Photos by David Welch, Stadium Journey
Stadium Info FANFARE Score: 4.00
Legion Field 400 Graymont Ave Birmingham, AL 35204
Year Opened: 1927
Capacity: 71,000
Magic of the Classic
The intrastate clash between Alabama A&M and Alabama State is held annually at nearly the halfway point between the two schools, at Birmingham’s Legion Field. Opened in 1927, Legion Field is an icon of football history not just in Birmingham but also in the state of Alabama.
In its lifespan, Legion Field has served as both a home field and a neutral site for some of college football’s biggest games. It has hosted both Alabama and Auburn, as well as Birmingham area schools such as the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Birmingham Southern, and Samford – it has also been the neutral site of an endless number of bowls and rivalry games, most notably serving as the home of the legendary Iron Bowl, the annual meeting between Alabama and Auburn.
Legion Field has also hosted several incarnations of professional football, including the World Football League, American Football Association, World League of American Football, the Canadian Football League’s shot at expansion into the United States, the XFL, American Alliance of Football, and two stints as home to teams in the United States Football League. Furthermore, not only has football found a home at Legion Field, but the venue was also home to Olympic soccer as part of the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Food & Beverage 5
Leaving the Magic City Classic hungry or feeling unsatisfied by the choices here might be more of a personal choice than a lack of options. There seems to be an endless number of tailgates smoking and grilling foods, and fans are more than willing to share their masterpieces of grill work. There are also several food vendors along Graymont Avenue selling everything from wings, chicken plates, turkey legs, fried fish, and fried carnival foods; exotic-looking tropical drinks, shaved ice, and individual canned drinks are also sold.
Legion Field itself does not have an overall food vendor, which works in favor of food options to produce a very diverse stadium menu, rather than the typical stadium concession retreads, including tacos and quesadillas, chicken fingers, fries, fried okra bites, and nachos, here Philly cheese steaks, Polish and Italian sausages, burgers, and wings round out the choices. Those wanting more familiar tastes will be happy to see a Chick-fil-A window, but options there are limited basically to just the chicken sandwich.
Dessert options at Legion Field are just as vast, including candied apples, strawberry shortcakes, banana pudding, acai berry bowls, flavored popcorn, and even various takes on French toast sticks.
Soft drinks from the Coca-Cola line of beverages can be found at each stand, while a handful of stands serve shaved ice and fruit smoothies as well. Alcoholic beverages include premium and well spirits using vodka, tequila, rum, Crown Royale, Grand Marnier, and Hennessy. Game sponsor Gin and Juice by Snoop Dogg, plus Dr. Dre’s premixed cocktails, are also available.
From the food trucks and tables along Graymont Avenue, the use of independent food vendors is a relief. Even where there is overlap in similar items, having individual concession stand operators does provide a different taste of the repeated items.
Atmosphere 5
The energy and buzz in the air around the stadium and around Birmingham rivals that of any Power Four conference pregame experience. Fans begin showing up days before the game in pull-behind campers and RVs. The morning of the game, lots around “The Gray Old Lady” start coming alive in the predawn hours as tent canopies spring up and the hinges of grills and smokers groan open in preparation for a day of grilling and smoking. Game day morning starts with a parade through the streets of downtown Birmingham.
Back at Legion Field, everything from hot dogs and burgers to whole hogs can be found being cooked up throughout the lots. A trip through the tailgating encampments has the feel of a walk through the history of hip-hop, R&B, and soul music.
The music seamlessly transitions from one genre to another in a trip around the stadium while the MC of the “official tailgate” of the Magic City Classic starts to rev up the crowd into game-level excitement. The tailgating that surrounds the game is second to none, as the music plays and the grilling moves from cooking to eating and into general pregame revelry.
From the exterior, Legion Field shows her wear over the years. The paint is faded and peeling in several places, and oxidation and rust appear to have taken over in spots where the underlying steel beams are exposed. While the facility has taken a beating from the elements over the years, a walk through the concourse reveals some stunning architectural features.
The mid-80s saw the expansion of the exterior of the stadium, pushing the main points of entry out and covering the beautifully arched masonry inside the stadium. It is features like this that have stood the test of time and remind visitors that you sometimes have to dig a bit and look deeper to find the beauty that lies within a historic stadium like Legion Field.
A big draw for many HBCU football games is the performances from the marching bands – from the well regimented march into the stadium, volleys of refrains between each band, some not-so-subtle digs at each other from across the field, and the much-anticipated halftime performances. Unlike many college football games where the halftime clock serves as more of a countdown for bands, at the Magic City Classic, it seems to be a bit more of a suggested timeframe, as the halftime performances far surpass the allotted 20 minutes.
