Kalen DeBoer's spring game with Alabama vs Washington: How many people attended the offseason showdown?

Kalen DeBoer had his first outing as the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday during their spring game.

It was a close affair, but the White Team, which represented the offense led by quarterback Jalen Milroe, defeated the Crimson Team, representing the Crimson Tide's defense, who gained three points for every three and out they caused.

However, one of the main talking points of this game was not what happened on the field, but the number of fans who turned up to the game, mostly in comparison with the amount that turned up for DeBoer's spring game last season for the Washington Huskies.

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How many fans turned up to the Alabama spring game?

The Alabama spring game was watched by 72,358 fans on Saturday.

The game was held at the Bryant Denny Stadium, the home ground of the Crimson Tide which has a capacity of 100,000, meaning that 72.3% of the stadium was full.

These figures can be compared to the attendance from last year's Washington Huskies spring game, which was the last that coach Kalen DeBoer had.

The official attendance was not given, but estimates put the attendance somewhere between 2000-5000 fans in Husky Stadium.

Husky Stadium has a capacity of 70,000, meaning that, if one were to use the upper estimate of 5000 fans attending the spring game, the stadium would only be 7% full.

On these figures, an editor for the student paper at the University of Washington said:

"There's no sugarcoating that the attendance for the UW Football spring preview is light, from the stands to the press box."

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Why did so many fans go to see the Alabama spring game?

When comparing the two, there is a clear difference between Alabama and Washington, but why does this seem to be the case?

Firstly, football, and specifically college football, is the dominant sport in the state of Alabama, with the Crimson Tide being the main "blue ribbon" standard.

Additionally, while the arrival of Kalen DeBoer has been rocky for Alabama, this has not diminished the fans' desire to watch the Crimson Tide, with attendance this year increasing by 15,000 compared to last year.

The issue is with the Washington Huskies. While they normally sell out Husky Stadium during the season, the Huskies have a history of not promoting or making an event of their spring game. This may be the reason for the low turnouts.

This is in contrast to what Alabama does, by turning the game into a whole festival of football. For Kalen DeBoer, this was a good introduction into what the Bryant Denny Stadium is like during gameday.

Do you think Kalen DeBoer will be able to succeed as Alabama head coach? Let us know in the comments!