Birmingham Iron Kicks Off Inaugural Season Sunday

BIRMINGHAM, AL - The first professional football game in Birmingham in 18 years will take place Sunday, as the Alliance of American Football begins its inaugural season. The Birmingham Iron will host the Memphis Express at 3 p.m. at Legion Field.

The team's roster includes several former University of Alabama and Auburn University players, which could prove to remedy the problems other professional teams have had in their short runs in the Magic City.

Related Story: Birmingham To get New Pro Football Team

The Iron was allowed - according to AAF rules - to sign players from 13 in-state schools as well as Louisiana Tech, Maryland, Mississippi State, Missouri, North Carolina State and South Carolina. The team fields 10 former Alabama players and five former Auburn players.

(For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Patch morning newsletter.)

Birmingham has had an interesting history with professional sports. While the Birmingham Barons have been a mainstay in the community for decades, other professional teams have come and gone with varying success. The Birmingham Americans (later the Vulcans) of the World Football League in the early 1970s did not last two years, the first incarnation of the Birmingham Bulls hockey team lasted from 1976 to 1981, then came the Birmingham South Stars hockey team (which only lasted a year), the USFL's Birmingham Stallions football team arrived in 1983 and lasted until the league folded in 1985, a minor league basketball team in the Birmingham Bandits, which was followed by another Bulls hockey team (1992-2001), a World League of American Football team in the Birmingham Fire (1991-1993), one season of a Canadian Football League team (the Barracudas, 1995) and the Birmingham Steeldogs arena football team, which played from 2000 to 2005.

Image via Birmingham Iron