At times, the difficulty with neutral site matchups is that it can be difficult to establish a consistent college football game day feel. On college campuses, breaks in the action are typically designed to fire up the home crowd and keep their fervor high until the game starts back up. Here at the Magic City Classic, however, breaks following stoppages in play are typically filled with sponsor ads and recognitions, which seems to take the excitement out of the crowd – this does not completely ruin the experience but does tend to create lulls in the excitement.
Neighborhood 3
Legion Field is in Birmingham’s Smithfield neighborhood, just west of downtown Birmingham. The area presents a mixed impression, characterized by a combination of residential and industrial zones, but with a notable number of abandoned and decaying homes and businesses – the neighborhood may elevate visitors’ situational awareness.
Iconic Rickwood Field, where Major League Baseball held games during the 2024 major and minor league seasons, is just over a mile away and offers free tours of the stadium and its adjoining museum. If arriving in town before Saturday’s game, downtown Birmingham is also home to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in the Uptown District, just steps from Protective Stadium.
For another look into the history of sports in the area, the Negro Southern League Museum is just beyond the left field wall of the Birmingham Barons’ Regions Field, and Birmingham is also a center of the history of the Civil Rights movement – the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Kelly Ingram Park, and the historic 16th Street Baptist Church are all concentrated downtown.
Fans 4
Fans begin showing up starting Wednesday of game week, setting up tailgating sites and kicking off the revelry and fellowship that surrounds the game – it is estimated that over 200,000 fans show up for the game and the festivities associated with The Classic. Here at the Magic City Classic, the pregame tailgating and everything that goes along with it illustrates all that is special about the pregame football experience.
Inside Legion Field itself, fans from both teams are actively part of the ups and downs on the field, and even more so are the bands from the respective schools.
The lone knock on the fan involvement in the game, and it is a bit hard to hold it against them, is that there do seem to be plenty of empty seats in the stadium (which holds 70,000+), with many remaining in the lots tailgating. It is not uncommon for fans to stay outside of any stadium and choose to continue the party, but filling the stadium with those outside would go a long way in making this game an elite-level college football experience.
Access 2
Getting to Birmingham from any direction is as simple as could be, especially considering the number of interstate highways that run through the city. What is challenging, though, is contending with the parking situation and navigating the number of road closures.
At Legion Field, backups are common throughout, much as they are on the surface streets around the city. Long concession lines paired with a tight interior concourse on the eastern side of the stadium create a rather significant choke point; luckily, there is an exterior concourse that makes navigating this side of the stadium easier.
The upper-level field concourse creates obstacles, which block the view of those seated in the front few rows of seats due to typical concourse foot traffic and those who congregate along the walkway and entry portals.
The city of Birmingham has made leaving the stadium and getting back to downtown parking as easy as can be by closing down cross streets, in essence, creating an express bus lane through the city. The best bet for the casual fan is to grab a shuttle and enjoy the ride back.
The City of Birmingham and game organizers do all they can to make getting to and from the game as easy as possible, but with the volume of RV and trailer parking taking up so much of the lots around the stadium, it leaves very little for general parking. The layout of the stadium itself, as well as a lack of perceived urgency from stadium staff to move crowds along in tight spots, also makes for some challenges in navigating the facility.
Return on Investment 4
General admission tickets are available for purchase online and start at $25 before fees; reserved tickets run $35. Unfortunately, purchasing tickets at the stadium box office before the game does not avoid the added fees.
Because game day parking is so limited at Legion Field, rates run nearly $60 at the stadium – downtown parking is more reasonable at $20 for most lots and garages.
Concessions are a touch high here, but considering the quality of most food options and the large portion sizes, it does seem to offset the slightly higher prices.
Extras 5
The morning of the Magic City Classic starts with a parade through downtown featuring many groups of bands, as well as cheer and dance squads from around the southeast.
Not enough can be said about the role the marching bands play in creating a truly special college football atmosphere – from the precision of their march into the stadium to the pregame salvos during warmups, to the main event, their halftime performances, both bands deserve a ton of credit for the roles they play in helping to create the atmosphere that surrounds the Magic City Classic.
The concourse has plaques affixed to each side of the stadium, which serve as a bit of a timeline of when certain parts of the stadium were constructed or upgraded. It definitely does not seem to be intentional, but the plaques serve as a nice history of the growth of Legion Field.
Seats in the upper levels of the west stands provide amazing views of downtown Birmingham and the mountains that cradle it. The upper deck was removed in 2005 due to safety concerns, but doing so seems to have made a massive improvement in the view it now provides.
Final Thoughts
The Magic City Classic is a great college football experience, but it goes further than being just a rivalry game between two of Alabama’s historic HBCUs – this game has the feel of being a celebration of the game of football, as well as the history of two of Alabama’s most historically Black colleges.
As much as has been made about Legion Field becoming obsolete and having outlived its functionality as a host to large-scale events such as the Magic City Classic, what cannot be underestimated is the historical and cultural relevance this facility holds not just for Birmingham but throughout the state of Alabama.
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