After the national championship win on Jan. 7, Alabama fans will be able to attend the celebration for the football team in Bryant-Denny Stadium beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
The gates will open at noon for this free event and will last approximately one hour.
Debora Lane, UA spokeswoman, said the event will be a lot of fun and they expect a very large crowd. The first 50,000 people that enter the gates will receive a copy of a team poster that was taken at the Rose Bowl.
“We want to have this celebration to show them we are very proud of them and it is great to have it in Bryant-Denny where they have many of their great games of the season,” Lane said.
Athletics Director Mal Moore and head coach Nick Saban will give a speech, and there will be coach and player interviews, Lane said.
There will be no special seating, and this event is first come, first serve. The University has prepared for the event to be like a mixture of A-Day and with some game day rules, but the event will not be as structured as a typical game day with regard to parking.
“We do not expect much RV parking, and there will not be any hook-ups for quad setup,” Lane said. “There will be concessions open in the stadium, but there will not be any vendors on the quad.”
The Million Dollar Band will play at the event, and the audience will be able to do cheers and watch video footage.
“We were honored to be a part of the trip to the Rose Bowl and to be a part of the National Championship experience,” said Randall Coleman, associate director of bands.
He said they plan to play all of the cheers and songs that the fans love to hear.
“We are planning to have the MDB at the celebration and will be playing in the stands prior to the celebration beginning, from 1:30 p.m. until 2:00 p.m.,” he said. “There may be a special selection planned as well, but we’re keeping it under wraps for now.”
Chrissy Coble, a junior and a clarinet player said that she enjoyed the trip to California but is very excited about being able to celebrate the championship win this Saturday.
“This was a great accomplishment, but it is great to be able to come and celebrate it at home,” she said.
She said that you could feel the excitement in the air, and the pride that everyone had in the team when we won in California, but it was nothing like when we returned to Tuscaloosa.
“It was completely different when we arrived,” she said. “It felt like we were completely engulfed by the excitement and there will be so much more of that on Saturday at the celebration.”
Although the weather reports predict rain for Saturday, UA plans to host the event rain or shine.
According to a UA release, Colonial Drive will close at 8 a.m. Shuttles will run from the Soccer Lot and the east campus grass lots beginning at 9 a.m. These buses pick up and drop off at the Quad. They will run one and a half hours following the event.
