Alabama set to expand basketball practice facility

Alabama’s new basketball arena won’t be coming anytime soon, but the university is meeting to approve a renovated practice facility for the program. The UA System Board of Trustees has a meeting scheduled Friday to approve the renovations.

The note on this week’s agenda reads as follows: "Consideration of Resolution approving the preliminary project scope and budget; granting authorization to execute an Owner/Architect Agreement for the Coleman Coliseum Basketball Training & Player Development Facility Expansion and Renovation at UA (Stage I & Stage II).”

The renovations will be made on Alabama’s current practice facility which is located adjacent to Coleman Coliseum. This week’s news in not associated with the building of a new basketball arena, which was originally announced in February of 2022. At the time of the proposal, Alabama’s new basketball stadium was set to cost an estimated $183 million. Inflation has since pushed that projection to $250 due to inflation.

"I've said it before, the arena is a bigger deal for the fans, the donors, the people that come watch the game than it is for the players and the coaches that coach in it,” Alabama head basketball coach Nate Oats said in February of 2023. “We've obviously proven that we can keep the program at a pretty high level here but [the arena] is 100 percent a priority for Greg [Byrne], myself, the entire athletic department, the university as a whole. They're working on getting it done. It's a process."