Legion Field is a large stadium in Birmingham, Alabama primarily designed to be used as a venue for American football, but is occasionally used
for other large outdoor events. The stadium is named in honor of the American Legion, a U.S. organization of military veterans. At its peak it
seated 83,091 people for football. Today, after the removal of the upper deck, Legion Field seats approximately 71,594 spectators.

Legion Field currently serves as the home field of the UAB Blazers, who compete in Conference USA. The University of Alabama once played up
to three home football games there every season (including the entire 1987 home slate due to major renovations at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the
Crimson Tide's on-campus home in Tuscaloosa), but has ended this practice; its last game at Legion Field was a 40-17 victory over the University
of South Florida on August 30, 2003. Auburn University also used Legion Field less extensively, but the Tigers left upon the expansion of Jordan-
Hare Stadium to a greater seating capacity. After 1980, Auburn's only home game in Birmingham was the Iron Bowl up to 1987 and in 1991.

Stadium History
Legion Field perhaps was best-known for hosting the season-ending game between Alabama and Auburn each year from 1948 to 1988. Because
of Birmingham's major industry of iron and steel manufacturing, the game became known as the "Iron Bowl". In 1989 Auburn moved their home
games in the series to their own stadium, although they did play one last home game at Legion Field in 1991. Alabama followed suit in 2000.
Alabama holds a 32-15 edge over their in-state rival in games played at Legion Field.

Legion Field served as home to the Hall of Fame Bowl played on December 31 from 1977 to 1985. In 1986 the Hall of Fame Bowl was relocated
to Tampa, Florida and later the name changed to the Outback Bowl.

In 1979 and 1980, the facility played host to the Drum Corps International World Championships. In the summer of 1996, Legion Field served as
a soccer venue for the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Legion Field also hosted four post-season college football games, the Dixie Bowl (1947-1948), the Hall of Fame Classic (1977-1985), the All-
American Bowl (1986-1990), and the first two Southeastern Conference championship games (1992-1993). It still hosts the title football game for
the historically black Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).

The venue also served as home field for the Birmingham Americans (Vulcans) of the World Football League (1974-1975), the Alabama Vulcans
of the American Football Association (1979), the Birmingham Stallions of the United States Football League (1983-1985), and the Birmingham
Fire of the World League of American Football (now NFL Europe) in 1991-92. Afterward in 1995, it was the home field of the Birmingham
Barracudas for their single season of play as part of the short-lived expansion of the Canadian Football League into the U.S. Later (2001), it was
the home field for the single season of the Birmingham Thunderbolts of the XFL. On August 19, 2004, the University of Alabama announced that
they would not be playing any further home games at the venue, leaving UAB football as the sole collegiate tenant.

Recently, Legion Field had been used successfully as a site for major soccer events, including matchups in the 1996 Olympic Games — the
opening match between the United States and Argentina drew 83,810 spectators, the stadium's all-time record for any event. Legion Field had
also hosted exhibition games by the U.S. men's and women's national soccer teams, and in 2005 it hosted a World Cup qualifier between the U.S.
and Guatemala. US Soccer will no longer be scheduling games for play at Legion Field because of a switch from natural grass to artificial turf.