When it comes to The University of Alabama, football is a lot more than just a sport, it is a way of life and will consume the Saturdays of your fall semester. College football is a huge factor in why many students choose to attend The University of Alabama and you will definitely not be disappointed. Football game days are hectic and long but are guaranteed to be lots of fun as long as you plan right and pace yourself. As an incoming freshman, your first gameday can sound very intimidating but you will quickly realize how fun they can be and as the years of college go on the game days will only get better.
The first step to having a great football season is keeping track of your student email in the late spring/early summer when the student football ticket packages are sent out from the university. The ticket packages are usually split into two groups, one of them having three games that are usually against higher ranked teams and the other package having four games usually being against lower ranked teams. When you receive the email from the ticket office it is important that you read the instructions and select your package as soon as possible because the later that you do it, the more likely they are to sell out.
It may be difficult for freshmen but the older you get, the more likely you are to receive both ticket packages if they do not sell out. When you receive the email, it will provide a link to Rolltide.com where you can create a log-in and then select which package you would like and add it to your cart. The tickets that are in the student ticket packages are at a discounted rate for students making it important for you to select them early because the tickets will likely be a lot more expensive during the football season. You will be asked to enter your credit card information then once you have checked out and your order has processed, the ticket package you selected will be added onto your student account.
The hierarchy of who gets tickets is determined by Tide Loyalty Points which are received when students attend sporting events at The University of Alabama. If both of the ticket packages do not sell out, students will receive an email that they are able to purchase the other ticket package as well and then they will have a ticket for every home game. I would highly suggest choosing between packages to choose the one that has the most highly anticipated game of the season because this game will likely be the most expensive if you were to have to buy a ticket during the season.
Once you have received your tickets, on the Sunday before each home game, the ticket will be loaded onto your student ACT card which you will be prompted to tap on the card reader to allow you entry into the stadium. It is important to double check on the Sunday before a home game that you have a ticket to avoid showing up to the stadium and being denied entry. If you are not able to get both ticket packages or accidentally miss the student ticket email, do not worry because there are other places where you can get student tickets! Also, if something comes up and you are unable to attend a game which you have a ticket for or you are short on money, there are several options for selling tickets!
When it comes to buying tickets, the most important thing is to be very careful where you buy them from and make sure to double check that all of the information is correct and the seller is a student. I have heard of many horror stories of people getting scammed and have experienced it once myself. I would recommend that if you are looking for a student ticket, the first place you should look is any group chat for either a Greek organization or other student organization that you are a part of so that you know that the seller is a reliable person. There are several group chats that are made for selling tickets and especially on Groupme there can be scammers that are posed as students that will steal your money and likely don’t even have an actual ticket.
Once you have found a reliable student that is selling a ticket, I would recommend searching up their name on outlook to ensure that they are a student at the university and their name comes up in the system. After you have verified their student status, you can send them the money then they will go onto their student tickets account and transfer the ticket to your crimson email. Once they send the ticket request, you will go onto your crimson email and then accept the ticket transfer and then the ticket will be loaded onto your student account.
After you have sorted out the ticket package ordeal, the next step to preparing for game day is finding an outfit. The schools in the SEC take gameday fashion very seriously and tend to dress a lot more formally than other schools. A typical girl’s gameday outfit consists of a dress or matching set, cowboy boots, lots of jewelery, pins, hair done, and a full face of makeup. It is important when shopping for gameday outfits to make sure they are not too heavy for those very hot game days. It is important to wear something breathable to be able to stay cool throughout the game. There are several stores right near campus that have great options for gameday clothing. Check out our earlier blog about the stores near University of Alabama’s campus for some tips on where to shop for gameday clothing!
Now that you have your gameday outfit, it is time to plan where you would like to tailgate for the game and to make sure that you are ready hours ahead of kickoff to ensure plenty of tailgating time. The quad is a super fun place full of nice people with hundreds of tents full of Alabama fans that are tailgating. On the quad there are food trucks and several people that are willing to share their tent full of food and willing to meet new people. There are also several fraternities that have tents on the quad that usually have free drinks as well. If you are ready early enough before the game, the fraternities on University Blvd usually have food and pregame events going on at their houses, sometimes with live music as well.
It is important to make sure you eat a balanced meal before starting your game day especially those who will be drinking for long periods of time, it is necessary to have a full stomach. Several restaurants in Tuscaloosa have special game day menus that are either limited or feature items that are only available during game days. Once you have a protein packed meal in your stomach, you are ready to start an action packed day! It is always a good idea to plan to have a few hours open before kick off to hang out and tailgate without having to rush.
I would recommend entering the stadium anywhere from 2 hours to at least an hour before kickoff to ensure that you can get seats next to your friends because the student section gets crowded very quickly. If you do not get into the game early enough, you will have to stand for the whole time because there will not be enough seats. I would recommend having your entire friend group enter the stadium at the same time because once it starts getting crowded, it becomes very difficult to communicate because it can be hard to hear a phone call or sometimes service gets very bad to the point where texts will not be sent making it difficult to find one another. If your entire friend group walks in at the same time and gets seats you can have a few people stay to save the seats while others go to get food and refreshments then switch off. I would not recommend having the entire group leave the spot because other people will likely take over the seats before you get back.
The number one important thing for game day is staying hydrated especially on those super hot days. Inside the stadium, there are several hydration stations which have cups and a big jug of water allowing you to fill as many cups as you need for free. You are also allowed to bring an empty bottle into the stadium that you can fill at the hydration station as well. There can be very long lines for food and drinks so I recommend trying to buy things when you first get into the stadium or walking around the stadium to find booths that have shorter lines. We hope these tips were helpful and remember to have fun, Roll Tide!!
