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NCAA, College League, USA Football: Iowa State at Colorado Oct 11, 2025 Boulder, Colorado, USA Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders before the game against the Iowa State Cyclones at Folsom Field. Boulder Folsom Field Colorado USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xRonxChenoyx 20251011_szo_ac4_0065
Imago
NCAA, College League, USA Football: Iowa State at Colorado Oct 11, 2025 Boulder, Colorado, USA Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders before the game against the Iowa State Cyclones at Folsom Field. Boulder Folsom Field Colorado USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xRonxChenoyx 20251011_szo_ac4_0065
Maybe it’s time to have that discussion: Deion Sanders’ Colorado train has left the station. After three years of mediocre football (except for the first four weeks of his debut season and the 2024 season), folks in Boulder don’t really seem to be getting behind Prime Time. Word is, Colorado Buffaloes fans are literally skipping spring football, and each season, the numbers are getting worse than before.
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The attendance for the 2026 Black and Gold spring game was estimated at approximately 17,500 fans. At first, the numbers seem fairly good, considering the total population and time of the month in Boulder. However, if you look in depth, it’s not remotely as good as it appears.
Just to get the perspective, in his second year, it was 28,424 (with Shedeur and Travis on the team), and last spring, the number fell to 20,430. Truth be told, it’s a historical slide from that sold-out crowd of over 47,000 during his first year back in 2023, as per Colorado Sports Only.
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Even though the school tried to claim a “ticketed” attendance of nearly 28,000, anyone looking at the stands could see the “Prime Effect” is starting to lose its magic. That’s roughly a 63% drop in real bodies since the peak of the craze.
Colorado spring game attendance keeps falling in year four for Deion Sanders. https://t.co/wN2GSHCQz0
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) April 13, 2026
However, the team seems to know why there’s such a diabolical drop-off.
“We’re not anything new and shiny anymore,” CU sophomore Elizabeth Stephan told Sean Keeler of the Denver Post. “We’re just kind of a mediocre team that somehow still makes headlines because of our coach.”
After the Buffs’ 3–0 start in Deion Sanders’ first season at the helm, the Colorado Buffaloes went on to lose eight of their nine games and finished the season 4–8. However, year two was the only good year of his career. With Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter in the best form of their lives, Colorado made the Alamo Bowl and ended the season with a 9–4 record. However, since then, it’s all been shams in Boulder: 3–9 in 2025, and the 2026 squad preview isn’t looking very appealing at all.
It’s not absurd to say some of the initial magic has started to wear thin for the Buffaloes’ faithful. It could be because of his constant battle with his health. According to insider chatter, the physical toll of his July 2025 bladder removal surgery has visibly drained his sideline energy. It’s hard to run an aggressive program when you’re fighting just to stay healthy, and reporters noted he was quietly limping through spring practices last month.
Fans are still supportive. But as a head coach in his fourth year, he can’t go for a second rebuild season. And unfortunately, Deion Sanders has had a backward regression. Because of a down health year, the folks in Boulder are giving the benefit of the doubt to Prime Time for one more year.
However, despite the smaller audience, the scrimmage provided a first look at the latest version of Sanders’ aggressive roster overhaul. Honestly, the scrimmage itself felt like a chore to sit through. If fans showed up hoping for a high-flying offensive shootout, they didn’t get it.
A look into Colorado’s Gold and Black Spring football
The 2026 Black and Gold spring game was a bit of a reality check and a headache for the Buffs. The Gold team got a 7-6 win over the Black team. Fans saw Julian “JuJu” Lewis ball out. The former five-star completed 6 of the 11 passes he threw. He threw the game’s only touchdown to SDSU transfer Danny Scudero Jr. By judging this year’s wideout corps, the money’s on him to be the WR1 heading into this fall.
Even though the scoring was low, the defense gave the fans a reason to be excited. They looked much faster and more aggressive than last year. The game actually ended with Maurice Williams’ spectacular diving interception in the closing minutes. On the bright side, Quintin Gibson gave the crowd a few flashes of life. He easily had the most productive day among the receivers, pulling in four clean grabs for 36 yards.
As we roll into Year 4, the honeymoon phase is officially over, and the pressure on Deion to actually win games has never been higher than this. Unlike before, Deion Sanders isn’t getting any favors or blessings if he doesn’t get the Colorado Buffaloes their first bowl win of his tenure.
Written by
Edited by
Himanga Mahanta