Alabama Band to Skip Texas Trip Over Seating Controversy

Although the SEC has game agreements on visitor seating placement, the Big 12 does not.

Alabama confirmed to AL.com that its band will not be traveling to Texas this weekend as the Crimson Tide take on the Longhorns, and they’re not the first group to opt out of the trip to Austin. 

“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.

Although the SEC has game agreements that say visiting fan tickets will be spread among the lower and upper bowls, the Big 12 doesn’t, and Texas placed all of Alabama’s seats in the nosebleeds. 

This isn’t new. Back in 2019, LSU’s marching band was also placed in the upper bowl, and when people started bringing attention to it on social media, the Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte gave an explanation in a tweet. 

“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.. if a visiting team elects to bring their band must sit in the seats allotted for visitors.”

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