Editing Legion Field (section)

===Other Alabama and Auburn football games===

Alabama and Auburn used Legion Field as an alternate home stadium for much of the 20th century. At its height, Legion Field seated over 20,000 more people than Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium and Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium, making it a natural choice for games likely to attract large crowds. Between its use for the Iron Bowl and as an alternate home stadium for the Crimson Tide and Tigers, Legion Field played host to many of the most important football games in Alabama's history.

Well into the 1980s, Alabama played most of its important games, as well as the Iron Bowl, at Legion Field—to the point that most of Alabama's "home" football history from the 1920s to the 1980s took place in Birmingham.<ref name="Legion_all-time">{{cite web |url=http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/alab/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/history-awards.pdf |title=Alabama Football At Legion Field |work=2010 Alabama Football Media Guide |publisher=University of Alabama Athletic Department |pages=141–142 |access-date=February 3, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523102902/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/alab/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/history-awards.pdf |archive-date=May 23, 2011 }}</ref> In addition to the larger capacity, Birmingham was more accessible than Tuscaloosa for much of the 20th century—even though Tuscaloosa is only 45 minutes west of Birmingham. The Crimson Tide hosted Tennessee in odd-numbered years in Birmingham until 1998, and hosted LSU in even-numbered years from 1964 through 1986, except for 1980. Well into the 1990s, Alabama usually played anywhere from three to four home games a year at Legion Field. Alabama also played its entire 1987 home schedule at Legion Field due to major renovations at Bryant–Denny Stadium.<ref name="Legion_all-time"/> The stadium's association with Alabama football was so strong that from the 1980s onward, Auburn lobbied to have its home games in the Iron Bowl played in Auburn.

Until 1999, Alabama played at least three games at Legion Field every season. In 1998, Alabama double-decked the east stands at Bryant-Denny, bringing its capacity to a few hundred more seats than that of Legion Field. Due to the disrepair of Legion Field and the added capacity in Tuscaloosa, Alabama moved major conference games on campus. In the ensuing years, Alabama decreased the number of games scheduled in Birmingham. The last home game for Alabama at Legion Field was against the [[South Florida Bulls football|University of South Florida]] on August 30, 2003. Though Alabama had a couple of games scheduled at Legion Field in 2005 and 2008, the stadium's poor state of repair (see above) led Alabama to end its contract with the city of Birmingham in 2004 and move all home games to Tuscaloosa.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/5762465/ |title=Alabama forced to abandon unsafe Legion Field - College football- NBC Sports |access-date=2012-12-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130106064422/http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/5762465 |archive-date=2013-01-06 }}</ref>

Auburn also used Legion Field for some home games well into the 1970s due to the larger capacity and the difficulty in traveling to Auburn for most of the 20th century. Auburn played all home games against Tennessee at Legion Field until 1978, except in 1974, when the game was played in Auburn.<ref>College Football Data Warehouse, [http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/sec/auburn/opponents_records.php?teamid=3180 Auburn vs Tennessee]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115202027/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/sec/auburn/opponents_records.php?teamid=3180 |date=January 15, 2015 }} Retrieved November 5, 2016.</ref> Auburn also played all home games against [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football|Georgia Tech]] at Legion Field until 1970. Auburn played its last home game at Legion Field in 1991, but took part in the [[Birmingham Bowl]] at the same stadium in 2015 as a postseason bowl game.