Why Mizzou football won’t hold a spring game in 2025, 2026 — plus a practice update

The Missouri Tigers on Monday announced their spring practice schedule for football — and news about a spring game.

Particularly, that there won’t be one for the next two years.

“Due to the Memorial Stadium Centennial Project construction impacts during each of the next two offseasons,” a news release from the program read, “Mizzou football will not be holding a Spring Game in 2025 or 2026.”

The Tigers will, however, practice 13 times between Friday, Feb. 28 — MU’s first spring practice — and Thursday, March 20. The Tigers will practice each Tuesday, Wednesday and some combination of Thursday-Saturday during that span.

Last season, the Tigers went 10-3 and defeated Iowa in the Music City Bowl. Coach Eli Drinkwitz joined Gary Pinkel as the only two Mizzou coaches to have multiple 10-win seasons. (Pinkel had five such seasons.)

Drinkwitz’s sixth season, upcoming in 2025, figures to be a memorable slate. The Tigers open the season against Central Arkansas on Saturday, Aug. 30, then face longtime Border War rival Kansas the next week on Saturday, Sept. 6. Both games will be played at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium.

The $250 million construction project at Memorial Stadium is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2026 season. The system’s Board of Curators formally approved the project back in September.

The Tigers held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction on Nov. 30, before defeating the Arkansas Razorbacks. That marked the final Mizzou home game of the 2024 season.

“On Saturday we celebrated the beginning of a new chapter for Memorial Stadium,” said athletic director Laird Veatch at the time. “This renovation reflects the incredible energy and momentum surrounding Mizzou Athletics. We are grateful to everyone who made this possible, led by our Board of Curators and President Choi. This is not just a stadium renovation — it’s a statement of our aspirations for the future and our ‘Will to Win.’”

Missouri has called the Centennial Project the “largest renovation project in Memorial Stadium’s history.”