Legion Field

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Legion Field Birmingham, Alabama
"Football Capital of the South"
Location	400 Graymont Ave W Birmingham, AL 35204
Opened	1926
Owner	City of Birmingham
Operator	UAB
Surface	Turf
Construction cost	$439,000 USD
Tenants	UAB Blazers (NCAA Football) (1991-present) Birmingham Americans (WFL) (1974) Birmingham Vulcans (WFL) (1975) Alabama Vulcans (AFA) (1979) Birmingham Stallions (USFL) (1983-85) Birmingham Fire (WLAF) (1991-92) Birmingham Barracudas (CFL) (1995) Birmingham Thunderbolts (XFL) (2001) AAFL Team TBA (AAFL) (2008-present) Dixie Bowl (NCAA) (1948-1949) Papajohns.com Bowl (NCAA) (2006-present)
Capacity	71,594 (Current)

Legion Field is a large stadium in Birmingham, Alabama primarily designed to be used as a venue for American football, but is occasionally used for other large outdoor events. The stadium is named in honor of the American Legion, a U.S. organization of military veterans. At its peak it seated 83,091 people for football. Today, after the removal of the upper deck, Legion Field seats approximately 71,594 spectators. Legion Field currently serves as the home field of the UAB Blazers, who compete in Conference USA. The University of Alabama once played up to three home football games there every season (including the entire 1987 home slate due to major renovations at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the Crimson Tide's on-campus home in Tuscaloosa), but has ended this practice; its last game at Legion Field was a 40-17 victory over the University of South Florida on August 30, 2003. Auburn University also used Legion Field less extensively, but the Tigers left upon the expansion of Jordan-Hare Stadium to a greater seating capacity. After 1980, Auburn's only home game in Birmingham was the Iron Bowl up to 1987 and in 1991.

Stadium History

Legion Field perhaps was best-known for hosting the season-ending game between Alabama and Auburn each year from 1948 to 1988. Because of Birmingham's major industry of iron and steel manufacturing, the game became known as the "Iron Bowl". In 1989 Auburn moved their home games in the series to their own stadium, although they did play one last home game at Legion Field in 1991. Alabama followed suit in 2000. Alabama holds a 32-15 edge over their in-state rival in games played at Legion Field. The first game ever played at Legion Field occurred between nearby Howard College (now Samford University) and Birmingham-Southern College. Howard College won this game 9-0. Legion Field served as home to the Hall of Fame Bowl played on December 31 from 1977 to 1985. In 1986 the Hall of Fame Bowl was relocated to Tampa, Florida and later the name changed to the Outback Bowl. In 1979 and 1980, the facility played host to the Drum Corps International World Championships. In the summer of 1996, Legion Field served as a soccer venue for the 1996 Summer Olympics. Legion Field also hosted four post-season college football games, the Dixie Bowl (1947-1948), the Hall of Fame Classic (1977-1985), the All-American Bowl (1986-1990), and the first two Southeastern Conference championship games (1992-1993). It still hosts the title football game for the historically black Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). The venue also served as home field for the Birmingham Americans (Vulcans) of the World Football League (1974-1975), the Alabama Vulcans of the American Football Association (1979), the Birmingham Stallions of the United States Football League (1983-1985), and the Birmingham Fire of the World League of American Football (now NFL Europe) in 1991-92. Afterward in 1995, it was the home field of the Birmingham Barracudas for their single season of play as part of the short-lived expansion of the Canadian Football League into the U.S. Later (2001), it was the home field for the single season of the Birmingham Thunderbolts of the XFL. On August 19, 2004, the University of Alabama announced that they would not be playing any further home games at the venue, leaving UAB football as the sole collegiate tenant. Recently, Legion Field had been used successfully as a site for major soccer events, including matchups in the 1996 Olympic Games — the opening match between the United States and Argentina drew 83,810 spectators, the stadium's all-time record for any event. Legion Field had also hosted exhibition games by the U.S. men's and women's national soccer teams, and in 2005 it hosted a World Cup qualifier between the U.S. and Guatemala. US Soccer will no longer be scheduling games for play at Legion Field because of a switch from natural grass to artificial turf. The Rolling Stones played at Legion Field on August 4, 1994 during their Voodoo Lounge tour. The Counting Crows opened that evening.

Attendance Records

Current Uses

Outside of serving as the home field for the UAB Blazers football team, the city uses the stadium for occasional high school football matchups and for the annual "Super-Six" AHSAA state high school football championships. The Magic City Classic featuring Alabama State University and Alabama A&M University as well as the Steel City Classic featuring Miles College and Stillman College are played at Legion Field. The MEAC/SWAC Challenge is also played at Legion Field. On April 27, 2006, the NCAA approved a proposal by ESPN Regional which would bring a bowl game back to Birmingham. The Papajohns.com Bowl, formerly known as the Birmingham Bowl, was played on December 23rd at Legion Field and featured University of South Florida vs. East Carolina University.The USF Bulls defeated the ECU Pirates 24-7. Birmingham-Southern College played against Mississippi College in Legion Field on September 6, 2007 in their first football game since 1939. They won this game 41-13.

Recent Changes

Photo of the stadium before the upper deck was demolished.

In 2004 a structural evaluation determined that the 9,000 seat upper deck, installed in 1961, would need major remediation to meet modern building codes. With little prospect of adequate repairs on the way, the University of Alabama withdrew the few home games it still scheduled for Birmingham.^[1] Without Crimson Tide football, the city determined that the stadium's capacity was greater than necessary for its other tenants and proceeded to dismantle and remove the upper deck in the summer of 2005. In 2006, to accommodate high school football games, the Birmingham Park and Recreation Board reconverted the grass surface back to artificial turf. Because the field is also used for soccer, a FIFA 2-Star synthetic field turf was specified. FieldTurf completed the installation on October 30, 2006, but FIFA has not yet certified the field for play. (list). The US Soccer Federation had recommended against the change and has not scheduled any events at Legion Field since the change.

Photographs

Legion Field Scoreboard

Exterior View from Graymont Avenue

Bear Bryant Monument in Front of Stadium

Satellite image taken in January 2004

References

External links

• Legion Field at City of Birmingham official web site at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine
• Legion Field Seating Chart

Coordinates: 33°30′41.43″N, 86°50′33.53″W