Clemson football’s spring game won’t be on TV or stream this year. Dabo explains why
If you’re a Clemson football fan hoping to catch this year’s spring game and you can’t make it to Memorial Stadium, you’re out of luck.
The Tigers, following a national trend, announced earlier this month that they will not televise their 2025 spring game, which is set for 1 p.m. Saturday, April 5.
Admission is free and there will be a live radio broadcast of the spring game on Clemson’s flagship network, but the only way to watch the game will be in-person. In recent years, Clemson’s spring game has been streamed on ACC Network Extra.
This year, there’s nothing. No broadcast. No stream. No live video whatsoever.
Clemson’s decision to keep its game off TV comes as dozens of power conference programs have opted to either cut their spring game entirely, change its format or, at the very least, keep it off television amid growing roster tampering concerns.
Tigers coach Dabo Swinney, who’d hinted at the change at the start of spring practice, addressed the decision to keep the spring game off TV on Wednesday.
Tampering, he said, was not a concern.
“I’m not worried about any of that stuff,” Swinney said. “I mean, people are gonna tamper. (Players) don’t want to be here? Don’t be here. We’ll go get somebody, right? I’m really not worried about it. ... You can’t run from that stuff.”
He added that Clemson’s decision to not televise its spring game was to avoid dealing with “all the drama” that comes with coordinating a live broadcast with a TV partner and an attempt to draw an even stronger crowd to Death Valley than usual.
“That’s what I’m hoping ... I hope that it’ll spark more people to come,” Swinney said. “It’s just a free opportunity to come see the Tigers, and we need it.”
Swinney has long seen spring games as a key development tool. Since college football has no preseason, a spring game is the only time players can experience an environment similar to a true regular-season game day before their opener.
The spring game, Swinney has said, gives Clemson’s second- and third-string players a chance for legitimate snaps in a game-like atmosphere and helps his coaching staff evaluate the team’s depth headed into the offseason.
Those pros, for Clemson, outweigh any spring game cons. Other coaches have complained that holding spring games right before the NCAA’s spring portal window opens can give programs a chance to monitor other teams, see who stands out and poach them from their rosters. The spring window runs April 16-25 this year.
There’s been a push by the American Football Coaches Association (of which Swinney is a voting member) to remove the current setup of December and April portal windows in favor of one 10-day portal window running Jan. 2-12. That change could not go into effect until the 2025-26 offseason at earliest.
“Canceling the spring game ain’t gonna stop tampering,” Swinney said on Feb. 28.
A growing trend: No TV
But the Tigers, based on their decision to keep their spring game off TV, apparently do see some merit to keeping their game (and players) a little more private.
Last year’s traditional broadcast on ACCNX captured every play from scrimmage during Clemson’s spring game like a regular broadcast would. Naturally, that sort of broadcast puts the most film and information out in public.
The Tigers’ 2025 spring game remains open to fans and media members.
But Clemson is far from alone in opting for an in-person only format. South Carolina’s Garnet and Black Spring Game, set for April 18, will not be televised, the program announced. Georgia is doing the same thing with its April 12 “G-Day.”
According to ESPN PR, 15 of the ACC’s 17 football members (including Clemson) opted to “produce behind-the-scenes programming for their respective college networks” instead of televising their traditional spring games.
Clemson, per a news release, plans to produce an “hour-long spring football special that will provide an inside look at the program to air on ACC Network.” That special will also be available later on Clemson+, the school’s in-house streaming platform.
The ACC used to require schools to televise spring games but changed the requirement last year. Virginia, coached by former Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott, and Georgia Tech are the only two ACC schools televising their games.
In the SEC, 15 of 16 schools have opted to produce a special instead of putting their spring game on TV. The only SEC school planning to televise its game is Texas A&M.
Nationally, dozens of power conference schools have made changes to their spring games. Some (Texas, Southern Cal, NC State) aren’t having a game at all. Others (Oklahoma, LSU, Auburn) are changing to a more practice-style format. Clemson’s among the group holding a traditional scrimmage while keeping it off TV.
For schools hoping to produce a game-like atmosphere, Swinney said the trend of holding a non-televised spring game is “probably where it’ll end up” over time. But he insisted Clemson isn’t keeping its game off TV to prevent potential tampering.
“People tamper, they tamper,” he said. “Kids want to leave, they can leave. That simple. But we’re at the top of the nation two years in a row in retention.”
This story was originally published March 27, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
