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Coming Soon to a Stadium Near You: Michael Barker’s College Football Campus Tour
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- Coming Soon to a Stadium Near You: Michael Barker’s College Football Campus Tour
A normal fall day for Michael Barker looks a little like this. His flight lands somewhere within the vicinity of a college campus. He picks up a rental car and grabs a bite to eat. He might even squeeze in a workout before he heads to the stadium.
Game at 7 o'clock. Back to the car by midnight. Wheels up bright and early the next morning. No time for a hotel when you're doing this routine several times a week throughout the college football season. There are games to go to and stadiums to see.
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"You can go to one game on Saturday, you can stay in a very nice hotel, eat at a nice restaurant, you can rent a convertible or an SUV that you want, and you can have a good time," Barker said. "Or you can forgo all of those things and try to go to 60, 70 football games. And that's what I try to do."
Barker hasn't watched a college football game at home on a Saturday since 2016, the year before his college football campus tour began. A self-proclaimed "stadium head," Barker has spent the better part of the past decade criss-crossing the country, chronicling his attendance at hundreds of games on his @CFBcampustour social media accounts.
Fireworks go off as teams take the field for the College Football Playoff game between Indiana and Notre Dame on Dec. 20, 2024, in South Bend, Indiana.© Matt Cashore-Imagn Images
That tour has taken him to college football cathedrals, known by names such as Death Valley and the Big House. It has also brought him to less-heralded venues, like W.B. Mason Stadium and Greater Zion Stadium, the respective home fields for Merrimack and Utah Tech, two relative newcomers to Division I.
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In 2024, Barker set what's believed to be a record when he attended 104 games in a single season. There was pressure from his followers to cross the century mark after he fell just short in 2023, having gone to 90 games. And so he did.
Barker dialed back the travel in 2025, hitting 64 games in the regular season. (In the days since this interview, Barker added the FCS quarterfinal game between Villanova and Tarleton State and the XBox Bowl between Missouri State and Arkansas State to his tally.)
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"When you get down to it, some of these FCS schools are isolated, and you can't set a record for most games if you're going to one game on a Saturday," Barker said. "So I think I'm going to end up somewhere around 80, which sounds like a lot less, but it's still a heck of a lot of games."
Home base for Barker is Northern California, which he says is "probably the worst place to be when you do college football." He spends a lot of time on the road in the fall. His job as a self-employed real estate appraiser affords him time to chase his goal, which included a stretch of five games in four days in October. Barker went to 24 games and completed 22 appraisals that month.
As for the price tag for his tour, Barker estimates he spends somewhere between $35,000 and $45,000 per season. That figure could easily be higher if it weren't for a handful of cost-saving measures he adheres to: no hotels, no concessions and no paying for parking.
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Barker will often sleep in his rental car — which he'll affectionately dub Hotel Camry or Hotel Altima, depending on his assigned vehicle — or scope out a comfy spot in the airport to nod off. He also makes sure to pack food, mainly oatmeal packets and protein powder.
It helps when Barker receives a media credential for a game, which might include a parking pass. If not, he's content to walk from wherever he can find a free place to park. That limits his costs to almost exclusively travel (airfare and rental cars) and the tickets themselves, which don't always come cheap.
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Barker knows that all too well. Instead of spending $800 to see Oregon-Washington State in 2018, he got a "deal" on a $250 ticket. However, there was a light pole blocking his angle of the end zone. That was the genesis of "Obstructed View Alert," a recurring bit on his social media in which he documents seats with limited — or sometimes zero — field visibility.
Unlike other college football fanatics, Barker doesn't have a favorite team. His alma mater, UC San Diego, doesn't sponsor football. He calls himself a "neutral fan," which he says adds to his credibility.
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Barker's father, Curt, played at BYU under legendary coach LaVell Edwards before transferring to the University of the Pacific. Barker says Curt was never the same after an ACL tear, so he was discouraged from following in his footsteps on the gridiron.
Curious about his father's career, Barker stopped at Colorado State in 2017, the site of Curt's best game. While in the area, he drove up to the University of Wyoming and back down to the Air Force Academy, taking pictures with bronze statues at each stop, which later became tradition.
That mini tour sparked a subsequent, lengthier college-centered trip that brought him from Miami to Maine, over to Minnesota and down to Texas. He returned home to California 99 campuses later. Barker's campus tour turned into a college football campus tour that fall.
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"The combination of me wanting to see what was out there, my dad's career and a little bit of being disenfranchised with pro football," said Barker, referring to the relocation of the Chargers and Raiders, "those things kind of all led me towards touring the country and using college football as the excuse."
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Even after a record-setting season, Barker has his sights set on a loftier goal. "I'm really trying to be the only person in the world to have seen a game at all 265 Division I schools," he said.
There are 136 schools that compete in the Football Subdivision (FBS), which is the highest level of college football. Barker has been to a home game at each of them, including Missouri State and Delaware, which made the transition to the FBS this season . That was his goal when he started this journey in 2017.
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In 2021, Barker set his sights on the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), the second tier of Division I. That's still a work in progress. Barker made a dent this season by attending games at 20 new FCS schools. He's 17 away from hitting all 129, but as St. Francis drops down to Division III and Chicago State debuts in 2026, he'll enter next season — the 10th of his tour tour — 18 shy of completing the FCS list.
"It's hard to chase a goal that's moving," Barker said. "So as much as I love everybody — and I would have everybody in the FCS — if they could do a two-year moratorium, that would be great."
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Barker hopes 2026 is the year he hits all 265, but his gut feeling is that his chase may bleed into 2027. After that? He wants to hit marquee neutral-site contests after spending so much time focused on on-campus games. Barker specifically mentioned Army-Navy, the Red River Rivalry (Texas-Oklahoma), the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party (Florida-Georgia) and the Bayou Classic (Grambling State-Southern).
Accomplishing his goal of attending a game at every Division I school won't mark the end of Barker's tour. He mulled the idea of a trip to Hawaii's new Aloha Stadium , which is set to open in 2029, as his retirement game.
"I might not even come back to the mainland," Barker joked. "I enjoy what I'm doing, so the thought of it ... it sounds good to relax, but I just don't know how I'm gonna feel until I sit there."
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In the meantime, he's still on the move. Barker is off to Norman, Oklahoma, on Friday for the College Football Playoff game between Alabama and Oklahoma. It's a quick turnaround to Saturday afternoon's FCS semifinal in Missoula, Montana, a Brawl of the Wild rematch between Montana State and Montana.
Montana State defensive lineman Alec Eckert (97) and defensive end Kenneth Eiden IV (11) celebrate with the Great Divide Trophy following their team's victory against Montana on Nov. 22, 2025, in Missoula, Montana.© Michael Thomas Shroyer-Imagn Images
He's booked through the New Year with planned stops at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California; Holiday Bowl in San Diego; FCS championship in Nashville; Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona; and the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. "A little bit of zig-zagging," Barker said of his route. In between, he'll fit in men's basketball games at Tennessee and Chattanooga, which Barker calls "bonuses."
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"If you want to consider yourself a college football fan, spread yourself out," Barker said. "And that's what I try to do. I can't go to LSU-Alabama every week. So when I'm at an FCS school, I'm trying to have the same experience. I hope that my account has, in some way, inspired people to try destinations that are maybe slightly off the grid."
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Related: Delaware, Missouri State Join Conference USA: Inside Their FCS-to-FBS Transition
This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Dec 18, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
