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Behind Bryant-Denny Stadium's reawakening during Alabama football 2023 season
Bryant-Denny Stadium has experienced a reawakening in 2023. Here's how Alabama football made it happen.
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The Texas loss served as a wake-up call not only for Alabama football but also Crimson Tide fans.
For the first time since 2019, and only the second time since 2015, Alabama lost a game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. And it happened the second week of the season, the earliest loss ever for Nick Saban at Alabama.
“It woke people up to the fact that we are vulnerable and the team is not a machine that is just going to destroy everything in its way,” said Roger Myers, who’s attended every home game since 1978. “We saw we’ve got a young quarterback that hasn’t played much, we’ve got some young players, a young offensive coordinator, they do need our help.”
So the fans provided it. With a raucous crowd in late October, Tennessee committed false starts on two plays on the same fourth-quarter drive in an eventual loss. The next game, LSU committed false starts and illegal snaps in the second half. The crowd helped make these plays happen, cheering before the play, not just after.
After the Tennessee win, Saban made the rare move to run to the student section to express his gratitude before waving to the crowd as he went to the locker room.
“I wanted to thank them because of what a great job they did,” Saban said. “The impact that they had on the game. The atmosphere in the game. I think they kept the energy level up for our team and kept the momentum rolling in the second half for us. It was fantastic. I wish I could thank each one of them personally.”
For more than a decade, after winning game after game and championship after championship, colossal victories became the expectation. That meant fans showed up to Bryant-Denny Stadium each Saturday pretty much knowing what would happen. It prompted complacency and limited proactive cheering.
Then Bryant-Denny Stadium got a reset in 2023. Winning by considerable margins has no longer been a given. Alabama has found a way to rattle off eight consecutive victories, but the Crimson Tide had to fight through adversity to win most of them.
In the process, the Crimson Tide has probably taken years off fans’ lives, but this rollercoaster-like team has also reawakened Bryant-Denny Stadium.
“(This team) really stresses us out,” fan Lacey Cencula said, “but we’re having a lot of fun cheering for it.”
Modifications made at Bryant-Denny Stadium for 2023
Much of the stadium-atmosphere change has been organic, but several UA decisions have helped.Among the enhancements: Alabama made Shannon Zeigler the in-venue host for football like he is for basketball. In addition to shakers on seats, UA placed shaker bins around the stadium for anyone to grab. The lead cheerleader now uses the mic closer to kickoff, leading the Ala-Bama split stadium chant. And that's just three examples.
“You need to create an environment where you say, ‘It’s good on TV. But it’s not as good as being there,” Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne said.
He credited Crimson Tide Productions, the marketing team and specifically deputy AD Jessica Paré and associate AD Daniel Heck for their efforts in constantly looking to improve home games. Some decisions are made before the season, but some result from seizing opportunities. Look no further than the clip of Saban from his radio show. Those in charge of the gameday experience decided to play Saban’s call to fans during the Tennessee and LSU games.
“You create the momentum of the game by what you do as fans,” Saban said the Thursday before Tennessee. “Don’t worry about the players creating that. You create it for them, one time. One time. I’m asking you to do that.”
Robust home slate
There are two noteworthy numbers for ticket sales: Tickets sold and scan-in rate. The scan-in rate shows how many people actually attend.This season, Alabama’s scan-in rate has increased 10% from 2022, Byrne said. It’s also the highest scan-in rate since 2014.
Scheduling has played a role in that. In addition to rivalry games with LSU and Tennessee at home, Alabama scheduled Texas and faced Ole Miss, Middle Tennessee and Arkansas at home.
Three have been night games, which allowed Alabama to deploy the red lights and other features unavailable in the daytime.
“The whole atmosphere,” Myers said, “the energy of the blinking lights, and those songs hit different when it’s dark and the lights are pulsating.”
How Alabama football reawakened Bryant-Denny Stadium
Myers thought back to "Rocky Block" in recent weeks. He remembered the noise when defensive lineman Terrence Cody blocked Tennessee’s field goal attempt in the final seconds to preserve a 12-10 Alabama win in 2009.To Myers, two instances at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2023 have rivaled that atmosphere.
First, Jihaad Campbell’s scoop-and-score in the second half vs. Tennessee. “It really went crazy then,” Myers said. Then there was Terrion Arnold’s interception vs. LSU. Said Myers: “That was real electric.”
There’s a reason there have been more random high fives and hugs in the stands, per Cencula.
“A rowdier experience, a little more fun celebrations,” Cencula said, “because it comes from a place of surprise and shock and happy surprise.”
Alabama struggled in the first half against Tennessee and LSU in different ways. Then the Crimson Tide took over in the second half and won both rivalry games.
“This team kind of feels like an underdog, so now everybody is getting behind it and it’s kind of gotten the energy back up,” Myers said. “Hopefully some of that will continue.”
