Birmingham’s latest foray into a professional spring football league begins today when the Birmingham Iron plays the Memphis Express at Legion Field during the first weekend of the Alliance of American Football.
Today's game begins at 3 p.m., and the game is scheduled to be televised by CBS Sports Network.
Radio coverage will be provided locally by WERC AM-960, with Thom Abraham handling play-by-play duties and Mike Johnson serving as color commentator.
A team spokeswoman said the Legion Field ticket office will be open today, allowing fans to purchase walk-up tickets.
At Legion Field today, the first 20,000 fans receive a free Black Out T-Shirt courtesy of Brookwood Baptist Health, the game's sponsor. The halftime ceremony will honor the UAB Blazers Conference USA championship team coach Bill Clark. Clark will also serve as one of the Iron's honorary captains for the pre-game coin toss.
Memphis coached by Hall of Fame linebacker and former NFL head coach Mike Singletary. Birmingham's head coach is Tim Lewis, a longtime NFL assistant who will be making his head coaching debut today.
The Alliance debuted on Saturday night with two primetime games -- coach Steve Spurrier leading the Orlando Apollos to a 40-6 victory over the Atlanta Legends in front of 20,191 fans and San Antonio earned a 15-6 victory over San Diego.
It was the first time for fans to see the Alliance’s unique rules: no kickoffs, no extra points tries, and the SkyJudge, who from the pressbox can instantly correct “obvious and egregious” officiating errors.