This is a point that many either are ignorant of, or simply want to ignore. While I'm not a big believer of "if you build it, they will come", UAB would have greatly benefited from a new facility of some sort, even if it was a city facility (and I don't necessarily mean a dome). On or very near campus. I grew up in Birmingham. I've seen and dealt with Legion and the surrounding parking. And the training facilities?I'm not a UAB apologist, but downtown Birmingham is actually showing great signs of revitilizaiton, especially around the UAB campus. Now, where Legion Field is located is not desirable at all, near UAB the downtown is doing quite well.
Again, not arguing that UAB is financially sound at all, but if they played near downtown it would help their attendence....not sure how much...but it would help.
Plus I was around when the program was born. TONS of excitement surrounded it. Now, whether you believe that they should have ever risen above I-AA means nothing to me, for the simple reason that they could have made it. People coming to see you and recruits jumping on board are what I call a ROI (Return on Investment). How do you get an ROI, if you never truly invest?? There has not been an investment to truly compete in a long time for UAB. And when you don't invest, you won't compete. We have Saban, and we have Avery, and we are reaping benefits. But we invested. You can win and succeed at D-1 football, albeit on a much smaller scale, if you want to. All I hear is talk about "wasting money". This is a case of they needed to spend some to make some, and it just wasn't done. UAB football could've thrived, again, on a small scale, if the right people wanted it to. It is not the fault of the UAB football team that money was "wasted". Heck, if you have people that don't know how to get money turned around, and how to market, etc., fire 'em and hire someone else! This is not that difficult. Donors were being turned down. Facility upgrades were OK'd, then turned down. That program could've succeeded.
I'm not saying that Bama fans should cheer for UAB, or even care, but I do not understand the kicking of a down (and now dead) program. Enough, already.