Editing Legion Field (section)

===Iron Bowl===

Legion Field was well known for hosting the regular season-ending rivalry 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]]." From the series' resumption in 1948 to 1987, each team rotated claiming home-field rights, with Alabama as the nominal home team in even-numbered years and Auburn as the nominal home team in odd-numbered years. Tickets were split equally between the two athletic departments to sell, similar to other rivalries like the [[Red River Shootout]] between Oklahoma and Texas or the [[World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party]] between Georgia and Florida.

For many years, the Iron Bowl was played in Birmingham more or less out of necessity. Neither Alabama's [[Bryant-Denny Stadium]] nor Auburn's [[Jordan-Hare Stadium]] were nearly large enough to accommodate the large crowds that attended the game even in the 1950s. Additionally, Birmingham was much more accessible to the rest of the state well into the 1970s.

By the 1980s, Jordan-Hare Stadium had expanded to seat over 80,000 people. Combined with Legion Field's decades-long association with Alabama football (see below), this led Auburn fans to lobby for making the Iron Bowl a home-and-home series, or at the very least allow Auburn to move its home games to Jordan-Hare. At the time, Alabama was Auburn's only major rival to have never played a game on the Plains. Ultimately, in [[1989 in sports|1989]], Auburn moved its home games in the series to Jordan-Hare. Thus, tickets for games held at Legion Field were no longer split equally. Auburn did host an Iron Bowl home game at Legion Field in 1991, but since then all Iron Bowls have been played at Auburn in odd-numbered years. In [[2000 in sports|2000]], Alabama followed suit and decided to no longer play its home games against Auburn at Legion Field. Alabama holds a 32–15 advantage over Auburn in games played at Legion Field.