2 weeks Ago
Chris Carlson | [email protected] Syracuse Orange Spring Football Game 2025 played at the JMA Wireless Dome April 12, 2025. Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.
com dennis nett | [email protected] Syracuse, N.Y.
-- Syracuse University distributed 14,483 tickets for its spring game this year, falling just short of the record number that came out to welcome quarterback Kyle McCord and debuting head coach Fran Brown last season. The Orange set its school-record last year with 16,579 free tickets claimed for the spring game. Attendance at most sporting events is determined by the number of tickets sold (or in this case claimed) and not the precise number of people that pass through the turnstiles.
Not all of those claimed tickets were used during either year but the attendance during Saturday’s game was healthy, especially by Syracuse football standards and considering cold weather made it more difficult to enjoy all the pre-game activities on campus. The lower bowls was mostly filled and fans arrived early to line the sidewalk during the team’s “quad walk,” a tradition started by Brown last year. Instead of heading into the JMA Wireless Dome after the walk, the team sat at folding tables in a cold, light rain and signed autographs.
The line for signatures numbered into the hundreds and stretched off the quad law for nearly an hour, up until the team headed into the dome. As the time approached for the team to head inside, Brown walked up and down the line, signing for the fans who were unlikely to reach the players before they had to leave. The Syracuse football team continues the tradition of the quad walk in front of Hendricks Chapel.
The fans were able to get autographs from the players before the game. Syracuse Orange Spring Football Game 2025 played at the JMA Wireless Dome April 12, 2025. Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.
com dennis nett | [email protected] A handful of players who weren’t going to play in the game due to injury, including safety Devin Grant, thoughtfully stayed on the quad after their teammates had already left to ensure late-arriving fans didn’t go empty-handed. Grant even signed the arm of one young fan, who had wide receiver Trebor Pena scribble across his forehead earlier in the afternoon.
The record attendance for the spring game before the past two seasons was 6,029 fans who came to see debuting head coach Greg Robinson in 2005. Contact Chris Carlson anytime: Email ’ Twitter ’ 315-382-7932 >> Get more SU football insight and analysis delivered right to your inbox Monday morning. Sign up for our ‘Orange Football Extras’ newsletter for free.
