UAB attendance back to normal

4Q Basket Case said:

I live in Birmingham, and my real question is how many of the attendees bought their tickets from the UAB athletic department, at face?

Lots of companies around town buy tickets, often at a discount, and distribute them to employees as a perk, at no charge. A lot of times, the HR departments can't even give them away.

Admittedly, Legion Field is an abomination. UAB should build a 20-30,000 seat stadium on campus. The stadium should be designed with expansion in mind. If attendance justifies, they can always add on. If not (as I expect will be the case), they haven't flushed a ton of money.

But this is Birmingham, and common sense isn't very common.

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Man, I would love a 30,000 seater in Southside. Would be a great addition to the growing scene. The Barons keep leading the Southern League in attendance since moving down here. UAB could do well too.

AUDub said:

The Barons keep leading the Southern League in attendance since moving down here. UAB could do well too.

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The Barons have a very rich and long lasting history. Their roots go back all the way to the 1800s, they have been in near continuous existence as a AA franchise since the 40s. They have been the premier baseball team in the state of Alabama for decades. Their former field is of historic importance and is basically a museum now. It almost cheapens their history to bring this up, but I loaded their bus once, signed by Michael Jordan (donated and used by him as well), the most famous athlete of his era. Just that one thing alone helped make the Barons one of the more recognizable minor league teams in existence. The Barons were even featured in Space Jam. Their fan support has always been consistent, no matter the venue, and that's why they've been able to continue for so long.

We're comparing that to UAB football? Like, in any way? Pretty much every football team in the state not named Auburn or Alabama is destined to fairly low attendance, and that applies to the pros as well. That aside, the most important thing UAB football has ever done is get shut down...

I would have gone to UAB game this past weekend but no way would I take my wife and grandkids into that neighborhood. Refurbish the stadium, tear down the projects and build a parking deck. Makes more sense than blowing money on Fair Park.

81usaf92 said:

Probably the best compromise is to:

1: keep the Power 5 intact and exempt from the following below.
2: regionally divide up all of the non power 5 teams
3: have 3 levels of football. D1,D2, D3
4: Use the England soccer method of deciding who is where on a 4 year basis. Basically great performance gets you to the higher levels and bad performance gets you placed in lower leagues.
5: come up with a clear cut method of deciding who moves up and down
6: power 5 teams cannot schedule non D1 teams.

Using this method eliminates a lot of the stupid becoming FBS status teams, and effectively ends the argument of FBS teams scheduling FCS teams. It also gives teams a chance to grow and be able to compete with teams of equal status.

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You would then have to restructure the scholarship rules. D3 doesn't offer scholarships.

UAB is a perfect example of Management by Mob rule. There can be a massive difference between the public noise of a social media outcry and the actual support for something. "Grass root" used to be a thing back when you had to get a pen and paper, write down your thoughts in a letter, get a stamp, mail it, then repeat daily. Now they just "copy", "past", "click" you just moved heaven and earth. The next generation of leaders must learn to know the difference between public opinion and a ....ed off minority with internet access.

bamaslammer said:

UAB is a perfect example of Management by Mob rule. There can be a massive difference between the public noise of a social media outcry and the actual support for something. "Grass root" used to be a thing back when you had to get a pen and paper, write down your thoughts in a letter, get a stamp, mail it, then repeat daily. Now they just "copy", "past", "click" you just moved heaven and earth. The next generation of leaders must learn to know the difference between public opinion and a ....ed off minority with internet access.

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See also: the hiring of Mike Dubose and the fax campaign.

AUDub said:

Man, I would love a 30,000 seater in Southside. Would be a great addition to the growing scene. The Barons keep leading the Southern League in attendance since moving down here. UAB could do well too.

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I'm certain they'd take your donation.

KrAzY3 said:

The Barons have a very rich and long lasting history. Their roots go back all the way to the 1800s, they have been in near continuous existence as a AA franchise since the 40s. They have been the premier baseball team in the state of Alabama for decades. Their former field is of historic importance and is basically a museum now. It almost cheapens their history to bring this up, but I loaded their bus once, signed by Michael Jordan (donated and used by him as well), the most famous athlete of his era. Just that one thing alone helped make the Barons one of the more recognizable minor league teams in existence. The Barons were even featured in Space Jam. Their fan support has always been consistent, no matter the venue, and that's why they've been able to continue for so long.

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Have them play their games in Graymont rather than Hoover or Southside. Nobody likes going down there, and there's a good reason for that. Watch those attendance numbers plunge. (And yes, I'm aware they have a one off game every year in Rickwood in Ensley that draws great crowds. I attended it pretty frequently growing up. But one game does not a season make.)

And the numbers don't lie. Attendance has gone up tremendously. In the five years prior to the move, they averaged 3981 fans in attendance per game. In the time sense they've moved, they averaged 6054. More than 2000 more per game. Not to mention leading the league every year.

There's a lot to do around the stadium in Southside these days, and a lot of residential property going up too.

KrAzY3 said:

We're comparing that to UAB football? Like, in any way? Pretty much every football team in the state not named Auburn or Alabama is destined to fairly low attendance, and that applies to the pros as well. That aside, the most important thing UAB football has ever done is get shut down...

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Man, you read a lot more into my post than I intended. The point I am making is that attendance will likely rise if they are moved to a better venue close to the school and in a better part of town. It would do wonders for the program. I'd go a lot more frequently.

Hell, look at the post following yours:

capnfrog said:

I would have gone to UAB game this past weekend but no way would I take my wife and grandkids into that neighborhood. Refurbish the stadium, tear down the projects and build a parking deck. Makes more sense than blowing money on Fair Park.

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And that is by no means an infrequent notion.

Support for UAB in Birmingham reminds of Vaclav Havel's Green Grocer.

