Charles Barkley is urging Alabamians to get stuck with Chuck. The Leeds native and Auburn and NBA basketball legend brings his plea for widespread vaccination against COVID-19 to a vaccine rally on Saturday, Aug. 28. The event, presented by the University of Alabama at Birmingham Minority Health & Health Disparities Research Center (MHRC), will provide walk-up and drive-in vaccines at Legion Field on Aug. […]

Don’t call the NBA G League a minor league. Don’t call the Birmingham Squadron – one of three expansion franchises starting play in 2021-2022, bringing the number of franchises to an all-time high of 30 – a minor league team. That’s the message from the top of the organization. “This isn’t minor to us,” said Gayle Benson, owner of […]

Boeing on Friday announced that it has signed a three-year agreement to become the title sponsor of ESPN Events’ inaugural Red Tails Classic college football kickoff game. ESPN Events earlier this year announced the creation of the Red Tails Classic, which will celebrate historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and honor the Tuskegee Airmen who […]

One of the world’s most recognizable brands has joined the team of The World Games 2022 (TWG2022). Birmingham’s Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, among the largest privately held Coca-Cola bottlers in North America, will be the presenting sponsor of TWG2022’s closing ceremony on July 17, 2022, at Protective Stadium. TWG2022, an international event organized with the support of the International Olympic […]

Literally and figuratively, the Rocket City Trash Pandas boast the hottest ticket in north Alabama. On a steamy weekend night, thousands of fans crowd into Toyota Stadium to watch the Trash Pandas take the field against the Birmingham Barons. Temperature at the start of the game was 90 degrees and hazy skies could be seen […]

Tributes have poured in from the state of Alabama for Birmingham native and college football legend Bobby Bowden, who has passed away at age 91. The two-time national champion is the second-winningest head coach in the history of major college football. During his freshman year of college, Bowden played quarterback for the University of Alabama. […]

Alabama broadcasting legend Eli Gold will be the “official voice” of the Birmingham Squadron, the NBA G League team for the New Orleans Pelicans. Gold is best known as the play-by-play announcer for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team and is a member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Gold will be the primary play-by-play announcer for […]

What was once 28th Avenue in Tuscaloosa is now officially Nick’s Kids Avenue, a tribute to Nick and Terry Saban’s charitable children’s service organization. The City of Tuscaloosa and Nick’s Kids Foundation on Thursday held a renaming celebration as a mark of gratitude for the University of Alabama head football coach and his wife’s dedication […]

The University of Alabama Board of Trustees on Monday officially approved head football coach Nick Saban’s contract extension, which will bring the seven-time national champion coach’s salary to an average of $10.6 million per season. The contract extension announced in June became official this week as the UA System Board of Trustees convened a meeting […]

Tuskegee University announced on Friday that it will kick off its 2021 campaign against Fort Valley State in the Red Tails Classic. The football game against its Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) rival will honor the legendary Black military aviators and will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU. The inaugural version of the classic will be […]

Earlier this summer, NCAA rules changes and state laws went into effect that changed college athletes’ ability to sell the rights to their names, images and likenesses. However, different states have different rules, which could inevitably create problems for the NCAA’s ability to maintain some semblance of a level playing field for college athletics. During […]

The New Orleans Pelicans and the NBA G League announced Birmingham Squadron as the official name of the club’s new G League affiliate. The Squadron is set to begin playing its inaugural 2021-22 season in November and will play home games in the newly renovated Legacy Arena in downtown Birmingham. “As we deliberated the name for our G League team, it […]

College football’s preeminent conference has added two of the nation’s most storied programs to its ranks. The University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma have officially accepted an invitation from the presidents and chancellors of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) to join the league. The 14-member conference is set to expand to 16 in 2025, […]

The University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma have requested admission into the SEC. The presidents for both schools formalized their requests in a letter addressed to Greg Sankey, commissioner of the SEC, on Tuesday. Texas president Jay Hartzell and Oklahoma president Joseph Harroz, Jr. wrote, “We believe there would be mutual benefit to […]

Upon completion of a nationwide search, officials at the University of North Alabama have announced that Dr. Joshua M. Looney will join the University of North Alabama Athletics Department as athletic director on Sept. 1. UNA described Looney as a seasoned veteran, having experience in athletics at universities in Missouri and Pennsylvania as well as […]

The Birmingham Organizing Committee for The World Games 2022 on Monday announced a new television agreement with CBS Sports. The World Games 2022, an international multisport event organized with the support of the International Olympic Committee, will hold its 11th edition in Birmingham July 7-17, 2022. An anticipated 3,600 athletes will take part in more than 30 sports throughout […]

Fun fact about new Auburn football coach Bryan Harsin: He is one of only two head coaches in the Southeastern Conference who never spent a day in the SEC as a player or a coach before taking his current job. The other, Kentucky’s Mark Stoops, didn’t travel quite as far to get here. He prepped for three years as […]

Nick Saban knows you want to know what he thinks. About the prospect of COVID-19 disrupting another college football season. Name, image and likeness rights for college athletes. The revolving door on the transfer portal thanks to the one-time free transfer rule. Winning a poll-era record seven national championships, six of the past 12, including the 2020 […]

Big oil is under attack. So it is doing what any other group would do to protect itself from regulators and turn a huge profit: it’s trying to play football in the SEC. The University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma want to join college football’s one sure thing and true power conference. College football […]

Few people get to see their portrait painted 26 feet tall on the hometown square. Wilbur Jackson could, but he hasn’t. Fifty years after he became the first Black football player for the Alabama Crimson Tide, the former college and Super Bowl champion is being celebrated in Ozark. An 86-foot-long mural is nearing completion, but the modest hometown […]

G League franchises serve multiple functions for their parent NBA clubs, but perhaps the most important is simple: Helping the big-league team win more games. The G League’s Executive of the Year in 2018-19 as a member of Brooklyn’s front office, Trajan Langdon witnessed first-hand how instrumental a developmental squad could be for the Nets, […]

The unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision in NCAA v. Alston portends change for college sports. This case involves education-related benefits and is separate from cases about athletes’ “name, image and likeness.” The NCAA’s 100-year effort to not pay student-athletes is close to ending. Justice Neil Gorsuch authored the opinion, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s concurring opinion […]

Barbershop banter about the greatest baseball players ever has more ammunition after Baseball-Reference.com, a Sports Reference website, dramatically expanded its coverage of the Negro Leagues and historical Black major league players. Following the website’s launch on June 15, Major Negro Leagues from 1920-1948 – including the Birmingham Black Barons – are listed with the National League and American League as major leagues. […]

Birmingham’s Lakeshore Foundation announced last week that it has been selected as an expansion team in the new USA Wheelchair Football League (USAWFL). The Birmingham Hammers will play wheelchair football, a full-contact sport played by both men and women with a permanent disability. While wheelchair football has been played for more than 20 years across the […]