The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

UAB vs. Liberty
6pm CBS Sports Network.

Quote:Guess we have to change our renderings to night time Smirking face

UAB's Protective Stadium opener on Oct. 2 vs. Liberty has been set for 6 p.m. CST on CBS Sports Network!

#WinAsOne

I don't know if it's just me but I think the time slot should've been at 12. The bigger schools have huge games that day and it might hinder a potential sell out

UAB has two other games on CBS Sports Network. The home game against Louisiana Tech will be at 11 am CT on Nov. 6, and a week later, kickoff at Marshall will be at 2:30 CT.

This gives everyone all day to tailgate and have grand opening ceremonies etc

(05-26-2021 02:19 PM)UABrandon Wrote:  The bigger schools have huge games that day and it might hinder a potential sell out

Time to let that mindset go.

The 2021 Conference USA Football Championship Game on Saturday, Dec. 4 will be televised by CBS Sports Network at a time to be announced. This will be the fifth consecutive season that CBSSN has televised the C-USA football championship game.

(05-26-2021 02:19 PM)UABrandon Wrote:  I don't know if it's just me but I think the time slot should've been at 12. The bigger schools have huge games that day and it might hinder a potential sell out

Better chance to get a ticket as a Blazer fan

The big games in college football (and Alabama) on 10/2 are LSU-Auburn and Bama-Ole Miss. Odds pretty high that one of those will be the 2:30 CBS game and the other will be prime time ESPN. Oh well. UAB-Liberty stands on its own and it's time to start crushing the advance sales for new season tickets and groups now that the base has their seats picked.

Primetime under the lights with the skyline in the background with the new freeway bridge glowing green underneath it

Why don’t UAB and Liberty just go undefeated and get a morning game on ABC?

Since I bought east side tickets, I asked for the 6:00 kick.

(05-26-2021 03:39 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  

(05-26-2021 02:19 PM)UABrandon Wrote:  The bigger schools have huge games that day and it might hinder a potential sell out

Time to let that mindset go.

Agreed.

(05-26-2021 02:19 PM)UABrandon Wrote:  I don't know if it's just me but I think the time slot should've been at 12. The bigger schools have huge games that day and it might hinder a potential sell out

Can’t keep catering to those “also” fans. They’re either all in or all out.

(05-27-2021 12:40 PM)Blazer4Life14 Wrote:  

(05-26-2021 02:19 PM)UABrandon Wrote:  I don't know if it's just me but I think the time slot should've been at 12. The bigger schools have huge games that day and it might hinder a potential sell out

Can’t keep catering to those “also” fans. They’re either all in or all out.

I don't think that's a fair statement. I agree you can't completely cater to the "also" fans, but we'd be stupid not to consider it sometimes. I think playing a home game the day of the Iron Bowl is a terrible idea, and have said so for years. That game should be the day after Thanksgiving. I bet attendance would on average double in comparison to going head-to-head with the Iron Bowl. And to say "all in or all out," that just isn't realistic. My parents have had season tickets for over 20 years now, going back to when I was in school. But they've had Auburn tickets going back twice as long. When they have to choose between Auburn-UGA or UAB-FAU, they'll be on the Plains. And I'm fine with that. It doesn't mean they aren't all in on UAB, especially considering they ponied up for club level in the new stadium. Just means I have two extra seats next to my pair that I get to use to bring a couple of guests. If we want to grow the brand, we cannot be so hostile to potential casual fans.

There's a difference between that mindset for the UAB diehards who go to everything and the casual fan who will be addressable at Protective. There are a lot more people who will be open to attending UAB games who wouldn't come to Legion. Those folks watch Bama, Auburn and national college football. Simply must be strategic with start times, whenever possible. Birmingham is definitely an event town and UAB football for the first time ever is going to be one of those "events."

I'm of the opinion that UAB is one of the few schools that would draw significantly higher if 2-3 of the home games were on Thursdays or Fridays. I think it should be an absolutely given to open up at home on a Thursday or Friday of Memorial Day weekend, and to play on Black Friday every year UAB is at home that final week. I think attendance would be 10K more minimum in those situations.

