Major changes to this weekend’s gameA chance to really show up
As anyone who attended or watched the home opener against Indy Eleven knows, the BBVA Field surface had some…problems. The UAB grounds staff is working hard to correct the issues.
To help facilitate the rehabilitation of the field, the Legion has opted to relocate for the week. Earlier today team president Jay Heaps posted this tweet:
Updated statement from President Jay Heaps regarding the field conditions at BBVA Field.#HammerDown pic.twitter.com/sqsLBXr0P2
— Birmingham Legion FC (@bhmlegion) May 10, 2021
Yes, the Legion will be playing at its namesake on Saturday. But there was more news coming, almost all of it good.
First, the tricky part: if you already have the game on your calendar for a 6:30pm kickoff, you’ll be 3 hours too late. The game will now kick off at 3:30pm.
But here’s the good news. The team has already shown its commitment to fans in many ways, one of which was freezing and discounting season ticket prices in the wake of the lockdown last year. They are doing even more for this game. Single-game tickets are being priced at just $5, and if you get vaccinated at the Legion Field site any time this week, you’ll get a free ticket. If you already bought a single-game ticket at full price, you will get a second ticket free, plus a complimentary ticket to any other 2021 home game. Details can be found here.
Legion Field will have a 25% capacity limit of 18,000 for the game. That’s 360% more than BBVA Field can hold.
This is a huge opportunity for the city to show up and support the Three Sparks. So get the the word out. NOW!!!
Legion Field doesn’t have much of a recent history with soccer. The USSF stopped scheduling men’s soccer games at the stadium when it switched to artificial turf in 2006. As a result, this will be the first men’s soccer game held at Legion Field since March 30, 2005, when the US beat Guatemala 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier. Legion Field had also been used for preliminary round soccer games in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. That included the US-Argentina game, which at 83,310 holds the attendance record for any event at the stadium. As far as I can tell, the most recent major soccer event at Legion Field was a 2015 women’s game between the US and . The city has also considered upgrading the artificial turf at the stadium in hopes of getting 2026 Olympic games there.
