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With Ga St buying the old Turner Field for their new stadium, would buying the LF area property work for us in the future of our own stadium? Yes it's not attached to the university but at least it would be ours to do with it as we please plus lots of room to expand on that "block" to build say soccer stadium, new basketball arena & replacement for LF itself.

No. Put those dollars into something more immediately useful.

The area around Legion Field is as much a apart of the problem as the stadium itself. Turner Field is MUCH younger than LF and the area it is in will attach to the Ga State campus. I can see no reasonable comparison for us to buy it. What needs to happen to the old LF is to be re-purposed into a multi-use facility/park for youth and high school events. The land is already officially park and Rec land. They should even keep the current turf. That way it could be the beginning of a revitalization of that side of town.

(12-21-2015 04:42 PM)blazerwkr Wrote:  With Ga St buying the old Turner Field for their new stadium, would buying the LF area property work for us in the future of our own stadium? Yes it's not attached to the university but at least it would be ours to do with it as we please plus lots of room to expand on that "block" to build say soccer stadium, new basketball arena & replacement for LF itself.

UAB already has land for a stadium. Location is not the impediment to an on-campus or otherwise UAB-owned facility.

(12-21-2015 04:57 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  No. Put those dollars into something more immediately useful.

I agree.

Legion Field has been a financial sink hole since I've been alive. UAB shouldn't have any vested interest in what happens there beyond these next few seasons.

The city, however, should start laying out their plans for what they eventually want to do with the property after the World Games. With a new stadium pending construction, why would anyone opt to play at Legion Field when it's done? The maintenance and upgrades to such a garbage stadium doesn't the move the needle nearly enough to continuously justify paying for them.

It's still an asset to the city, but, as it stands, barely. I think taking it all down, starting anew, and making it a smaller venue with a small museum or something in dedication of what Legion Field used to be would be the way to go.

Legion Field is not worth buying. Why buy a used lemon when you can lease a new car.

I have believed and suggested that UAB should consider a deal with the city for the entire park property surrounding Legion Field for adding expansion potential for the UAB campus which will be cramped in its present footprint if the university is ever allowed to grow to its potential of 50,000 enrollment. When one considers the properties that could be added to the south & east (making the two much closer geographically), the fact that UAB now has its own (expandable) transportation system, added to the UAB moving games to any new stadium, the two parties have good reasons to work out a mutually beneficial deal.

The park property would require only minimal grading to make it useful for new UAB buildings so to me it looks like a "win-win" opportunity for both parties. In regard to "the neighborhood", keep in mind the present campus was built in a similar environment and it has wrought great changes to it over time. The same thing could / would likely happen around a "UAB West Campus". We might even see Elyton Village reconvert to UAB student housing just as it was when my wife and her medical student first husband lived there 50 years ago.

The big secret is that we want the land more than the stadium

Birmingham Southern should buy it (and every nearby house that goes up for sale), level everything, and plant trees and grass.

(12-22-2015 02:26 PM)panama Wrote:  The big secret is that we want the land more than the stadium

The land is worthless to UAB.

(12-22-2015 02:26 PM)panama Wrote:  The big secret is that we want the land more than the stadium

We would want the scrap metal more than the land and the stadium combined

I think Panama is referring to Georgia State wanting Turner Field's land. He is a Georgia State fan afterall.

(12-22-2015 04:21 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  I think Panama is referring to Georgia State wanting Turner Field's land. He is a Georgia State fan afterall.

My fault, not paying attention (seems contagious around here)

(12-22-2015 04:11 PM)LairDweller Wrote:  

(12-22-2015 02:26 PM)panama Wrote:  The big secret is that we want the land more than the stadium

We would want the scrap metal more than the land and the stadium combined

As long as UAB is relegated to a 12,000 to 15,000 or less undergraduate enrollment, the present campus footprint will be sufficient. I just don't see that should be our goal for this century. Why WOULD'NT UAB want to acquire that park land and perhaps expand it even further by additional purchases?

I recall that at a time in the past Florida offered to sell all land west of their Appalachicola River to Alabama for $1 million, but Alabama turned the offer down because the Alabama political leaders of the day could see no use for it. I would not want UAB leaders to make the same short- sighted mistake in this century.

Legion Field Stadium should be considered no more permanent than Three River Stadium, the Kingdome, the Metrodome, or any other like them whenever a suitable replacement (like the MPF) is built. It is not the fault of Legion Field or the city of Birmingham that as it approaches its 100th birthday in ten years, it remains the only city owned stadium of its capacity in this state (even after the upper deck was removed).

The "Think small, build small, remain small" culture of too many (see the UA System BOT) is a barrier to UAB becoming the great 21st century urban university of the future. As USX shuts down, UAB becomes an even greater presence in the local / metro area economy so the city has every reason to help it grow within the city. Working and growing together is a paramount factor in the future of both.