Alabama State and Alabama A&M play the Magic City Classic at Legion Field in Birmingham today, with kickoff at 2:30 p.m. and the parade downtown at 8 a.m. Getting a crowd that averages more than 60,000 to the stadium is a job, and for 18 years it has belonged to a Black family’s company.
Vectour Group, a Black-owned transportation business led by President and CEO Reginald Haslam Jr., moves more than 13,000 fans a year to and from Legion Field, Black Enterprise reported. This year it put 70 drivers on the route. It also recruits and trains about 30 students a year from local HBCUs for support jobs on game day, according to the same report.
The business started in the late 1970s as a side operation of Haslam’s father, Reggie Haslam Sr. It grew from concert runs for the Jackson 5 and Peabo Bryson to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the 2012 London Olympics, the 2022 World Games in Birmingham and Major League Baseball’s 2024 game at Rickwood Field. Haslam Jr. started working there at 16 and took over day-to-day operations in 2013.
“I literally grew up on the bus. I grew up with diesel fuel in my veins,” he told Black Enterprise.
A game with a city-sized budget
The Classic is the biggest event Birmingham hosts. City leaders told WBRC in 2023 that it brings in $19 million to $22 million inside the city, and $35 million to $40 million across the metro area, as fans fill hotels as far out as Fultondale, Gardendale, Alabaster and Pelham. Cornell Wesley of the city’s Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity said that reach “is not just in Birmingham.”
The rivalry is also one of the oldest between two HBCUs. Alabama State won the first meeting 30-0 in 1924. Alabama A&M leads the all-time series 44-43-3, and Alabama State has won four straight, including a 56-13 win last October.
Much of the money around a game like this goes to hotels, vendors and sponsors. Vectour’s story shows one slice of it staying with a Black-owned firm that hires from the schools whose teams are on the field.
The parade steps off at 8 a.m. today, the tailgate runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the lot on the west side of Legion Field, and kickoff is at 2:30 p.m.
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