Alabama Football: Tide at full capacity for season opener

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Alabama football will have full capacity for the season opener.

Alabama football is still months away from beginning its national title defense, but fans got some good news regarding their season opener.

Alabama’s season begins at a neutral site against the Miami Hurricanes, and it was just announced that the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game will have full capacity. With the availability of COVID-19 vaccines and the decrease in COVID-19 cases and deaths, this is one step towards a college football season that will be as normal as fans could hope.

This game will be one of two hosted at Mercedes-Benz Stadium over Labor Day Weekend. The other will be between the Ole Miss Rebels and the Louisville Cardinals.

Alabama played in the 2019 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game against another ACC opponent when they beat the Duke Blue Devils.

Traveling to Atlanta gives Alabama football players familiarity with a key football stadium. If the Crimson Tide win the SEC West once again, they will face off in the SEC Championship in the same stadium. This gives Alabama a chance to bookend their pre-bowl season with games in Atlanta.

This will also be the first time Alabama football plays in a full stadium since their bowl game against Michigan at the beginning of 2020. No games of the 2020 season were at full capacity, and the A-Day Game was at half capacity this spring.

Most fans will look at this game as the first test for Bryce Young and the rest of the Crimson Tide. It will also be the beginning of their title defense. While all of this is true, it will also be the closest to normal that Alabama has seen in a while. Many key players (including Alabama’s new starting quarterback) haven’t played in a full stadium since high school. It’s not a home game, but the team will see plenty of Alabama fans in Atlanta cheering them on.