Bryant-Denny Seating Chart 
Alabama and Auburn played their first football game in Lakeview Park in Birmingham, Alabama on February 22, 1893. Auburn won, 32-22, before an estimated crowd of 2,000. As if a signal of the future, disagreement between the schools began immediately as Alabama considered the game to be the final matchup of the 1892 season and Auburn recorded it as the first of 1893. The series was suspended after the 1907 game when the schools could not come to agreement over the amount of expenses to be paid players, as well as from where officials for the game should be obtained.
Auburn president Dr. Ralph B. Draughon and Alabama president Dr. John Gallalee decided during the winter and spring of 1948 to end the disagreement and renew the series after fighting what they considered interference into their internal affairs by the state legislature. The teams met in Birmingham because it had the largest stadium in the state, 44,000-seat Legion Field. Alabama won that game, 55-0, in the most lopsided victory of the series. The game would be played exclusively at Legion Field until 1989 when Auburn hosted the game in Jordan-Hare Stadium before a (then) record crowd of 85,319.
For most of the 20th century, the games were played at Birmingham's Legion Field. Alabama played many "home" games at Legion Field due to the difficulty of travel to Tuscaloosa. When the series was resumed in 1948, the Alabama State Legislature and the schools agreed to play at a neutral site in Birmingham. Legion Field was the largest stadium in the state at the time. There was supposed to be a 50-50 split of tickets, but because of Birmingham's proximity to Tuscaloosa the split usually wound up being 65-35 in Alabama's favor. Between 1948 and 1988, this ticket division continued, effectively making every game an Alabama home game, though the schools still alternated the privilege of calling the pregame coin-toss.
By 1980 the series had come to be called the Iron Bowl, due to Birmingham's prominence as a center of iron and steel production. Throughout the 1980s, Auburn made additions to Jordan-Hare Stadium in response to their success under Pat Dye. Soon, this stadium eclipsed Legion Field in size and Auburn desired to move this game from Legion Field to a home-and-home series, as Alabama played most "home" games at Legion Field, and each year, regardless of which team was officially designated as the "home team," Alabama fans claimed 65% of tickets. Alabama coach and Athletic Director Ray Perkins objected, saying that "it will never happen." However, both schools reached an agreement where Auburn could play their home games for the Iron Bowl in Auburn starting in 1989, with the exception of 1991, and Alabama would have a home ticket allocation for games in Legion Field. On December 2, 1989, Alabama came to Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time in the history of the rivalry. A sellout crowd would witness Auburn win its first true "home" game of the series, 30-20 over an Alabama team that entered the game unbeaten and ranked #2 in the country. Since the change in 1989 Alabama has only won twice when not playing in Birmingham, while Auburn has won 11 times.
Alabama officials had fought the move from Birmingham and continued to hold their home game at Legion Field until the 2000 season where it was once again played in Tuscaloosa in Bryant-Denny Stadium after the capacity of the Crimson Tide's on-campus home was expanded to more than 83,000, exceeding the capacity of Legion Field. The game had been played in Tuscaloosa only twice before early in the series in 1895 and 1901. A new attendance record was set in 2006 as the latest expansion to Bryant-Denny increased its capacity to 92,138. |
Welcome to AAATIX.com's Iron Bowl tickets web site. Thank you for letting us provide you with the best seats for Alabama vs. Auburn football tickets. We have the largest inventory of Iron Bowl football tickets anywhere on the web. You will also find that our prices for Auburn Tigers tickets are the most reasonable anywhere.
