What Nate Oats said about Alabama's stalled new basketball arena

Almost a year has passed since the UA System Board of Trustees gave its flagship campus in Tuscaloosa the green light to start formally planning for a new basketball and gymnastics arena, but progress seems to have slowed.

Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats continues to be in support of it, though, calling it a big deal for the program. Oats said the practice gym and locker room are top notch, but Coleman Coliseum is "a little bit behind."

“We need to have a great home environment every single game," Oats said during his Monday news conference. "With a new arena, I think we can get a lot closer to that. I think it’s a big deal for the future."

It was the second time Oats brought up the topic after appearing on The Next Round.

“I think if you look at our team, we’re talented," Oats said during the Monday morning broadcast. "We play pretty well together. We play hard. Our kids are playing really hard on the defensive end. It’s great to hear that it’s being rewarded in that way. Hopefully, we can continue selling the place out. If some people want to maybe contribute to getting a new arena so they can watch the game in a brand new arena. Coleman’s not bad, but we could use a new one.”

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The proposal for the arena in February 2022 gave a cost of about $183 million with a seating capacity of about 10,400. When Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne spoke with The Tuscaloosa News in June, he said the department was continuing to meet with architects and working through the process with other decision makers.

"Since we announced it, inflation has skyrocketed," Byrne said in June. "We are still seeing issues with labor shortages and also supply chain issues in the marketplace. So what we’re trying to understand is get our arms around what that all means right now. It’s really important that we understand that so we can have a fiscal model that can work for the long haul. But it is still a priority."

Oats acknowledged Monday that he thinks Byrne, the board of trustees and President Stuart R. Bell are working on it.

“I think they were close and ready to go until inflation obviously hit building costs quite a bit," Oats said. "They’re trying to figure some more stuff out at this point."