Despite tremendous on the field success since Barry Alvarez took over as the head coach at Wisconsin back in 1990, Wisconsin's spring game has never really drawn comparable attendance numbers to its Big Ten brethren. Needless to say, Alvarez isn't expecting a huge turnout for Paul Chryst's first spring game as the head coach this weekend.
Just last weekend, Ohio State drew just short of 100,000 fans for their glorified scrimmage, Michigan fans showed up about 60,000 deep, and Nebraska's spring game attendance was nearly 77,000. Yet, for whatever reason, year in and year out, you can bet the house that Wisconsin is going draw between 10,000 and 20,000 people for their spring game.
When you look at all of the recent Big Ten titles, Rose Bowl trips, and Heisman finalists that they've had in Madison the last few decades, the Badgers' lack of attendance for their spring game just doesn't add up.
However, Barry Alvarez think that he may have an answer for the lack of interest.
“I just think there’s too many things to do in Madison that we have not — through a number of coaches — been able to generate that type of interest,” Alvarez told the Wisconsin State Journal's Andy Baggot.
I've heard some great things about Madison as a city, but I don't think I'd put them in the same category as other metropolitan areas with historically great football programs (Austin, Los Angeles, etc.) when it comes to a plethora of things to do on a Saturday in the spring. But that's just my opinion.
The most logical explanation to me that Baggot points out is that the average Wisconsin season ticket holder has to travel at least 200 miles round-trip for home games, so maybe fans save those trips for the games that really matter in the fall. If you've ever been in the stadium for the "Jump Around" tradition, you know it's clearly not a lack of support.