The news shocked everyone, especially the players.

On December 2, 2014, just days after completing their 2014 season, Ray Watts, president of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, announced that the school will be terminating its football program, effective starting in 2015. This news brought not only the players and coaching staff to tears, but cut through the hearts of the approximately 212,000 that lived in the largest city in Alabama. The team gave a competitive spirit to a largely corporate city, and the games acted as stress relief for those who felt the daily pressures of a busy city schedule. They had their first postseason-eligible campaign since 2004, and things were looking up on the field. Tight end Brandon Prince said to ESPN, “It’s like SMU. We got the death penalty without any NCAA violations”, referring to the Southern Methodist University squad that was terminated for two years due to improper financial benefits in the early ’80s.

There was no homicide of the UAB football team, but rather more of an assisted suicide. The school isn’t financially stable at the moment, and the athletic department was a main cog in the machine pushing UAB further and further in debt. At the time of the announcement, the university admitted that they would need to spend almost $50 million on new football resources and refurbishments in the next 5 years, equating to almost 1/3 of the annual operating budget of the athletic department. At a university where the financial report for 2014 states an operating loss of almost $300 million, it was unfeasible, according to Watts, for the school to continue to pay for a money-guzzling program like football.

Then, something interesting happened. At UAB’s commencement ceremony, graduating linebacker Derek Slaughter (born to play football with a name like that) wore his helmet onstage to receive his diploma. This righteous act of solidarity sparked a huge social media movement, with the trend #FreeUAB leading the way. The fans began to spoke out, and spoke loud, creating websites, Twitter pages, and they even put up billboards around Birmingham calling for the reinstatement of the team. The uproar sent a shockwave through the veins of the football program, and like a defibrillator, started a chain reaction that led to bringing UAB football back to life.

The fans had the drive, but what they needed was the money. What was missing was a champion of the people from the top of the expansive corporate world of Birmingham. In stepped Craft O’Neal. As the president and CEO of O’Neal Industries, the parent company of a group of metal service organizations, as well as a major donor to UAB, he jumped on the opportunity to save a program that he held so dearly; he saw the good it for the economy of Birmingham and for the citizens. O’Neal, along with prominent businessman Johnny Johns (born to be a businessman with a name like that), decided to devise a major plan to give the UAB football program the financial boost that it so desperately needs. However, with their window of opportunity closing, they needed support, firepower, and a meeting with Ray Watts.

In that conference room, a smattering of hot-shot business moguls from the greater Birmingham area tried to convince Watts that they would do whatever it takes to revive the football program. He tried to tell them it was impossible. He threw out ridiculous numbers and figures that would make my economics teacher blush, but the delegation never wavered. At the end of the day, they agreed to a $4 million donation to the school and to cover the deficit that UAB currently has from running a football program in the red for a number of years. This, coupled with the admirable private fundraising that has been happening for the last few months, will pay for the upgraded facilities and resources for UAB football. O’Neal says it is necessary. “UAB is the economic engine for Birmingham, and for the state to a large degree. What’s good for UAB is good for Birmingham,” O’Neal said. “We recognized the whole football issue was becoming a real negative for Birmingham and UAB. We see the potential in football at UAB with the proper facilities, so we were willing to step up, get involved and help with that” he said to AL.com. So the plan, concocted in just 15 days, was executed perfectly, and the corporate world of Birmingham brought UAB football back to life.

Who is the real winner here? It clearly isn’t the businessmen from that meeting, who are probably regretting each hefty check they make out to the UAB football booster club. It also can’t possibly be the university. They have been publicly bashed for canning a program on the upswing, and now are embarrassed to be bailed out by a bunch of suits. The football team isn’t even the main winner. Now that the team is officially up and running again, they need to replace the reported 56 (at least) players who have transferred since the end of last year by 2016. There’s no recruiting leverage in saying “Hey, we almost lost this program, but we’re back for now.” It seems, if you think about it, that bringing back the UAB football program will only hurt in the short term.

However, it is imperative to think in the long term with a scenario such as this. Learning to walk, talk, and breathe again as a football team is no small task, especially when you’ve been announced Dead on Arrival. Like SMU, it may take a couple of years (at least) to bring the program back up to par. The people of Birmingham, media outlets, and especially college football fans, need to give UAB all the support it needs to lift the university up and help it gain fluidity and normalcy on the gridiron. In reality, the true winners are the fans. Those that love the sport should be ecstatic that the college football fandom was able to bring a program back from the dead with their spirit and the goodwill of businessmen. It is inspiring to see that we were able to reverse the first major death of a football program since Pacific in 1995. From here, all signs can only point up, as the UAB Football Blazers trail blaze a path back to life.