Uniquely Alabama: Protective Stadium Was a Long Time Coming

"Uniquely Alabama" is an occasional series where Patch tries to find the answers to questions about life in Alabama. Have a question about the Yellowhammer State that needs answering? Send it to michael.seale@patch.com.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — As I outlined in a previous column, football in Alabama is almost a religion. We love it here. And sitting in my seats at the brand new Protective Stadium Saturday watching UAB play Liberty, I could not help but think about how badly Birmingham needed this new venue and just how long it was needed.

I am old enough to remember the failed attempts at building a domes stadium in the Magic City. I am old enough to remember when there were rumors of an NFL team relocating to Birmingham "if only we could build a new stadium." I think at one point some folks in Birmingham put an offer on the Minnesota Vikings (or at least that was the rumor).

I am also old enough to recall when Legion Field was "The Football Capital of the South," words that were still emblazoned on the upper deck of the Old Grey lady even after the University of Alabama stopped playing games there. And I recall thinking more than 10 years ago when I attended the Papa John's Bowl that Birmingham would need to either renovate Legion Field or build a new stadium pronto.

Did I ever actually think it would get done? I have to admit I was skeptical. But by golly, it happened. The stadium is awesome. It really is. And the atmosphere at the game was similar to the opening night of Regions Field years ago. People were excited, they were cheering, they were mingling and they were part of history.

I ran into my mentor, former Birmingham Post-Herald sports editor Scott Adamson, who I believe to be the premier authority on Birmingham sports history, and who recently moved back to Birmingham after a 15 year absence. He was amazed. Not just at the stadium itself, but how the stadium has transformed the area.

Scott, like many Birmingham sports fans, has been burned in the past by the broken promises of new sports teams and venues in the city. And he, too, was of the opinion that he "believe it when he saw it," regarding a new stadium.

But he saw it. We all did. And it's not just a huge leap for UAB football, a program that was terminated in 2015 only to be resurrected in 2017. It is a huge leap for the city. Think about the area of town the new stadium now occupies. Not long ago, this was a part of town that most people in the city didn't visit. And anyone who envisioned bars and restaurants and entertainment options in the neighborhood were few and far between.

Uptown, the BJCC, the restaurants and bars across the street, Top Golf and more infrastructure to come has transformed what was once a part of town folks usually avoided into a preferred destination.

I walked along the concourse at Protective Stadium, looking at the fans enjoying the vibe — and it truly was a vibe — and I could not help but wonder how different things would be in the city now had this project been done decades ago.

Perhaps the timing wasn't right before. Perhaps the city just needed the right leadership, or the right incentives to get the ball rolling. Perhaps MAPS (the 1998 proposal that included a domed stadium) and a handful of other visions city leaders had were premature.

When the World Games 2022 come to Birmingham next summer, the world will actually get to see the fruits of Birmingham's labor. And I'm here for it.

This is not just a huge project for Birmingham, but the entire state will benefit from having this incredible stadium here. Bowl games, concerts, the high school football championships, exhibition games, big time events — all of these things that were perhaps "too good" for Legion Field (or for Birmingham in general) are now on the radar.

Yes, it rained most of Saturday night. And yes, concession stand lines were long and moved rather slowly for my taste. And unfortunately, UAB lost the game Saturday night. But none of those aspects of the evening cast a shadow large enough to stifle the excitement of what all of us were witnessing Saturday.

UAB might have lost Saturday night, but Birmingham came out a winner. And I'm pretty darn proud.