Pro football team determined to relocate as owner admits $330m stadium is too big and mayor fights back

The Stallions are looking for new grasslands to call home.

Birmingham was a notable absence from a list of UFL teams looking for a head of business operations, leading to speculation.

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UFL co-owner Mike Repole — Tom Brady’s friend and business partner — confirmed that a move is likely.

“Sitting in a senior leadership meeting planning the [the UFL] 2027 season, one thing is becoming very clear,” he said on X. “The right market. The right sized venue. A passionate fan base. That’s the WINNING formula.

“I have a hard time seeing us back at Protective Stadium next year. It goes against one of the biggest principles we’re building this league around [. . .] smaller stadiums, packed houses, real energy and a true home field atmosphere.

“Birmingham, I am looking and need options and ideas.”

The Stallions were a founding member on the return on the USFL in 2022 with Dwayne Johnson‘s Alpha Acquico and Fox Corporation behind the franchise.

They plays home games at Protective Stadium, which can hold 47,100 fans.

Despite winning the USFL in 2022 and 2023, as well as the inaugural UFL Championship Game in 2024, the $330 million arena is far too large.

The Stallions averaged around 10,000 fans at home games and set a target of 15,000 for 2026.

Where could the Stallions relocate to?

Birmingham could keep the team in another venue, as suggested by Repole.

But with the franchise the only one not featured when the UFL posted notices for the head of business operations jobs, it is clear sites further afield are in play.

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“I’ll be honest, I don’t care where they play, I’ll be at the games,” said Blake Muir, president of the Horsemen Supporters Club in response to Repole’s post.

The Hoover Met and Pete Hanna Stadium at Samford University were both mentioned by fans as options within Alabama.

“I kind of like the idea of moving to a smaller one, as in, it brings the crowd closer together as opposed to spread out how we currently are,” Muir said. “Forever, the Birmingham Barons played at the Hoover Met and for many, many years still called themselves Birmingham.

“And I don’t see why, a reason that those stadiums wouldn’t work as well.”

“If we’re talking about Samford or Hoover Met, those are just down the road.

“So if we’re talking moving to Huntsville or Mobile, I do think that would hurt the brand. It may bring some new fans from those areas, but overall it would hurt the true Birmingham Stallions fan base.

“If you only had a 10,000 seat to 15,000 seat venue, it causes you to decide earlier in the week, ‘we are committed to going to the game’. Very similar to in Auburn or Alabama. Very rarely do you decide on a Saturday morning to show up to an Alabama or Auburn football game.”

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin thinks otherwise.

“It’s my first time hearing about this. I will tell you this, Birmingham Stallions belong in Birmingham,” he said via CBS 42.

Hoover Mayor Nick Derzis said the Met may not be the answer.

“There’s no plan to move the Stallions this year or next year to the Hoover Met,” he said. “You know, the Hoover Met stays very, very busy.

“Obviously, for the last 20 some odd years, we’ve had the SEC baseball tournament. When you’re talking about the football season, they’re spring football season.

“So there’s significant hurdles of when they play and then when we need it. And again, a lot of commitments already for the next couple of years at the Met.”

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Birmingham Sports Media Stallions beat writer Logan Busbee thinks that a move out of Alabama entirely may be on the table.

“They’ve got a very picturesque stadium [Pete Hanna Stadium, but they’re a private Christian institution. Would they want all these people there and would they, more importantly, want the alcohol being sold there? Because that is a big testament to what the Stallions have done. They’ve had $3 beer, $3 hotdogs, very good concessions which have gotten people going,” Busbee said.

“It is difficult to get [the Hoover Met], you know, transformed into the baseball stadium, get all that and then put back into a football stadium. Not impossible, but it would certainly be a lot of work. So that’s something that would have to be very well thought out and planned ahead of time to be done well.

“I think if it moves that far from Birmingham [Huntsville or Mobile] they’ll go into a different state.

“I think fans should be pushing for something in Hoover, as the further you get out into Huntsville or into Mobile, the more likely you are someone like Mike Repole, who he is he’s business minded, he goes, ‘Well, if we’re getting diminishing returns in this area of Alabama, let’s try an entirely different market’.”