The Magic City Classic is an annual

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

"classic" that features

Alabama A&M University Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M) is a public historically black land-grant university in Normal, Huntsville, Alabama. Founded in 1875, it took its present name in 1969. AAMU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marsha ...

and

Alabama State University Alabama State University (ASU) is a public historically black university in Montgomery, Alabama. Founded in 1867, ASU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History Alabama State University was founded in 1867 as the Lin ...

, the two largest

historically black universities Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

in the state. It is played at

Legion Field Legion Field is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States in Birmingham, Alabama, primarily designed to be used as a venue for American football, but occasionally used for other large outdoor events. Opened in 1927, it is named in ho ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

(nicknamed the "Magic City"). The classic has become one of the highest attended

Division I FCS The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

(formerly Division I-AA) games in the nation and the largest event in Birmingham carrying a nearly $25 million economic impact. The stadium attendance averages over 60,000 annually. The first game between the two schools was played in 1924. It has been an uninterrupted, annual tradition since 1945 and has been played at Legion Field since 1940. The classic is the largest

HBCU Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

event in the nation attracting nearly 200,000 participants. The Alabama A&M Bulldogs lead the series with a record of 44–40–3 all-time (as of 2022).

Other activities

Many festivities are held in conjunction with the game, including a pep rally, comedy show, scholarship breakfast, concert/festival, soirees,

tailgating Tailgating is the action of a driver driving behind another vehicle while not leaving sufficient distance to stop without causing a collision if the vehicle in front stops suddenly. The safe distance for following another vehicle varies depend ...

block parties A block party or street party is a party in which many members of a single community congregate, either to observe an event of some importance or simply for mutual solidarity and enjoyment. The name comes from the form of the party, which ofte ...

, alumni gatherings, 2-hour parade, and a popular "Battle of the Bands" between AAMU’s Marching Maroon and White Band and ASU's Mighty Marching Hornets. Festivities begin the week of Saturday's game. In recent years, the classic has attracted numerous

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

celebrities, public figures, and elected officials to Birmingham.

History

References

External links

Official website
{{Southwestern Athletic Conference football rivalry navbox Alabama A&M Bulldogs football Alabama State Hornets football Sports in Birmingham, Alabama American football in Alabama Black college football classics 1924 establishments in Alabama

Other activities

History

See also

References

External links