City officials and stadium staff spent this week scrambling to prepare Ladd-Peebles Stadium for what could be one of the largest political rallies South Alabama has seen in years, as then-candidate Donald Trump prepared to speak before a crowd expected to reach 35,000 people.
Stadium manager Vic Knight said crews removed a goal post in the north end zone to make room for a stage, part of a rapid buildout for the Friday evening event. More than 150 members of the national media, including major television networks, were expected to cover the rally, which was set to begin with a news conference before remarks around 7:30 p.m.
Parking emerged as one of the bigger logistical challenges. Unlike football games at the venue, officials said the stadium’s east parking lot would be opened for the event, adding roughly 1,500 additional spaces. Whether attendees would be charged to park had not been finalized as of Thursday. Local transit buses were also expected to run extra service throughout the evening.
Tickets to the free event were distributed on a first-come, first-served basis through an online ticketing platform, with no VIP seating arrangements. Gates were set to open at 5:30 p.m., roughly two hours before the rally’s planned start.
Officials also focused on making sure the venue, which has hosted University of South Alabama football games and high school contests for decades, could handle a crowd in the summer heat. The concern followed criticism of concession and hydration issues during a 2014 USA football game that saw dozens of heat-related medical calls on a day when temperatures topped 90 degrees. Stadium officials said this time they were coordinating closely with concessions staff to ensure adequate water access.
Mobile’s mayor said the city intended to treat future political rallies similarly, while acknowledging the scale of interest surrounding this particular visit was unusual for the area. Local officials and political observers noted that if attendance projections held, the crowd would represent a substantial share of the roughly 46,000 voters who cast ballots in Mobile County’s 2012 Republican presidential primary, a sign, they said, of the outsized attention the campaign had generated in the region ahead of the 2016 primary season.