Legion Field’s rusty outdated light towers torn down, replaced by new energy efficient LEDs

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Legion Field
Legion Field light tower on the ground —January 30, 2022. (Pat Byington/Bham Now)

This week, the city of Birmingham began removing Legion Field’s rusty outdated light towers to modernize the stadium’s lighting. The upgrade was approved by the City Council last spring.

“The new LED lighting at Legion Field represents a major improvement for future events and addresses concerns about the structural integrity of the previous lighting towers”, said City Councilor Darrell O’Quinn, whose district includes the 95 year-old stadium. 

“Legion Field will continue to host a variety of events far into the future. This work is an investment that assures the facility can meet safety standards and meet the modern day needs of events with greater energy efficiency.”

 

Legion Field’s 2022 Schedule

Even though Legion Field lost UAB Football and the Birmingham Bowl last year as primary tenets, the stadium remains busy in 2022. 

Here are events on the slate:

In addition to the scheduled games, between 8-10 USFL games are expected to be played at the “Gray Old Lady” this spring.

More Work Planned

Along with the new lighting, the city council approved $750,000 in various upgrades and repairs this past fall to the historic stadium that was dedicated in 1927.

That work includes:

  • Press box roof replacement
  • Replace seating in two premium seating areas
  • Repaint rails at lower premium seating (East and West Sections)
  • Repaint seat numbers
  • Repaint row numbers 
  • New electric hand dryers at some restrooms
  • Toilet partition replacement, grab bars, misc.
  • New concession and restroom wayfinding signs.

The Future Looks Bright

The Magic City Classic
The Magic City Classic . (Pat Byington/Bham Now)

With Protective Stadium coming online, many people predicted the demise of Legion Field. Fortunately, the city has been able to ink several major multi-year agreements to play at Legion Field, such as the Magic City Classic, SWAC Classic and the Tuskegee-Morehouse College Classic for 2-3 years.  

With new state of the art lights on the way, the future of Legion Field does look bright.

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Pat Byington
Pat Byington

Longtime conservationist. Former Executive Director at the Alabama Environmental Council and Wild South. Publisher of the Bama Environmental News for more than 18 years. Career highlights include playing an active role in the creation of Alabama's Forever Wild program, Little River Canyon National Preserve, Dugger Mountain Wilderness, preservation of special places throughout the East through the Wilderness Society and the strengthening (making more stringent) the state of Alabama's cancer risk and mercury standards.

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