UAB football opens Protective Stadium
Birmingham's new Protective Stadium at halftime on its opening night in October. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr. / Alabama NewsCenter)
Glenn Davis arrived at Protective Stadium at 1:30 p.m. Saturday for the 6 p.m. kickoff of Liberty and UAB. He was among hundreds of Blazer faithful who were drenched by a heavy shower about 75 minutes before kickoff.
But the rain did little – if anything – to dampen the enthusiasm of Davis and his fellow fans. Not on this historic day.
“Oh no,” the Highland Lakes resident said. “If anything, it made me more determined. It’s just good football weather. Hey, this is our inaugural season so I’m all for it. Wet, rain, shine, sleet.”
In truth, the first season of UAB football came in 1991. Thirty years later, the Blazers are kicking off a first season of another sort as they christened their new home in Protective Stadium in Birmingham’s Uptown district.
Coach Bill Clark’s Blazers put the first points on the Protective Jumbotron as Matt Quinn nailed a 37-yard first-quarter field goal. Jermaine Brown scored the first UAB touchdown in the new house on a 59-yard fourth-quarter run.
In between, Liberty quarterback Malik Willis proved to be all he was advertised to be as his Flames torched the home team with a 36-12 loss. Willis ran 15 times for 144 yards and two touchdowns and was 13 of 19 passing for 287 yards and a TD.
[vimeo 622503299 w=640 h=360]UAB Blazers fans fired up for opening of Protective Stadium from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
An announced crowd of 37,167 was on hand for the first UAB football game away from venerable Legion Field. And despite the loss, Mark Ingram, the director of athletics, said the night was a success.
“We’ve had a fantastic evening,” he said. “The stadium is electric with the lights and the sound and all the people and the energy. I was so impressed by the crowd outside. All the tailgating areas really seem to be very well-organized and traffic coming in seemed very well-organized.”
Ingram said the Protective suite areas – “for the most part, as best I can tell” – provided good service.
“You can always improve, but for our first game, I think it was as good as it could get,” Ingram said.
Halftime brought long lines at concession stands. Fans were patient, saying that they understood that business was brisk at concession counters.
“We’ll keep getting more efficient in our concessions areas to make things a little more smooth,” the athletics director said. “Quite candidly, when you’re at a big event at halftime and everybody goes to the concession stand, that’s what you have. You have a line.
“We don’t have one register for every single fan that shows up,” he continued. “We have registers for a large number of people and I think we accommodated it just fine.”
Officials said the Protective concession stands can cook 1,500 hot dogs at one time. They can produce 1,600 pounds of popcorn, 520 pounds of nacho cheese and the stadium boasts 342 beer taps.
Those concession stands feature several items that are unique to Protective Stadium:
- The Sloss Dog, which draws its name from Sloss Furnaces, is a hot dog that pays homage to the famed hot dog traditions established by Birmingham’s Greek community over the years. With mustard, relish, chili, barbecued onions and sauerkraut, the Sloss Dog is billed as having “the complex flavor profile and superb mouthfeel to delight even the toughest hot dog aficionado.”
- The Short Rib Philly is braised short ribs dressed with a white cheddar cheese sauce, grilled peppers and onions on a hoagie roll.
- Sloss Smokehouse BBQ Nachos feature house-smoked pulled pork “topped with love,” cheese sauce and sweet barbecue sauce.
- Spicy Chicken Sandwich is a hand-breaded chicken breast paired with crunchy pickles on a toasted bun.
- The Magic Dragon is the signature cocktail of Protective Stadium. It is a fizzy twist on a spicy margarita, with handmade local strawberry-lemon syrup mixed with Dread River vodka and infused with fresh jalapeño and honey vinegar.
Some fans had expressed concern about parking near the stadium. Many opted to leave the driving to someone else by taking available shuttles.
Downtown Birmingham’s new jewel has five locker rooms, 34 suites, three entry gates and a 144-by-44-foot scoreboard. It also features 564 toilets with 190 urinals and 331 lavatories.
Ken Brown greeted the Blazers at their first Uptown Blazer Walk with a placard declaring the Blazers would put out the Flames. The 85-year-old has been coming to UAB football games since 2011, when his grandson Ty Long was the placekicker for the Blazers.
These days, Long is a pro kicker for the Los Angeles Chargers and his younger brother, Caden Long, is a freshman kicker at UAB. The grandfather admits he never expected to see the day UAB would open a new football stadium.
“I’m glad I’m vertical to be able to see it,” Brown said. “The Lord gave me eyes to see.”
Sharifa Wip has two degrees from UAB and works at the university in its student multicultural and diversity programs. She was tapped an honorary member of the coaching staff.
The coordinator of the mentoring program let her school pride show on the sideline as she wore a green and gold drum major coat she bought from a thrift store. She did it to recognize the Blazer band, especially the school’s first-ever trio of female drum majors.
“It’s awesome to be here and see a dream realized,” Wip said. “This has been a long project in the making, and to be able to be here and be a part of this history is a big deal. And as an honorary coach it feels special. I will never forget walking in this stadium and being on that field, and being able to see UAB score for the first time here.”
Amanda Pritchard of Leeds wore a dragon headpiece during part of her stay at the new ballpark. She took in the action with her husband, Peter, and son Alex Gray, 9.
“We love the stadium,” the 2001 UAB alumnus said. “We love it. We say, ‘Blaze on!’”
