Alabama AD Greg Byrne Provides Update on New Arena, Golf Facility

Byrne is still actively fundraising for the new basketball arena as part of Phase II of the Crimson Standard.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Alabama athletic department first announced the Crimson Standard in 2018 as a 10-year, $600 million initiative to improve and elevate experience for Crimson Tide student-athletes, coaches, recruits and fans. 

The first phase of the project included massive renovations to Bryant-Denny Stadium in the locker room, recruiting areas and additions and expansions to the club levels. Alabama also completed renovations to Rhoads Stadium for the softball program. 

Phase II of The Crimson Standard was announced in Feb. 2022, headlined by a new arena to be used by basketball and gymnastics as well as a first-of-its-kind facility for the Crimson Tide golf programs. 

Since the initial announcement, progress on the project as been slow with no official timeline shared by the university for the groundbreaking of the new facilities. 

In an interview with BamaCentral, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne did not provide an updated timeline on the project, but stressed its importance among the university's top leaders. 

"We’ve been very active in fundraising," Byrne told BamaCentral. "We've had actually some very positive, continued positive financial support for the project. We are having further conversations with Dr. [Stuart] Bell and our Board of Trustees and know that this needs to be addressed, and we’re working diligently to address it.”

Since last fall, Byrne and University of Alabama president Stuart Bell, cited inflation as a major roadblock for the project, while still talking about the new facilities as viable option. Support for the Crimson Standard is strong, but the costs keep rising. 

The new arena is something Byrne is still actively fundraising for as recent as of this week. 

"I’ve been out raising money this week, both for the basketball arena and the world of NIL," he said. 

Byrne's full sit-down interview with BamaCentral will be released next week.