30+k seats vs 70+k seats - people on the fence will have to get off it or be left out. If they're going to come, they'll come & have to get a ticket early rather than walk up & expect to pay for cheap seats & sit on the 50yd line at LF.

(05-27-2021 01:36 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  There's a difference between that mindset for the UAB diehards who go to everything and the casual fan who will be addressable at Protective. There are a lot more people who will be open to attending UAB games who wouldn't come to Legion. Those folks watch Bama, Auburn and national college football. Simply must be strategic with start times, whenever possible. Birmingham is definitely an event town and UAB football for the first time ever is going to be one of those "events."

I'm of the opinion that UAB is one of the few schools that would draw significantly higher if 2-3 of the home games were on Thursdays or Fridays. I think it should be an absolutely given to open up at home on a Thursday or Friday of Memorial Day weekend, and to play on Black Friday every year UAB is at home that final week. I think attendance would be 10K more minimum in those situations.

A lot of people have trouble attending Thursday night games. When my kids were young instead of bringing the family I went by myself to Thursday night games. And you can forget about parents with kids playing high school football or in the marching band showing up on Friday nights

Was talking with someone about expected crowds this year, and I just don't see us averaging nearly as many fans as I think some people expect. I think a 10-15% increase in fans over our last "normal" legion field season (2019)is a more realistic expectation.

For that season we averaged 24725, but that number was somewhat artificially inflated by having 40k for our first game of the season against Alabama St. For our other 5 home games that year we averaged 21,840 people, and like most seasons, the average attendance dropped off pretty steadily as the season went along. For games starting after the 1st of October (as all of our home games will this year) we averaged 20300.

So say our baseline attendance is somewhere between the 21k outlined above and the nearly 25k that was our official average and say we could count on 23k buts in seats at Legion field for your an average home game not against State or A&M. A 10% increase on that moving to Protective would be 25,300 average for the season. a 15% increase over 23k would be 26,450 average for the season. While either number is going to look a lot better in protective than it did in Legion, it still just puts us at just over 50% capacity for our shiny new 47k seat stadium

Hopefully we have a sell out for Liberty and that boosts the average, but I'm not counting on it. Hell, hopefully we sellout for the year, but i'd definitely bet against that happening year one.

(05-27-2021 03:07 PM)BlazerMatt Wrote:  Was talking with someone about expected crowds this year, and I just don't see us averaging nearly as many fans as I think some people expect. I think a 10-15% increase in fans over our last "normal" legion field season (2019)is a more realistic expectation.

For that season we averaged 24725, but that number was somewhat artificially inflated by having 40k for our first game of the season against Alabama St. For our other 5 home games that year we averaged 21,840 people, and like most seasons, the average attendance dropped off pretty steadily as the season went along. For games starting after the 1st of October (as all of our home games will this year) we averaged 20300.

So say our baseline attendance is somewhere between the 21k outlined above and the nearly 25k that was our official average and say we could count on 23k buts in seats at Legion field for your an average home game not against State or A&M. A 10% increase on that moving to Protective would be 25,300 average for the season. a 15% increase over 23k would be 26,450 average for the season. While either number is going to look a lot better in protective than it did in Legion, it still just puts us at just over 50% capacity for our shiny new 47k seat stadium

Hopefully we have a sell out for Liberty and that boosts the average, but I'm not counting on it. Hell, hopefully we sellout for the year, but i'd definitely bet against that happening year one.

I think the real benefit will be long term. Fans will be more likely to return in the future and more likely to become season ticket holders in the future

We are going to have to be patient about growing the Blazer fan base. The school existed for the first 20 years or so with no sports team until Gene Bartow arrived to begin basketball from scratch -- which has only recently become a seriously followed sport in Alabama. It is going to take time for increased enrollment and graduations to provide the base for larger sports crowds and then only if we can keep most of them in this state. It's nice to have grads in states like Iowa, Maryland, California and such, but most fans who attend regularly will come from within this state.

What are the graduation numbers from this past decade and how many remain in Alabama? The more students UAB brings in from out of state, the more likely they are to go back home after graduation.Add to that the number who have drawn complaints on here for wearing other school's clothing on our campus. Some may "convert to our faith" while here, but many will not.