By Pat Byington
bhanow.com
The city of Birmingham has begun removing Legion Field’s rusty outdated light towers to modernize the stadium’s lighting. The upgrade was approved by the City Council last spring.
“The new LED lighting at Legion Field represents a major improvement for future events and addresses concerns about the structural integrity of the previous lighting towers”, said City Councilor Darrell O’Quinn, whose district includes the 95 year-old stadium.
“Legion Field will continue to host a variety of events far into the future. This work is an investment that assures the facility can meet safety standards and meet the modern day needs of events with greater energy efficiency.”
Even though Legion Field lost UAB Football and the Birmingham Bowl last year as primary tenets, the stadium remains busy in 2022.
Here are events on the slate:
The World Games – Flag Football competition
Tuskegee-Morehouse College Classic
Magic City Classic – Alabama State University v. Alabama A&M
“SWAC Classic” — Jackson State University vs. University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff
In addition to the scheduled games, between 8-10 USFL games are expected to be played at the “Gray Old Lady” this spring.
More Work Planned
Along with the new lighting, the city council approved $750,000 in various upgrades and repairs this past fall to the historic stadium that was dedicated in 1927.
That work includes:
–Press box roof replacement
–Replace seating in two premium seating areas
–Repaint rails at lower premium seating (East and West Sections)
–Repaint seat numbers
–Repaint row numbers
–New electric hand dryers at some restrooms
–Toilet partition replacement, grab bars, misc.
–New concession and restroom wayfinding signs.
With Protective Stadium coming online, many people predicted the demise of Legion Field. Fortunately, the city has been able to ink several major multi-year agreements to play at Legion Field, such as the Magic City Classic, SWAC Classic and the Tuskegee-Morehouse College Classic for 2-3 years.
With new state of the art lights on the way, the future of Legion Field does look bright.
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