Under a giant QR code, they waited.

Packing commemorative footballs, hats, glossy 8×10 photos, this crowd of Alabama diehards looked like any other fan day crowd set to be unleashed into Bryant-Denny Stadium.

But for all that Nick Saban loves to keep routine, there was a twist to this return to the early-August ritual last celebrated in 2019.

Those enormous QR codes in the corner videoboards spoke to the new versus old — progress versus tradition — at play on a scorcher of a Saturday afternoon. We’re talking iron production conditions limited the crowd watching the open practice that preceded autograph time to a few hundred of the most dedicated observers.

But the open season Running of the Gumps era has passed, as the QR codes directing patrons to join the Yea Alabama NIL collective will remind you. This Alabama fan day signature fest was an NIL event that required a paid membership.

There was more of a brisk walk to the Nick Saban table rather than the viral mayhem that made this weekend a holiday among college football internet trolls.

Not a velvet rope but black line dividers like you’d find at a TSA checkpoint divided those with the golden ticket to the field and those who watched.

Chatting with a few former Alabama players from the Saban era during the practice, a few good points were made about the 2023 shift in fan day’s spirit. Both sat at those same tables after an early camp practice to sign footballs for free so they fully understood why the Yea Alabama membership was required so players wouldn’t lose the Name, Image and Likeness compensation that’s now legal.

The idea is every player who participated Saturday will get compensation for their appearance.

There were also the kids, one noted, whose folks couldn’t afford the membership dues who missed out on their only shot at meeting their heroes face to face.

Count that among the unintended consequences of the still-early NIL marketplace.

Once the power walk through the field gates commenced, the autograph session didn’t look much different than it had 2019 and earlier. The line for Saban’s signature was by far the longest, close to pre-NIL era length, but there wasn’t as much action at the players’ tables. At one point all five of the top running backs sat unoccupied in the late afternoon shade on the stadium’s west side.

The defensive players, meanwhile, were cooking on the opposite sideline still outside the lurking shadows. They earned their money Saturday.

Questions remain about how all of this works behind the scenes. It sounds like the fan-day enticement was good for Yea Alabama membership numbers but nobody will say exactly how many have signed up for the collective.

How much do the players get for their participation Saturday? Good question. It’s all part of the proprietary trove of information that still sits outside of public information requests. Believe me, we’ve tried.

Maybe Congress will bring transparency to this space.

Maybe!

Anyway, there didn’t seem to be many complaints from the Yea Alabama members with access to this new era of fan day.

Like in the past, a Saban-inspired playlist of Eagles classics echoed through the empty seating for the 45 minutes of signing.

So there was some old with the new in the Bryant-Denny blast furnace decked out in QR codes.

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