I believe that "This season" we could have sold another 50,000 to 70,000 season tix, if capacity would have allowed. For the forseeable future, (at least the next 5-7 years) I believe we could easily sell out a stadium that would seat as many as 125,000. However, to fill those seats every week, we would have to upgrade the non-conference portion of our schedule. We've seen in the past that selling the seats and putting butts in those seats can be very different propositions.
Now, I've never encountered problems getting in and out of tuscaloosa or in and out of the campus area. Of course, I'm usually in town on Friday afternoon before the game on Saturday and on campus by 6:00 or 7:00 A.M. on game day. Then, I usually am still on campus until around midnight or so after the game and stay in Tuscaloosa until sometime on Sunday. On the rare occasions that I head to town on Saturday morning or head back to B'ham on Saturday nights, I've never had any problem. My biggest problems with getting into restaurants has been that I'm usually not looking for food until after everything is closed. It's not been a matter of waiting for a table.
I'm sure we've all heard rumblings, on this site and through other avenues, as well, that the South endzone expansion will be started sooner rather than later, and will be more extensive than most have imagined. Regardless of the number of seats to be added, with the current level of interest, it won't be enough; however, the University will certainly take into consideration that various things can happen to diminish interest, just as things have come together to create the unprecedented levels of interest and record demand for tickets.
This brings me to a question I've been pondering for a while. I don't want to high-jack this thread by asking the question here, so, I'll mention it here, then start a thread specifically to consider that question.
We all know that Saban is a significant part of the puzzle that has resulted in this unprecedented interest in the Crimson Tide football program. However, we all must know that there are many other factors at play, here.
Amongst those factors are the recent history of the program, including the revolving door that has been on the head coach's office door since Coach Bryant's retirement and the fact that several of those coaches were not even remotely qualified, let alone capable of handling that position.
Throw in the NCAA penalties, Phil Fulmer, Tom Culpepper, Tom Yeager, and the "piling on" of the media over the last decade, and what do you get? You get a fanbase that is sick of being called cheaters, sick of playing with one hand and one leg tied behind our backs, sick of being the butt of media jokes, sick of Tubby's thumb, etc. Add to that the fact that enrollment is way up on a faster pace than Witt had targetted when he arrived. Add in the fact that for many Bama fans, my age and older, Bama had won six (6) national championships during their lifetimes by the time they entered college. Then we suffered through 13 years without before Stallings lead us to a championship in 1992. Now, it's been another 15 years in the wilderness.
We fans are sick and tired of losing and all the adversity of the last decade have brought us to a boil. Saban was just the last ingredient needed for the thing to explode at the seams.
I don't believe that Saban is so much THE reason for all the interest, so much as he was just the final piece in the puzzle. For that matter, he may not have even been the final piece in the puzzle. The media reaction to his hiring, may have been the final piece.
At any rate, I've listed several contributing factors that have combined to generate the current level of interest in our program. Now, fellow TideFans, put in your two-cents worth on the subject...
Throw
