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Legion FieldLegion Field is a large stadium in Birmingham, Alabama primarily designed to be used as a venue for American football, but is occasionally used for other large outdoor events. It seats approximately 78,000 people for football. Until the 1990s the University of Alabama played the majority of their home football games, particularly ones against well-known opponents, here, a practice that has now ended. Auburn University has used the stadium similarly for a while, but not as extensively, for it had played some of its home games in Columbus, Georgia at one point and had enlarged its home field, Jordan-Hare Stadium, to a seating capacity roughly equal to that of Legion Field well before the University of Alabama had done so with its facility, Bryant-Denny Stadium. Legion Field perhaps was best-known for hosting the annual, season-ending game between the two schools, informally known as the Iron Bowl. From 1948 until 1988 the game was held at Legion Field annually. It was held in Auburn in 1989 but Alabama continued to host their home games of the matchup at Legion Field until moving their games to Tuscaloosa in 2001. The venue also served as home field for the Birmingham Americans (Vulcans) of the World Football League (1974-1975), the Birmingham Stallions of the United States Football League (1983-1985), and the Birmingham Fire of the World League of American Football (now NFL Europe) in 1991-92. Afterward in 1995, it was the home field of the Birmingham Barracudas for their single season of play as part of the attempt of the Canadian Football League to expand into the U.S. Later (2001), it was the home field for the single season of the Birmingham Thunderbolts of the XFL. It formerly was the host venue for three post-season college football games, the Dixie Bowl (1947-1948), the Hall of Fame Classic (1977-1985) and the All-American Bowl (1986-1990). It also hosts the championship football game for the historically black Southwestern Athletic Conference ('SWAC'). It currently serves as the home field for the UAB Blazers, who compete in Conference USA. On August 19, 2004, the University of Alabama announced that they would not be playing any further home games at the venue, leaving UAB football as the sole collegiate tenant. The stadium is named in honor of the American Legion, a U.S. organization of military veterans.
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