The images and videos of Alabama Fan Day will live as long as the internet survives.

There will forever be a corner of Al Gore’s greatest invention for the running-of-the … most eager for Nick Saban’s signature.

After going dark for the last three seasons, it’s back — with a 2023 twist.

The open practice routine remains as it was before the hiatus, free to the public from 2:30 p.m. CT through 4:30 on Aug. 5 in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The post-practice autograph session is where things divert from the way things were in the past. It’s still 45 minutes and will take place on the field but it’s no longer free.

If someone’s looking for a tangible difference from the NIL era, here’s one to log.

Frankly, this is the only way the Fan Day autograph could continue in any form since players could profit from their name, image, likeness (and autograph) beginning in 2021.

Under this year’s plan, autograph seekers must be a member of the Yeah Alabama collective that supports NIL efforts within the Crimson Tide athletics department. Memberships begin at $18 a month with tiers extending to the $250-plus range.

According to Yea Alabama’s official website, 100% of the subscription fees go to Crimson Tide athletes. It’s all part of the NIL arms race that plays a part in recruiting pitches so requiring players to participate without compensation wouldn’t play in that realm.

This is an opportunity to sell subscriptions for the Yea Alabama collective that launched in February. As with most aspects of the NIL world, there isn’t a ton of publicly available information about how many subscribers have signed up or how much money has been raised.

How much each player will be paid for their participation in the fan day signing is also part of the proprietary information shielded from public record requests.

That’s just the reality of how the rules allow collectives to operate.

There are rules within the subscriber signing event that will conceivably make it less of a circus on the field. Players can’t sign more than one item per subscriber and the digital ticket to the field isn’t a family pass. Each subscriber can bring one child 12 years or younger and posed photos aren’t permitted.

So, long story short, Alabama Fan Day is back, but different in the only format that works in the current landscape of collegiate sports.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.