program can "meet the new players and there be engagement with our new guys and new staff."
Over the years at Utah, the spring game became more of a glorified scrimmage, with several starters held out of the contest to avoid the risk of injury. Couple that with the blind-transfer option and it becomes less of a reason to host a game.
