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+------- Thread: UAB athletic name change to Birmingham? (/thread-903344.html)
UAB athletic name change to Birmingham? - Shox - 07-23-2020 10:24 AM
With all the investment taking place in your athletic program UAB is clearly on the AAC short list for future expansion. One of the immediate pushbacks on the AAC forum though is the negative connotation with your name as the "University of Alabama at Birmingham" doesn't fit in real well with the P6 narrative. With the way Tuscaloosa has run you through the mud over the years, I'm sure it bothers some of you as well. Has there even been any talk of changing the athletic name to just Birmingham to help overcome the stigma of being boxed in as a branch campus?
Please don't misconstrue my take, i am Wichita State fan and I get it. We have been put through the ringer by the Kansas board of regents that until recently has been stacked with KU alumni.
RE: UAB athletic name change to Birmingham? - BlazerGreen - 07-23-2020 10:39 AM
Two reasons straight from the hip:
1. Too much investment in the UAB brand. If it wasn't a valid argument before, with all the national news exposure recently it certainly is now.
2. The UABOT wants to keep the UA in there as well as maintain the image of UAB as subordinate to Bama.
For at least those two reasons it will never happen although we do have some pretty sweet Birmingham basketball jerseys.
RE: UAB athletic name change to Birmingham? - mixduptransistor - 07-23-2020 10:46 AM
(07-23-2020 10:24 AM)Shox Wrote: With all the investment taking place in your athletic program UAB is clearly on the AAC short list for future expansion. One of the immediate pushbacks on the AAC forum though is the negative connotation with your name as the "University of Alabama at Birmingham" doesn't fit in real well with the P6 narrative. With the way Tuscaloosa has run you through the mud over the years, I'm sure it bothers some of you as well. Has there even been any talk of changing the athletic name to just Birmingham to help overcome the stigma of being boxed in as a branch campus?
Please don't misconstrue my take, i am Wichita State fan and I get it. We have been put through the ringer by the Kansas board of regents that until recently has been stacked with KU alumni.
The school will never be just "Birmingham" so it's always going to be UAB at that level. Your question about branding just the athletics teams as "Birmingham" that's been done in the past. In the early days of UAB athletics the basketball team had jerseys that just said "Birmingham" on them, and they have been revived in the past, including the recent past. They were revived both a little bit internally in the athletics department but also massively by the fan base during the football shutdown. There was a decree during that period that they couldn't be used in an official manner, although that has been reduced because the basketball team has used them since then
It'll never be a full rebranding because the Board of Trustees would not allow it, so it's not really an option. I also am confused why it would be a burden to maintain UAB. The trick is to get UAB into the vernacular instead of "Alabama-Birmingham". UCLA isn't burdened by being the University of California Los Angeles. And as a university overall I don't think there is anything wrong with the UAB brand, which stands plenty fine on its own in an academic sense against UA and certainly among its peer institutions in a conference like the AAC
RE: UAB athletic name change to Birmingham? - MAN4UAB - 07-23-2020 12:50 PM
I like the current branding.
RE: UAB athletic name change to Birmingham? - UAB Schnauzer - 07-23-2020 01:07 PM
UAB is a globally known brand in the medical field. For reason alone it will never change.
RE: UAB athletic name change to Birmingham? - linus - 07-28-2020 05:45 PM
To say that UAB is not classy enough for the AAC ignores the reality of UCLA
RE: UAB athletic name change to Birmingham? - DragonLair - 07-29-2020 07:18 PM
Lame argument, see UCF, ECU, SMU. Our Letter should be looked at no different than theirs.