Marketing, Poor Planning, Expansion, Construction Now!!
Dec 16, 2022 14:18:13 GMT -6
315logan likes this
Post by gamecockfan74 on Dec 16, 2022 14:18:13 GMT -6
Let's don't worry about reality, let's gripe, point fingers, and cast aspersions at the JSU admin. Or maybe, just get a grip.
What’s the latest on Alabama’s proposed new basketball arena?
Published: Dec. 15, 2022, 1:05 p.m. Mike Rodak | mrodak@al.com
With Alabama men’s basketball this week reaching its highest Associated Press poll ranking in 16 years, fan excitement around the program has spiked ahead of Saturday’s meeting with No. 15 Gonzaga in Legacy Arena.
Fourth-ranked Alabama will play in front of an expected crowd of more than 17,000 in the downtown Birmingham venue that was extensively renovated two years ago. But the Tide’s on-campus arena, Coleman Coliseum, is 54 years old and lacks the features of the SEC’s two newest courts, Auburn’s Neville Arena and Ole Miss’ Pavilion.
After initially revealing renovation plans to Coleman Coliseum in 2018, the University of Alabama in February 2022 instead approved a plan to build a new 10,000-seat arena on campus with an estimated cost at the time of $183 million.
But athletics director Greg Byrne noted in a June interview with The Tuscaloosa News and during a Crimson Tide Sports Network interview in September that Alabama had not anticipated inflation that rose to 40-year highs earlier this year. He reiterated that complication during his latest interview Thursday.
“The planning for that is still ongoing. What we’re trying to navigate and still really trying to get our arms around is inflation has been significant, and it’s actually been more significant in the facility-construction arena,” Byrne said during a Crimson Tide Sports Network interview. “We’re trying to understand what that looks like. The age of Coleman -- it’s not getting any younger. We need to find a way to address this. It’s important for our program. It’s important for Coach [Nate] Oats and [women’s basketball coach] Kristy Curry and Ashley [Johnston] now with gymnastics, and making sure that we are in the right position for what that looks like down the road. Making sure for the long term health of the program that we have a strong venue for that.
“What that final dollar figure is and everything -- I know sometimes people will say, ‘Hey, you’ve got the money.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, I haven’t quite found that money.’ ... We have a fiduciary responsibility for our athletic department, that’s part of what we do. And at the same time, too, we’ve got to do everything we can to make sure we grow the program and put us in the best possible position. With the momentum that we have with our basketball programs and gymnastics as well, it’s important that we find some solutions down the road here. So we’re working on it, and obviously it’s something that we all want very much.”
University president Stuart Bell, who oversees Byrne and the athletics department, also addressed the arena’s cost during a meeting with the Rotary Club in Tuscaloosa last month.
“We are certainly working on the design of it,” Bell said, the Tuscaloosa Thread reported. “A real challenge we’ve had over the past 12 months is construction costs and we’re trying to watch and see where those are going.”
Bell told the club, according to the Tuscaloosa Thread, that construction costs had risen 30 to 40 percent.
“[That] is not in our plan to do,” Bell said. “You wouldn’t want to be bidding a project like that today, that’s for sure.”
What’s the latest on Alabama’s proposed new basketball arena?
Published: Dec. 15, 2022, 1:05 p.m. Mike Rodak | mrodak@al.com
With Alabama men’s basketball this week reaching its highest Associated Press poll ranking in 16 years, fan excitement around the program has spiked ahead of Saturday’s meeting with No. 15 Gonzaga in Legacy Arena.
Fourth-ranked Alabama will play in front of an expected crowd of more than 17,000 in the downtown Birmingham venue that was extensively renovated two years ago. But the Tide’s on-campus arena, Coleman Coliseum, is 54 years old and lacks the features of the SEC’s two newest courts, Auburn’s Neville Arena and Ole Miss’ Pavilion.
After initially revealing renovation plans to Coleman Coliseum in 2018, the University of Alabama in February 2022 instead approved a plan to build a new 10,000-seat arena on campus with an estimated cost at the time of $183 million.
But athletics director Greg Byrne noted in a June interview with The Tuscaloosa News and during a Crimson Tide Sports Network interview in September that Alabama had not anticipated inflation that rose to 40-year highs earlier this year. He reiterated that complication during his latest interview Thursday.
“The planning for that is still ongoing. What we’re trying to navigate and still really trying to get our arms around is inflation has been significant, and it’s actually been more significant in the facility-construction arena,” Byrne said during a Crimson Tide Sports Network interview. “We’re trying to understand what that looks like. The age of Coleman -- it’s not getting any younger. We need to find a way to address this. It’s important for our program. It’s important for Coach [Nate] Oats and [women’s basketball coach] Kristy Curry and Ashley [Johnston] now with gymnastics, and making sure that we are in the right position for what that looks like down the road. Making sure for the long term health of the program that we have a strong venue for that.
“What that final dollar figure is and everything -- I know sometimes people will say, ‘Hey, you’ve got the money.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, I haven’t quite found that money.’ ... We have a fiduciary responsibility for our athletic department, that’s part of what we do. And at the same time, too, we’ve got to do everything we can to make sure we grow the program and put us in the best possible position. With the momentum that we have with our basketball programs and gymnastics as well, it’s important that we find some solutions down the road here. So we’re working on it, and obviously it’s something that we all want very much.”
University president Stuart Bell, who oversees Byrne and the athletics department, also addressed the arena’s cost during a meeting with the Rotary Club in Tuscaloosa last month.
“We are certainly working on the design of it,” Bell said, the Tuscaloosa Thread reported. “A real challenge we’ve had over the past 12 months is construction costs and we’re trying to watch and see where those are going.”
Bell told the club, according to the Tuscaloosa Thread, that construction costs had risen 30 to 40 percent.
“[That] is not in our plan to do,” Bell said. “You wouldn’t want to be bidding a project like that today, that’s for sure.”
