Colorado had two objectives in hiring Deion Sanders as head coach. The first was to generate excitement in the program -- for many, this meant reminding them that the program exists -- and the second was to win.
It's too early to tell on Objective No. 2, but Objective No. 1 is already a smashing success.
According to Brian Howell of the Boulder Daily Camera, Colorado has already sold close to 25,000 tickets for the first spring game of the Coach Prime era.
Students have also claimed more than 6,000 free tickets which, as of Tuesday morning, which brings the total ticket reservations above 30,000.
The spring game will not be played until April 22, which means that, with two months to spare, Colorado is already approaching the total attendance of the last seven spring games combined. From 2015-22, 30,450 total fans saw the Buffs' spring game. That includes a counted attendance of 1,950 for the 2022 event.
Now consider that Colorado gave away those 30,450 tickets. Under Coach Prime, Colorado is charging for spring game tickets for the first time since 1980. Tickets can be had for a Rocky Mountain-high price of $10.
The Colorado fan base's response brings to mind 92,000 Alabama fans watching Nick Saban's first spring game in 2007, or when Nebraska embraced its move to the 21st century by welcoming a then-record 61,417 fans for Bill Callahan's spring game debut in 2004. (For CU's sake, here's hoping the Prime era goes more like the former than the latter.)
According to the Daily Camera, nearly a quarter of spring game ticket sales went to new customers. Colorado has set a 20-year high with a season ticket renewal rate of 97 percent while also selling 3,000 new season ticket packages.
“We’re very, very pleased,” CU associate AD Alexis Williams told the paper.