On the Wednesday after finally getting into Rickwood Field, I decided to stay in Birmingham to relax and add another venue to my list. The Birmingham Legion of the USL Championship (the second tier in American soccer) had a home match that evening at Protective Stadium, a short walk from downtown.
The venue was opened in 2021 to host UAB Blazer football, which used to play at Legion Stadium. It holds 47,100, making it the biggest venue in the USLC and far larger than necessary. The largest attendance in Legion FC history is 18,418 for a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal against Inter Miami last year. The UFL Champion Birmingham Stallions also play here.
Obviously there would be far fewer fans on this night, as evidenced by the lack of a lineup at the ticket office. I picked up a GA seat for $15.
A mural immediately inside the gate adds a bit of colour to the facility. To get to the seating bowl, you walk up a ramp.
Birmingham is nicknamed The Magic City and this is presented at the top of the ramp in another vivid artwork.
Inside, one half of the seating bowl is closed off, which makes sense as there is no need to clean the entire stadium when around 10% of the seats are filled.
Along the other side, the middle sections are reserved and nicer than the benches that serve as the general admission areas.
The far end zone is also mostly tarped off, but some supporters do sit at the bottom rows here.
There are a few food trucks above this far end, though prices are quite high for my liking. One of the problems with a smaller team playing in a big stadium is that the food prices are not adjusted accordingly, so you have soft drinks costing over $7.
Of course, with soccer just taking two hours, you should be able to save yourself for afterwards, as Birmingham has several restaurants and breweries nearby that offer better choices.
The Margaret is one such option that we enjoyed.
Overall, Protective Stadium is probably more interesting when one of the football teams is playing. But I was glad to get a breezy evening in here and still have some time to myself afterwards.
The Game
San Antonio FC was visiting in a matchup similar to the UFL Championship played in St. Louis (Birmingham beat the San Antonio Brahmas 25-0). The Legion was 5-3-5 (W-D-L), while San Antonio came in at 4-5-6, having won all three previous matches since 2021. The Legion were sporting a special
Juneteenth kit.
The first half was not particularly interesting, with few chances from either side and finished without a goal.
I moved down for the second half and sat close to the net the Legion were attacking and was rewarded in the 51st minute when Alex Crognale converted a corner kick. The ball was palmed away by San Antonio keeper Kendall McIntosh, but it had already crossed the line and the linesman correctly called it a goal. Even better, Chik-Fil-A sponsors corner kicks and if the Legion score off of one, everyone gets a free chicken sandwich the next day, which ended up being my lunch. So there is such thing as a free lunch.
Just four minutes later, halftime substitute Preston Tabort Etaka (#23 above) received the ball on the right side and pushed the defenders back, deking one and sliding the ball past McIntosh to double the lead. It was a great goal and pretty much ended the suspense. The Legion dominated the rest of the match and McIntosh was called on to make several stops, but in the 87th minute, Tyler Pasher's shot from outside the box found the top left corner of the net to complete the scoring.
Jayden Hibbert, making his debut with Birmingham after being loaned from Atlanta, earned the clean sheet, though he only had one save to make. The highlights are
here.
Notes
The scoreboard operator was remiss in his updating of the statistics; the Legion had 10 shots on target, not 8 as shown above, and the fouls were actually yellow cards.
Next Up
I will be visiting Maryland next weekend for a Stadium Journey meetup and completing the Atlantic League at that time. After that, we will be on a family road trip, with destinations TBD, but I'm sure some games will be included on the itinerary. Check back for recaps then.
Best,
Sean
No comments:
Post a Comment