Alabama football has a first-world problem, of sorts.
The University of Alabama’s vaunted football team is so good at beating up its opponents on the gridiron that students often leave home games early, much to the chagrin of legendary head coach Nick Saban.
So the school has come up with a unique — and some say creepy — idea: Starting this season, the university offers an app the students can download onto their phones which tracks their location.
That way the school would know if they left the game early, The New York Times reports.
So why would students agree to download such an app, you’re naturally asking.
If they stay in the stands at a home game at Bryant-Denny Stadium through the fourth quarter, students who have the app could be rewarded with highly coveted postseason tickets to events like the SEC Championship Game or the College Football Playoffs.
Alabama has played in those games a time or two, and the team’s fans just might enjoy attending another.
Privacy concerns
The use of the app brings up lots of privacy concerns.
CNN reached out to the university for comment on that and hadn’t heard back yet. But Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne told the Times it really shouldn’t be an issue because students can either close the app or delete it once they leave the stadium.
Alabama doesn’t have problems getting students to stick around to the end of exciting Southeastern Conference games. It’s the Crimson Tide’s cupcake nonconference schedule that students walk out on, and the mercurial Saban has definitely noticed.
He was disappointed last season when the student section was fairly empty during Alabama’s 56-14 beatdown of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, according to Bleacher Report. And he came down hard on everyone, not just students, back in 2013 when fans left another game early, saying “you should stay there and support the team for the game.”
As for the app, it had a pretty good test last weekend.
The Crimson Tide routed New Mexico State 62-10 on Saturday.
