Mayor Woodfin Recommends A $90 Million Commitment To New Stadium

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Birmingham mayor Randall Woodfin recommended Wednesday that the city council commit $90 million to a project that would include renovations to the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex and a new stadium in the Uptown district.

According to a statement from Woodfin, the City of Birmingham's investment on BJCC expansion would be $3 million a year for 30 years. The estimated return on investment would be $9.9 million in additional revenue for the city per year. Some of the funding would come from excess lodging taxes, Woodfin said via social media. The Jefferson County Commission already backed the project with a $30 million pledge earlier this month.

"Major renovations are needed to the BJCC and Legacy Arena to increase events, tournaments, and entertainment," Woodfin said. "It's important to have a public/private partnership between the city, county, state, corporate community and UAB to work together to help fund new expanded facilities."

The stadium would be used for football games for the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the Magic City Classic game between Alabama A&M and Alabama State, the Birmingham Bowl and other events, such as home games for Birmingham's new professional soccer team, the Birmingham Legion FC. The combined cost for the stadium and upgrading the Legacy Arena would top $300 million. The stadium itself is expected to cost approximately $172 million, according to previous estimates. The BJCC in 2016 worked with Populous, a Kansas City-based architecture firm, to update its master plan to include a major renovation of the Legacy Arena and parts of the Complex, as well as a new stadium. Previous estimates for the cost of the stadium put the figure at $123 million.

Many people have expressed concern over where that leaves Birmingham's existing football stadium, Legion Field. Woodfin has said he does not think supporting the new stadium would or should take away from support of upgrading Legions Field.

Image courtesy of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex