The annual spring game A-Day tradition has been a staple of the Alabama Crimson Tide football program for as long as can be remembered, with fans packing into Bryant-Denny Stadium for free admission and getting their first look at that fall’s edition of the team during a scrimmage.

A-Day has always been an event to allow those who may not be able to purchase game tickets the closest experience to a gameday in Tuscaloosa possible in the spring instead of the fall.

Just this past spring, the game atmosphere was reduced to an open practice by new head coach Kalen DeBoer in what has been a common practice around the country surrounding spring games to prevent transfer portal tampering and giving opposing coaches a good look at depth pieces.

As a result, the crowd this season was very small in the stadium, however issues that have recurred throughout the last several years in Tuscaloosa surrounding overcrowding and danger, especially on the Strip, persisted.

RELATED: A-Day will no longer be played game, changing to 90 minute practice instead

While discussing the issues surrounding A-Day, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox took a hard stance and said the city would prefer for the event not to occur anymore.

“From the city standpoint, I can’t believe it. Twenty years ago, if you would have asked me, ‘Would you want to have A-Day?’ I’d say, ‘Yes’,” Maddox said in a story by Tuscaloosa News. “Today, I would say, with all the things that come now surrounding it, I think it’s better for us not to have A-Day and focus on the UA-generated events that don’t require so much security personnel and other logistical support.”

Hearing Maddox say so definitively that he would prefer the event not to occur is a bit jarring, but he can hardly be blamed based on the strain it puts on the city.

Where A-Day moves forward from here is anyone’s guess, but it’s safe to say it will not be like it has been in year’s past both in and out of the stadium moving forward.