Arkansas weighs history and money in decision to stay or leave games in Little Rock

selmaborntidefan

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This pretty much written in stone. Tradition is good but not the end all. I am not sure how much profit Little Rock makes of a game there but I doubt they can come up with the $$$.
Tradition doesn't matter at all, no matter how many the old dinosaurs of the Big Ten/Pac 12 "we're entitled to the Rose Bowl" crowd thinks (and yeah there are OTHER examples but that one sticks in my craw).
 

bamaga

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Also, don't the piggies lose a home game every other year vs aTm( although Jerrah pays them wel). Off topic but on subject, how long before the cow puppies realize the disadvantages of playing in Jacksonville every year ?
 

BamaInBham

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Get out Arky!
There were a multitude of fabulous games there. In fact, that is where more than 90% of the big games were played past Coach Bryant's tenure - til approx the 90s. The western side of Bham was not always what it is now. LF was once a great venue, as printed across its ?upper deck? facing, it was truly the "Football Capital of the South". Of course the main reason was that Alabama played there. This was true at least through the 70s.
 
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CoachInWaiting

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Get out Arky!
I can't agree with this, Legion Field today and Legion Field in the 1970's is a bad comparison. I was there in the 70's and it was an experience I will always remember fondly. Not the greatest neighborhood even then, but it was all a part of the deal. I got to see the greatest coach of my lifetime lean against the goalpost and watch pregame warmups, clutching his game notes and deeply drawing on a Chesterfield. Great memories, and the Old Gray Lady was an integral part of it.
 
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TomFromBama

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For the last few years, Legion Field was a dump.

But in the late 70s heyday, it could be electric. Only one game on TV, we were it, Goodyear blimp overhead, tailgating in Mrs. Bagwell's back yard. Touchdown Café burgers, it was something.

But those days ended, and we were a bit late moving all games to Tuscaloosa.

I remember the last game there -- opening against USF on a brutally hot day. City of Birmingham did its usual bang-up job, and it took over an hour to get a coke. Utterly miserable experience all around. When it mercifully ended, Mrs. Basket Case and I simultaneously said a bunch of banned words.
This ^^^

Legion Field was great in its day.

But times changed, and economics changed (mostly due to TV), But the Absolute Death Knell was the malfeasance of the corrupt City of Birmingham government! They made the whole situation 100 times worse than it might have been by utterly neglecting critical maintenance - SAFETY Maintenance on the Stadium itself, not to mention Amenities, AND by letting the surrounding neighborhoods descend into tragic SLUMS.

By the last couple years we played there, going to a game at LF was like visiting the worst parts of Memphis or New Orleans, Parking was horrific (and sometimes very dangerous), concessions were woefully inadequate, the restrooms were disgusting - it wasn't unusual to wade through pools of "liquid" just to get to and from the field level restrooms.

One of the last times I was there I clearly remember looking at a structural beam and LITERALLY seeing daylight through the rust patches.

Frankly, its a MIRACLE that the upper deck especially, or even part of the lower bowl, never collapsed during an Alabama game when the place was full. That would have been a true tragedy and lives would have been lost.
 

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