Turkey Day Classic being moved???????

[SU Jag]

There has been much debate on the Turkey Day Classic between Alabama State and Tuskegee and should the game be moved from Montgomery to Birmingham. For years the game has been played in Montgomery at the Crampton Bowl which is home to the Bama State Hornets but many Tuskegee fans want the game moved to a true "nuetral" site. The Turkey Day Classic traditionally is Alabama State's homecomming and they dont want the game to move anywhere. Tuskegee fans want the game to grow but it cant because the Crampton Bowl only seats around 24,000 so many fans don't even worry about trying to get in! TU fans want the game to be relocated to Legion Field which seats 72,000 to allow more people to be able to attend the game. Bama State officials have no interest in moving the game!

Sounds like a big mess!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[3rd Coast Tiger]

Move it to Legion!

[SU Jag]

Move it to Legion!

I agree but disagree at the same time!

If the game was in Birmingham, you could at least draw 40,000 on a bad day. The game in Montgomery draws about that many but most of them stay outside in the RVs. On average I think that they could get anywhere from 45,000-55,000 people in Birmingham, with the potential to get bigger. The problem with the Crampton Bowl is that it only holds about 24,000, so the game can't grow any. But the smaller stadium gives the Turkey Day Classic a little bit better atmosphere. The smaller stadium gives the Turkey Day Classic a different feeling than the other Classics that are played in larger venues. The "strip" outside of the Crampton Bowl during the game is so live, and thats another unique feature. So I understand where ASU is comming from but at the same time the people from Tuskegee make some good points. I just hope that they come to some sort of a solution because the game was almost canceled a few years back after the schools fell out with each other!

[Mr. C]

If you can grow the attendance by moving it somewhere else, I say move it to somewhere like Birmingham. I am also curious if there was any fallout between the two schools over the way the game finished last season. What a wild finish (the officials taking about 10 minutes to decide if Alabama State scored a winning two-point conversion, or not and then finally giving the win to Tuskegee) that was for a nationally televised game. As an outsider, I've jusy got to wonder if there was any bad blood left over from that.

[TexasTerror]

If you can grow the attendance by moving it somewhere else, I say move it to somewhere like Birmingham. I am also curious if there was any fallout between the two schools over the way the game finished last season. What a wild finish (the officials taking about 10 minutes to decide if Alabama State scored a winning two-point conversion, or not and then finally giving the win to Tuskegee) that was for a nationally televised game. As an outsider, I've jusy got to wonder if there was any bad blood left over from that.

Didn't the SWAC get a new director of officiating since the end of last year?

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Move it to the Saturday before Thanksgiving, so Alabama State can play in the I-AA playoffs.

:rotateh:

Oh yeah, why not Birmingham? Makes sense to me.

[RabidRabbit]

Having worked Montgomery & Tuskegee area after Ivan, seems that the "local" large venue would be Auburn, less that an hour for either school. Why Birmingham over Auburn?

Just an observation, and certainly don't know the complete history.

Good luck in working this out.

[SU Jag]

Having worked Montgomery & Tuskegee area after Ivan, seems that the "local" large venue would be Auburn, less that an hour for either school. Why Birmingham over Auburn?

Just an observation, and certainly don't know the complete history.

Good luck in working this out.


Would Auburn agree to that? Birmingham is a bigger city and for this game you have to think about more than just the game. I just feel like the city of Birmingham would embrace this game better because both schools have HUGE alumni bases in Birmingham. Why not Birmingham?

[SU Jag]

If you can grow the attendance by moving it somewhere else, I say move it to somewhere like Birmingham. I am also curious if there was any fallout between the two schools over the way the game finished last season. What a wild finish (the officials taking about 10 minutes to decide if Alabama State scored a winning two-point conversion, or not and then finally giving the win to Tuskegee) that was for a nationally televised game. As an outsider, I've jusy got to wonder if there was any bad blood left over from that.

I agree, but that was one of the best games that I've seen last year. The officiating was questionable. These two schools really dont like each other, remember back in 99 I think they got into a fight after the game, and their was a pre-game pushing and shoving last year.