Kentucky games at Alabama's Coleman Coliseum are numbered
Saturday will be one of the final times the Kentucky basketball team plays the Crimson Tide at Coleman Coliseum. Thursday afternoon Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne unveiled plans to the board of trustees for a new on-campus basketball arena.
Coleman Coliseum was built in 1968 and most recently renovated in 2005. Alabama began fundraising for the new project in 2018, originally planning to renovate the old 14,000-seat arena. Those plans were scrapped to reduce size and prioritize seating in the lower bowl.
The new on-campus Alabama basketball arena and gymnastics venue is projected to seat 10,136 spectators with a cost of $183 million. The new facility will hold 60% of the capacity in the lower bowl, with 2,200-seat student section surrounding 3/4 of the court. The artist renderings of the new facility are a sight to behold.
Construction is still years away, with bids being accepted in the spring of 2023. Even so, Saturday’s trip to Tuscaloosa may be one of the final times Kentucky plays in the SEC’s third-oldest arenas. Tip-off is set for 8 pm ET on ESPN.
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