Birmingham Stallions professional football team leaving the city

A fan cheers on the Birmingham Stallions during the first half of a game Saturday, April 16, 2022, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WAKA) – The Birmingham Stallions UFL professional football team will be leaving the Magic City.

The Stallions were a successful team with the old USFL spring football league back in the 1980s and had returned in 2022 when the spring league re-formed itself into what’s now known as the UFL. The league is made up of eight teams.

The league says the city’s new Protective Stadium is to blame — not because it’s not good enough, but because it’s too large. It holds 47,000 people, even though the league’s average attendance is about 21,000, making for a half-empty stadium, the league said.

“Even on opening day, when 16,000 Stallions fans showed up, the energy, passion and game atmosphere was not felt due to the size of the venue,” UFL co-owner Mike Repole said.

“We’d love to return as soon as the right stadium solution becomes available, and we are willing to participate in accelerating those efforts,” he said.

The sun sets over Protective Life stadium during the first half of a football game between the Birmingham Stallions and the New Jersey Generals Saturday, April 16, 2022, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

The head coach is AJ McCarron, the former star quarterback at Alabama, who replaced Skip Holtz before the 2026 season. But the first-time coach went 4-6 this year, and the Stallions missed the playoffs for the first time ever.

Moving the team to a smaller venue, like the Hoover Met, was never a real option, because that’s where the SEC Baseball Tournament is played at the same time of year.

We’re still awaiting word of what will happen to the team.

Here is the complete statement from the UFL: