Marcus Freeman Shares Insights on the Future of Notre Dame’s Spring Game

Freeman discussed the importance of Notre Dame hosting an annual spring football game

Notre Dame Head Coach Marcus Freeman, right, watches cornerback Isaiah Dunn (26) console quarterback Kenny Minchey (8) during the Notre Dame Blue-Gold Spring Football game on Saturday, April 22, 2023, at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend | Greg Swiercz / USA TODAY NETWORK

When you look around the college football world you are seeing more and more teams get rid of their annual spring football games. Matt Rhule of Nebraska made headlines earlier this year by deciding to do so and shortly after Steve Sarkisian chose to do the same at Texas.

However, don't expect Marcus Freeman to be following suit with the Notre Dame football program anytime soon. In discussing this year's schedule following the first practice of spring, Freeman discussed the decision to keep playing Notre Dame's annual Blue-Gold Game.

Related: Notre Dame Spring Football Guide 2025

"It's important to me to use that as an opportunity" Freeman said regarding the spring game, "One, to let our players, yes, perform in front of our fans, but two, it's a chance to really integrate our community and our fans with this football program."

Freeman knows that Notre Dame Stadium may hold nearly 80,000 people, but that bringing yourself or your family to a game isn't always in the cards. That played a major role in his decision.

"That's so important to me, is to give the opportunity to fans that maybe typically don't get the opportunity to come to a Notre Dame game, or if they do, to give them another opportunity to come and engage with our players. I don't want to take away from that."

And if you had any questions as if Freeman gets the whole "Notre Dame thing" at this point, with community clearly being a massive part of that, he made it crystal clear that he does.

"There's a lot of pros and cons for each decision, but that went into my decision of keeping our spring game, was that I want to use this opportunity for our team and our football program to make sure that we are really interacting with our fans."

And if Freeman used that as the reasoning for keeping the annual Blue-Gold Game this year, then chances would seem to be very good that he and Notre Dame do for the years to come as well.