The whole notion of Legion Field being unsafe is a red herring. Who is afraid to park in that lot in the middle of the day? It's perfectly safe - we're not talking about parking in someone's front yard for a night game.

And Dub - following Barons baseball isn't the same as a city full of UA/AU fans missing SEC football to watch UAB play Marshall.

RTR91 said:

You would then have to restructure the scholarship rules. D3 doesn't offer scholarships.

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Yeah my idea is very basic, but I believe at some point the NCAA needs to really tackle the issue of who is where because its starting to be a real issue. I dont mind non power 5 teams, but there are becoming too many of them.

CrimsonProf said:

Support for UAB in Birmingham reminds of Vaclav Havel's Green Grocer.

The whole notion of Legion Field being unsafe is a red herring. Who is afraid to park in that lot in the middle of the day? It's perfectly safe - we're not talking about parking in someone's front yard for a night game.

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I used to go to UAB games pretty frequently and was at the Birmingham Bowl two years ago. Trust me. It sucks. It's inconvenient as hell and the parking sucks.

"Watching yo car for yah! 10 dollars!"

CrimsonProf said:

And Dub - following Barons baseball isn't the same as a city full of UA/AU fans missing SEC football to watch UAB play Marshall.

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Trust me. With all the residential popping up in the area, the folks would love something else to do on Saturday afternoons/nights in the fall, not to mention being by the school. Southside is pretty awesome right now.

AUDub said:

I used to go to UAB games pretty frequently and was at the Birmingham Bowl two years ago. Trust me. It sucks. It's inconvenient as hell and the parking sucks.

"Watching yo car for yah! 10 dollars!"



Trust me. With all the residential popping up in the area, the folks would love something else to do on Saturday afternoons/nights in the fall, not to mention being by the school. Southside is pretty awesome right now.

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Trust me - I live and work in Birmingham. The support for paying customers to UAB football is not there and if it ever developed it would eventually pose a threat to UA or AU. I don't need to reminded about Southside - I've been to Regions, all the breweries (many, many times), Railroad Park, etc. UAB would be better off with a great soccer team and let their basketball turn into Marquette.

CrimsonProf said:

Trust me - I live and work in Birmingham. The support for paying customers to UAB football is not there and if it ever developed it would eventually pose a threat to UA or AU. I don't need to reminded about Southside - I've been to Regions, all the breweries (many, many times), Railroad Park, etc. UAB would be better off with a great soccer team and let their basketball turn into Marquette.

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I work at Children's in Southside, lived in South Highlands for a time before meeting my wife (a UAB alum) and moving all over the area and settling in Trussville. Hey, we even had our reception at Good People. Still frequent it.

I think the support is there and can grow. Let them put a stadium near the school, within walking distance of the new condos, and develop some sort of gameday atmosphere.

UAB will never be a threat to Alabama or Auburn.

AUDub said:

I work at Children's in Southside, lived in South Highlands for a time before meeting my wife (a UAB alum) and moving all over the area and settling in Trussville. Hey, we even had our reception at Good People. Still frequent it.

I think the support is there and can grow. Let them put a stadium near the school, within walking distance of the new condos, and develop some sort of gameday atmosphere.

UAB will never be a threat to Alabama or Auburn.

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But it won't turn a profit, either, and therein lies the problem.

CrimsonProf said:

But it won't turn a profit, either, and therein lies the problem.

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UAB actually turned a profit in 2014! Now I understand that there were a lot of allocated funds involved there, but those aren't rare at all. In fact, Houston, Cincinnati and Memphis, three programs that are or were members of CUSA, we're subsidised at a higher rate at the time, but nobody seriously discussed shuttering their programs.

And they're hardly in a position to do much more than scrape by right now. They're handicapped by their venue. People go to football games for a good gameday experience. Legion Field, as steeped in tradition as it is, doesn't provide that nowadays. A stadium on or near the campus would do wonders in that regard.

AUDub said:

UAB actually turned a profit in 2014! Now I understand that there were a lot of allocated funds involved there, but those aren't rare at all. In fact, Houston, Cincinnati and Memphis, three programs that are or were members of CUSA, we're subsidised at a higher rate at the time, but nobody seriously discussed shuttering their programs.

And they're hardly in a position to do much more than scrape by right now. They're handicapped by their venue. People go to football games for a good gameday experience. Legion Field, as steeped in tradition as it is, doesn't provide that nowadays. A stadium on or near the campus would do wonders in that regard.

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To be honest they would do better to rent the Hoover met until they built a new stadium

AUDub said:

UAB actually turned a profit in 2014! Now I understand that there were a lot of allocated funds involved there, but those aren't rare at all. In fact, Houston, Cincinnati and Memphis, three programs that are or were members of CUSA, we're subsidised at a higher rate at the time, but nobody seriously discussed shuttering their programs.

And they're hardly in a position to do much more than scrape by right now. They're handicapped by their venue. People go to football games for a good gameday experience. Legion Field, as steeped in tradition as it is, doesn't provide that nowadays. A stadium on or near the campus would do wonders in that regard.

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Would you expect the football program to bear the cost of the new stadium including any land purchase that might be required?

Was talking to a former Troy athletic department employee a few weeks back. He commented Troy and UAB should play week night home games instead of Saturday to not even try to compete with Auburn and Alabama.


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RTR91 said:

Was talking to a former Troy athletic department employee a few weeks back. He commented Troy and UAB should play week night home games instead of Saturday to not even try to compete with Auburn and Alabama.


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Tuesday night? Since the other weeknights are already taken.

Tide1986 said:

Tuesday night? Since the other weeknights are already taken.

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Tuesday is an option. MAC does it. Troy has played a few Tuesday night games.

Thursday and Friday are also options.


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