Photo courtesy of the University of Alabama
A $58.6 million renovation and expansion of Tuscaloosa’s Coleman Coliseum was presented June 6 to the UA System Board of Trustees physical properties committee.
More than two years after proposing a new basketball arena, the University of Alabama (UA) appears to be pivoting.
At least for now.
Instead of an entirely new facility, the school is seeking to refresh its current building. A $58.6 million renovation and expansion of Tuscaloosa's Coleman Coliseum was presented June 6 to the UA System Board of Trustees physical properties committee.
Greg Byrne, the Crimson Tide's athletics director, detailed the plan that will be funded by bonds and $20 million in donations made to the Crimson Standard fundraising drive to improve facilities.
A few details about what is planned for the project were revealed in the meeting:
- A 48,800-sq.-ft. expansion will be built onto the southeast corner of the 56-year-old Coleman Coliseum.
- Another 19,000 sq. ft. of existing space will be renovated.
- A groundbreaking is expected to occur this fall with completion on the arena set for the beginning of the 2026-27 basketball season.
- No mention was made about any changes or improvements to the seating bowl within the facility. Instead, the work is geared toward fixing the spaces used by both the men's and women's basketball programs.
- The upgraded facility will include a new sports medicine space, team meeting rooms, locker rooms, lounges and coaching/staff offices. Under the current configuration, coaches offices are located on the front side of Coleman Coliseum, separate from the current practice gym and locker rooms.
The new plan would move the practice space for the women's basketball program back to Coleman Coliseum after spending more than a decade training at nearby Foster Auditorium.
The decision comes after two years of inaction on a proposed new arena. It was presented to the same trustees committee in February 2022 with an estimated price tag of $183 million.
Since making the initial arena proposal two years ago, Byrne cited massive construction cost increases as a hurdle to moving forward on the project. Shifting financial realities within the collegiate sports model also has played a factor, AL.com reported.
Brand New Arena May Be Victim of NIL Compensation
Where the arms race within major programs once focused on facilities like new arenas, donor money is now directed more toward NIL — an acronym for name, likeness and image — collectives to compensate athletes.
Nothing was said in the June 6 presentation about a new arena or in questions from committee members to Byrne, but a UA athletics spokesperson told AL.com that it would not be correct to assume the project is dead.
The last major renovation of the Coleman Coliseum practice facility was in 2011, when the gym — previously home to the Alabama volleyball program — was converted to a dedicated space for men's basketball. When presented to the trustees in April 2010, the estimated cost of that project was $4.5 million.
"Each team will have a dedicated practice gym and weight room space," Byrne said at the latest update to the UA Board of Trustees, "which is where the program spends the majority of their time.
"[Men's] Coach [Nate] Oats and [Women's] Coach [Kristy] Curry are extremely supportive of this plan as a positive and valuable next step for the respective teams and they've both expressed this is the highest priority at this time," Bryne noted. "The facility will meet an immediate need as we continue to work toward long-term priorities for our basketball programs."
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