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Greg Byrne unveils plan for new complex to replace Coleman Coliseum
By Keith Farner
Published:
Greg Byrne, Alabama’s athletics director, on Thursday shared a plan to replace Coleman Coliseum.
Byrne shared the idea with the University of Alabama System board of trustees, and the new facility would seat approximately 10,136 with a cost of $183 million. Officials are considering multiple sites including the parking lot next to Coleman Coliseum, the band practice field on University Boulevard, another off Jack Warner Parkway and one more on McFarland Boulevard, AL.com reported.
The original plan at the launch of the Crimson Standard fundraising drive was to renovate the 14,000-plus seat home of Alabama basketball and gymnastics. Now, the resolution presented Thursday calls for a new stand-alone structure.
In a change, the students would move closer to the court as Byrne said student ticket levels will remain in the 2,200 range, and students would surround three-quarters of the floor.
A few renderings of the proposed new Alabama basketball arena. https://t.co/cnSaAivEXY pic.twitter.com/pkzFyCQxge
— Michael Casagrande (@ByCasagrande) February 3, 2022
Budget for Alabama’s basketball arena: $183 million paid from accommodating of gifts, Crimson Standard cash and UA bonds that would be repaid by athletics.
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) February 3, 2022
Byrne and his staff traveled around the country and looked at newly-constructed and newly-renovated arenas like at Ole Miss, Virginia, James Madison, Illinois, Cincinnati and DePaul and realized that Coleman Coliseum was in the bottom third of basketball arenas in the SEC and a complete rebuild would be better than a renovation.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
