TUSCALOOSA — The University of Alabama Million Dollar Band will not be joining the football team on its trip to Austin, Texas, for Saturday’s game.
The band will not attend the game due to its proposed seating arrangement, according to a statement from the University of Alabama athletic department.
“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,” the statement read.
The Million Dollar Band would have had atypical upper-deck seating, something which visiting teams have contended with in recent years.
Twitter users have blasted the University of Texas over the move, calling the seating placement “unsportsmanlike.”
In response, University of Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte noted that his department opted to move the visiting team’s seating to provide a “contiguous student section.”
A visiting team’s band “must sit in the seats allotted for visitors,” Del Conte wrote in a tweet.
The No. 1 ranked Crimson Tide have opened up as 19-point favorites against the unranked Longhorns in a showdown between two of college football’s most storied programs.
The programs have not met on the gridiron since the 2009 Rose Bowl, when Bama defeated Texas 37-21 to claim its 13th national title and first under Nick Saban.
Led by Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young under center Saturday, Bama steamrolled Utah State in Tuscaloosa in the season opener, 55-0.
For Texas, the Steve Sarkisian-led program defeated Louisiana-Monroe 52-10 in its 2022 opener.
Dylan Smith is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
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