GULF SHORES, Ala. – The SEC football season will kick off in  Gulf Shores this year and will include appearances by Nick Saban and Gene Chizik.

Joining the coaches whose teams won the last three national championships, Saban in 2011 and 2009 and Chizik in 2010,  will another be national championship coach, Les Miles of LSU whose team won it all in 2007.

Beth Gendler, vice president of marketing for Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism, expects 10,000 fans will show up SEC BeachFest the weekend of Aug. 23-26.

On Aug. 25 Saban, Chizik and Miles will fly in for 90-minute meetings with fans.

“The coaches will fly in and out on Saturday,” Gendler said. “They’ll do some meet and greet and they’ll do a little chalk talk as well. They’re all here for 90 minutes, fly in, fly out on Saturday.”

Gendler said the coaches will each partake in unique town hall discussions with fans and ESPNU talent, which is also scheduling a live broadcast from 8-9 a.m. on Aug. 25 from the Gulf Shores Public Beach.

And the best thing about the weekend, Gendler said, is not one team will emerge with a loss.

She thinks it will be a win-win for the SEC and as well as gather some invaluable exposure for Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

“All they’re favorite teams are undefeated that weekend,” she told the Gulf Shores City Council.

Giving it a real feel of a game-day weekend, ESPNU will set up a Game Day-type broadcast at Gulf Place and broadcast for an hour from 8-9 a.m. The topic will be SEC football.

The council Monday approved requests for an assembly permit and approval for a site plan for the football extravaganza that will be in the same area as the Hangout Festival and the Shrimp Festival.

“It’s at the time of the year where there’s not a lot of things going on,” Director of Recreation and Cultural Affairs Grant Brown said. “The idea is a big kick off to the SEC football season. On Thursday there will be golf event and dinner at Cobalt in Orange Beach.”

There will be stage on the sand near the Pink Pony Pub featuring the B-52s on Friday night and Dr. John on Saturday night. Local bands will keep the music going during the day both Friday and Saturday.

In the east parking lot there will be an astroturf football field where legendary coaches, including Gene Stallings and Pat Dye, will be here with past players offering clinics to kids.

“What’ll happen at FanZone on that site is there will photo opportunities with the mascot, the BCS Championship trophy will be here,” Gendler said. “There will be local bands playing throughout the day on the stage.”

Gulf Place will be closed beginning Thursday to prepare for the event. Each morning thereafter the Alabama 182 and Alabama 59 intersection and one block east and west will be closed to traffic.

Brown said it will be a “soft closing” that will reopen after crowds have left for the day around midnight. The barricades will go up again the next morning.  

“The impact for the city would be an opportunity to close down Gulf Place from the ‘T’ all the way to the east side over to the Pink Pony Pub,” Brown said. “We will close it down Thursday for setup. Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be the actual event. We would anticipate opening back up some time on Monday, by midday Monday.

“This is nowhere near the extent of the Hangout Music Festival.”

Tickets will $25 and made available to those booking accommodations for that weekend. There will also be local and Internet sales. For more information go to www.secbeachfest.com.

There will be vendors set up with food and beverages as well as opportunities to buy T-shirts and other merchandise. A chain link fence will cover the north side of the area and sand fencing will be used on the beach.

“We anticipate 10,000 people with out-of-town visitors and locals,” Gendler said. “The whole event is to drive people to the beach with our SEC sponsorship that we’ve taken on this past year and have for the next two years on a weekend and give them an opportunity to come back to the beach.”

Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism has a three-year sponsorship with the SEC and anticipates having similar events in the future.