New UAB Basketball Coach Robert Ehsan

Mark Ingram, right, UAB Director of Athletics, introduces Robert Ehsan as the new UAB Men's Basketball Coach during a press conference at UAB, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. The former UAB assistant coach is now the sixth Blazer coach of men's basketball. (Tamika Moore / tmoore@al.com)

(TAMIKA MOORE)

Auburn and UAB have been in discussions for a future football game between the two schools, UAB athletics director Mark Ingram told a group of reporters at the APSE regional meeting in Birmingham on Monday.

Ingram said that he heard from around eight or 10 schools right before UAB announced its return to football last June 1.

Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs is one of his friends, but Ingram noted that he didn't think Auburn had a football opening until 2019.

"I've had good conversations with Auburn," Ingram said. "Jay Jacobs, the athletic director, is a good friend of mine. He and I have talked about it. It's about finding the right year.

"I think their first availability was '19 and I needed '17. I've had conversations with them. They're interested. We're interested. It's just a matter of getting the guarantee right and getting the matchup right."

UAB has its 2017 schedule set and should be close to finishing its 2018 schedule. Ingram said that the Blazers have leverage because, for instance, the Big Ten won't play FCS schools any more.

"My value just went up because they have fewer options," Ingram said.

"Would you rather play Virginia, who is a good team that would pay $800,000 or would you rather play Auburn and they're going to pay you $1.5 million? I guess Auburn's the better team than Virginia, but you don't know that when you set it up. When you're going to play one, you might as well get paid. You might as well get what you can get."

The schools played in 1996, a 29-0 Auburn win. The schools are in the midst of a four-game basketball series. UAB will host Auburn in Bartow Arena this fall.

AL.com's Joseph Goodman contributed to this report