Revenge is a dish best served hot, in this case, when No. 4 Alabama hosts No. 11 Texas this Saturday.
Longhorns faithful brave enough to make the trip to Tuscaloosa, Ala., will only be given upper-deck views in accordance with the treatment Crimson Tide fans were issued last season.
“We are able to reciprocate a similar seating arrangement to what we had last year in Austin,” Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne told the Tuscaloosa News.
Last season, Alabama decided not to send its band to Austin for their game as a result of the poor seating arrangements being given by the Texas athletic department.
But sometimes, you have to return the favor in what is expected to be a hotly contested affair with national title implications.
“Due to the seating location and configuration of the visiting institution’s ticket allotment at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, the Million Dollar Band will not make the trip this weekend for the Alabama at Texas football game,” UA Athletics said in a statement to AL.com last year.
Texas has done this for several years, as LSU’s marching band was forced to be bleacher creatures in 2019.
“We moved the visitors section from the lower bowl to give our students a contiguous student section thus creating a fantastic atmosphere for in DKR [Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium],” Vice President and Athletics Director Chris Del Conte said in a 2019 tweet. If a visiting team elects to bring their band must sit in the seats allotted for visitors.”
The SEC has regulations against this; however, Texas will need to abide by them in 2024 when they officially join the conference.
Currently, the Longhorns are in the Big 12, so they are not breaking any rules.
A contractual agreement between Alabama and Texas, signed in 2018 for the game in Tuscaloosa, said the visiting team will be allotted “4,500 to buy tickets and 500 comps for sale to its followers (including bands).”
It does not specify where the seats for those tickets need to be, according to the Tuscaloosa News.
There will be no love lost in the stands or on the field on Saturday at 7 p.m. as these two universities square off in a marquee college football game.