It's hard to imagine a greater return on #theReturn of UAB football. The university's enrollment, a key component of the school's massive economic impact, is at a record high this fall. Home attendance at football games led Conference USA. The team didn't lose in Birmingham, finishing 8-4 overall and second in its division to earn a trip to the Bahamas Bowl.

It's not a happy accident.

It's the result of a mutually beneficial public and private partnership, the university, the city and the local business community working together for the greater good.

Bill Clark and his Blazers may be headed to a tropical island, but everything's not sunny in Birmingham. A potential threat to the evolution of UAB football and the city has popped up. It's the prospect of throwing good money after bad to prop up Legion Field, which could derail all the progress that's been made toward building a new outdoor stadium in the growing Uptown district and renovating Legacy Arena at the BJCC.

The agenda for today's Birmingham City Council meeting includes "a Resolution supporting $30 million for the 5-year (2018-2023) capital budget for Legion Field."

The resolution was submitted and recommended by City Councilman William Parker. Last month, Parker described his idea "to provide the necessary tools to make sure Legion Field is viable for the next 10 to 20 years."

Wait. What? Viable? For the next decade or two? Legion Field at 90 years old is barely serviceable now. It's a money pit, an albatross around the neck of UAB football and the special events held there from the Magic City Classic to the Birmingham Bowl.

If the goal is to revitalize the community around Legion Field and prepare it for life after the stadium shuts down, that's admirable. But it sounds as if Parker wants to put more lipstick on the dying stadium and keep it as this city's primary football facility into the foreseeable future.

"We are going to actively pursue bringing more events to Legion Field," he said. "The goal is to have a sporting event every Saturday at Legion Field during the football season."

Don't tap the brakes on that idea. Slam them.

People who care about Birmingham and its future have been trying to find a way to replace Legion Field since the 1990s. They're on the cusp of breaking through and putting together the last pieces of a public and private financial package to pay for both a new outdoor stadium and a renovated Legacy Arena, whose age and condition limits the number and type of events possible there.

That financial package has to include an annual contribution from the city in the neighborhood of $3.5 million a year. That doesn't seem possible if the city dedicates a similar or greater amount each year to the upkeep of Legion Field.

With a new mayor in Randall Woodfin and a new city council, this is the perfect time for Birmingham to move out of the past and into the future, to help its largest employer in UAB and in turn help itself. That can't happen as long as Birmingham clings to Legion Field.