Jefferson County Commissioner Joe Knight closed Tuesday’s commission committee meeting with a weather forecast for Saturday’s Amazon Magic City Classic presented by Coca-Cola.

“It seems to rain on the Magic City Classic,” Knight said. “Hopefully, the rain will hold off.”

Fellow Commissioner Lashunda Scales offered a different forecast, one with welcome precipitation.

“It rains and showers down a lot of good blessings in our budget and I like it,” Scales said. “I think any time you get over $21 million (in economic impact), that’s wonderful.”

With Classic week in full swing, Birmingham’s 99 neighborhoods have once again increased by one as a neighborhood of tailgaters mushrooms around historic Legion Field to celebrate the rivalry between Alabama A&M and Alabama State universities.

Those persons who reside in campers and recreational vehicles – and those who are filling hotel rooms in Birmingham and surrounding suburbs – will spend money during their extended stay.

“It’s not just the weekend,” said David Galbaugh of the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It’s not (just) Saturday. It’s starting Wednesday, Thursday (and) Friday. There’s a lot going on. That’s what makes it so exciting.”

And so financially impactful.

Galbaugh said the bureau has shifted from calculating “economic impact” to a measure it calls “direct spend.” He said “economic impact” is confusing to some people because it multiplies the money spent as it trickles through the economy.

“We’ve gone to what the number looks like in terms of direct spend,” he said. “That direct spend is still quite significant for our community at $9.6 million that are coming directly into our community.”

Direct spend is a look at dollars that are actually spent, including on lodging in hotels, meals in restaurants and gasoline from service stations. It also includes charcoal and other goods that will be purchased and used by tailgaters.

“That’s all the retail components. That’s all the money that’s dropped directly into the community,” he said. “That’s not involving the multiplier effect with money changing hands in the community.”

Galbaugh said the $9.6 million he cited as direct spending during the Classic is in line with the economic impact figure cited by Scales.

“(The Classic is) a huge event for us given that it happens once a year,” he said. “It’s really a weeklong event. We’re excited about what this next iteration is going to be in 2025.”

Galbaugh said the metro area has lots of inventory when it comes to hotel rooms. That said, demand for those rooms in and around Birmingham is high this week.

“You’re going to have to maybe go out a little bit farther and the rate might be just a little bit more than it normally is because of compression in our supply-and-demand world,” he said.

Kim Hunt, vice president of communications for the Birmingham Airport Authority, said the week of the Magic Classic is always a busy time at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport.

“Magic City Classic … always is, always, one of our busiest weeks of the year for air travel,” she said.

Travelers arriving this week at the Birmingham airport can’t miss obvious reminders that the Magic City Classic is this week. Among the messages that cycle through on big digital welcome boards on the way out of the concourses is one that flashes the emblems of Alabama A&M and ASU.

“Anyone who flies in for the game flies into the concourse and exits the secured area (sees the) big graphic up there about the Magic City Classic,” Hunt said . “It’s just a way for us to kind of welcome people who are flying in for the game.”

As if travelers need a reminder, there is another about halfway up the concourse. It is a sign promoting Friday’s live audience taping of ESPN’s First Take show with Stephen A. Smith and former Auburn quarterback Cam Newton.

Like so many fans, they are here for the Classic.