Greg Byrne shares latest on Alabama's new basketball arena

The Crimson Standard is a ten-year, $600 million initiative at Alabama centered around transforming their athletic facilities across multiple sports, currently in Phase II headlined by Competition Arena. A new arena where Crimson Tide’s men’s and women’s basketball and gymnastics will compete for their home games and competitions.

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne’s presentation for Competition Arena to the board of trustees was passed unanimously in February of 2022, but since then not much has been heard regarding breaking down on the new arena. But on Friday, Byrne provided an update on the exciting new stadium on ‘The Game with Ryan Fowler.’

“We’ve actually had a pretty good last few months from a fundraising standpoint,” Byrne said. “We’ve been continuing to ask, our development team that’s been out there, we’ve had some very generous contributions from our supporters. Those conversations have been continuing, I’ve been involved in a lot of those conversations and we’ve been able to have success with that.”

Coleman Coliseum currently hosts Alabama’s basketball and gymnastics, a stadium that’s 56 years old. And while the 10,136-seat, 258,626 gross square foot arena does sound exciting, the cost of the project has increased 30-40% percent to around the $250 million range as of December of 2022 according to the Tuscaloosa Thread.

“And obviously we need to make sure it works financially and it doesn’t put our entire department in a very challenging financial position,” Bryne admitted. “But know it’s still a priority for us, still something we’re raising money for and so I can honestly say we’ve had some very positive conversations from a financial and fundraising standpoint.”

There’s no question that some work has to be in done Tuscaloosa regarding fundraising and working against the rising cost projection for Competition Arena. But Byrne made it clear that working towards breaking ground on the highly anticipated arena is a top priority.

“It still has not made up the 100 million dollar increase in cost, and again, we can’t jeopardize the entire health of our department over one facility. But we do know that’s something that’s important, it’s at the top of our list right now and we’re continuing to be actively raising money for it,” Byrne concluded.