Tag Archives: Legion Field

UAB and the larger Division I picture (and things to keep in mind about Legion Field)

UAB students watch the announcementAs we watched events unfold alongside students on Tuesday, much of the focus on UAB president Ray Watts’s announcement about the discontinuation of the football, bowling, and rifle teams has focused on UAB being the first NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) school to do so since 1995. It’s important, but it’s necessary to look at the bigger picture in Division I in order to see a larger trend and to find a possible solution.

A review of a list of discontinued football programs shows that UAB is the sixteenth Division I school overall to make the choice in that time period.

Institution State Year discontinued

Current total enrollment

University of the Pacific CA 1995

6,196

Boston University MA 1997

30,009

University of Evansville IN 1997

2,526

California State University, Northridge CA 2001

38,310

Canisius College NY 2002

4,537

Fairfield University CT 2002

4,991

St. John’s University (New York) NY 2002

21,354

East Tennessee State University TN 2003

15,536

St. Mary’s College of California CA 2003

4,228

Siena College NY 2003

3,247

St. Peter’s University NJ 2006

2,987

La Salle University PA 2007

7,554

Iona College NY 2008

4,065

Northeastern University MA 2009

20,034

Hofstra University NY 2009

12,400

University of Alabama at Birmingham AL 2014

18,568

The majority of those schools compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) with 10 out of 16 located in the Northeast — the place where football was born; three other schools are located in California (including the largest of them, Cal State Northridge with more than 38,000 currently enrolled). It may not seem like it makes sense to talk about the FCS schools until you realize the most recent example of a relaunched program comes from those ranks — East Tennessee State University. As you can see above, the program did close in 2003, but is scheduled for a return next fall. The full explanation is included as part of an editorial over on Dear Birmingham.

Legion Field

Another angle that has received significant attention these last two days is the potential fate of Legion Field. The Football Capital of the South. Realize if all options are on the table, there are two things that need to be remembered.

Legion Field is McLendon Park — the football stadium is located within the largest piece of property dedicated to park use in the city of Birmingham. (Yes, Red Mountain Park is huge, but it’s technically overseen by a state commission; Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve is as its name change states, a preserve, and its managed by a non-profit organization.) If (as unlikely as it should be) considered options include demolition, file away the fact that it means we could see the land transformed into the city’s largest park. This could be seen as a catalytic project for the surrounding blocks.

Non-park use requires a public vote — Yes, it’s true. The property is dedicated for purposes related to parks and recreation. According to the city code, if it is to be used for any other purpose, a public referendum will need to be held and it pass in order for that new type of solution to move forward. The called meeting of the city’s Parks and Recreation board to discuss possible options is currently scheduled for next Monday.

What’s all this talk about the USFL being back?

USFL Logo 2012There have been posts written about the All-American Football League and the United Football League wanting to bring football back to Birmingham (and, as a result, to historic Legion Field) during the early days of the sites existence. For some reason there were not posts talking about the potential launch of the American Football League in 2011 and our potential franchise, the Birmingham Yellowhammers (though that one never got off the ground either).

For some reason though, there’s a little more hope tied to the most recent effort to bring back professional football to Birmingham – especially since its tied to the return of the USFL – sort of. Who knows, it could even mean a return of the Birmingham Stallions.

The Washington Post filed a report late last week about the pending return of the league next spring as a developmental league – an announcement originally made by EndZone Sports Management, LLC, the league’s owners, during the Vegas Unwrapped show (and the company’s website) back on February 15. It was also reported by NBC Sports in April, though considering what day the story ran, we could see why folks wouldn’t necessarily believe it.

Something adding to the increased attention in recent days may be the fact that the cities selected for the relaunch are expected to be announced this summer. Considering that according to the WP story (as well as the pieces from the Birmingham Business Journal and The Birmingham News) there were only 10 cities being looked at for eight slots, the Magic City’s chances are looking pretty good so far.

On the agenda: Sewers and skyboxes

Official flag of the City of BirminghamCouncilor Rafferty’s proposal to reduce the number of representatives from the City of Birmingham serving on the BJCTA‘s Transit Advisory Committee (held over for three weeks already) is back on the council agenda today (Item 6). There’s also a $22,000 bid to re-carpet Legion Field‘s skybox (Item 20).

The major item on today’s agenda involves the city’s storm water management program. Item 14 allows the mayor to enter a contract with Malcolm Pirnie for up to $535,975 to assist with the development of that plan and to help prepare a required report to ADEM. Item 15 puts them under contract (for $89,895) to help address issues brought up during a recent audit of the city’s storm water management system.

The recap will be online later today

Will World Cup Soccer return to Birmingham?

Soccer ball. thebuffafamily/FlickrLost in the talk about the City Council approving an extra $250,000 for this year’s City Stages (bringing the total amount to $550,000) was the announcement by Mayor Langford that Birmingham, AL would be submitting a proposal to be one of the facilities that could be used for the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Now, to put this in perspective, there are 37 potential host cities (with 45 facilities total) across the United States being asked to submit for a chance to hose the soccer matches. The hope is to have the final list ready by the end of the year, allowing them to be included in the bid book, due in May 2010.

If successful, it would be the first time Birmingham sees World Cup action since the 2005 qualifying match between the U.S. and Guatemala at Legion Field. The U.S. is competing against several countries for the honor, including the United Kingdom, meaning that our sister city across the pond wants in on it too.

Photo: Soccer ball. thebuffafamily/Flickr

No more Super 6 in Birmingham

super_six_logoFootball is more than a pastime in Alabama, and the crowds that gather at the annual Super 6 state football championships here in Birmingham at Legion Field represent that status more than anything else. Make that used to represent…

This afternoon CBS 42 broke the news that the championships would no longer be played in The Magic City and instead alternate between Tuscaloosa and Auburn, just like the Iron Bowl decided before it.

What does it mean to our local economy? Representatives from Birmingham’s Convention and Visitors Bureau told Chris Pollone of NBC 13 that they think it could cost the region more than $4 million.

We do get to keep the state basketball championships, but some are already arguing that a multipurpose facility’s time has finally come.

Birmingham Wildfire tryouts upcoming

birmingham_wildfire_logoThe Birmingham Wildfire, a semi-professional football team, became a part of the metro Birmingham scene last year. BhamWiki even created an entry for them. This year they’ve signed on to be one of the six teams in the Southern Conference of the LaBelle Community Football League (LCFL), founded in 2003 by music icon Patti LaBelle.

The team will be holding open player tryouts next week Saturday (March 7) and March 21 at Legion Field. Open tryouts for the dance team will be on the 21st. Registration on both days will begin at 9 a.m. with fees being $25 for players and $15 for potential dance team members.

It’s Battle for the Bones time tonight

If you’re so inclined to skip watching the vice presidential debate live or attending any of the numerous networking events this evening, you may want to head on over to Legion Field as UAB prepares to play Memphis, otherwise known as the annual Battle for the Bones contest. They play for The Bones that you see to your left and while it’s too late to register to win some of the more than $3,000 in prizes, there’s still plenty of time to go and enjoy at the very least the smell of all that barbecue.