Alabama introduces new program to keep students in Bryant-Denny

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An email sent Monday to every corner of the University of Alabama campus had Nick Saban’s fingerprints all over it. The message from the school’s athletic department alerted students about their options for buying tickets, informing them of their eligibility for both full and split packages that included a select number of home games. There was also a section outlining the prices — $20 for an SEC matchup and $15 for one of those rent-a-win affairs.

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Then, at the very end, was a note describing a new initiative called “Tide Loyalty Points.” “Through the Tide Loyalty Points program, students will earn points for attending home football games and for their support in the 4th quarter,” the email read. “Those points will contribute to students’ priority access to regular and postseason tickets.” The introduction of this new measure came a mere six months after Saban, the Crimson Tide’s hard-charging coach, used his bully pulpit at the Mal Moore Athletic Center in October to decry the attendance of students at Alabama’s 56-14 win over Louisiana-Lafayette, which kicked off at 11 a.m. and featured swaths of empty seats at Bryant-Denny Stadium in the sections populated by current undergrads and those seeking advanced degrees.

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Most recently, the school brought back the controversial “Dixieland Delight,” which was played in the fourth quarter during the final four home games of the 2018 season as a way to discourage people from leaving early. Now comes the “Tide Loyalty Points,” which appears to be a joint response from Alabama athletics and the student government to address Saban’s concerns and incentivize committed attendance. “Look, our players work too hard and they deserve to have everything and people supporting them in every way and have tremendous spirit for what they’ve done," Saban said last fall. “And they might not be able to continue to do it and we’re going to work hard to continue that but there’s a part of it that other people need to support them, too. And there has to be a sprit that makes it special to play here because that’s what makes it special to be here. And it that’s not here, does it continue to be special to be here or not? That’s the question everybody has to ask and I’m asking it right now.”

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