Alabama AD Greg Byrne ‘not going to stop investing in football’

College athletics has seen a myriad of changes over the past few years with the prominence of the transfer portal, the advent of NIL, and the realignment of several conferences. The landscape continues to change as the House v. NCAA lawsuit reached a settlement and opened the door for colleges to directly compensate athletes for their time and skills.

As colleges add a new expense to their budgets, estimated at around $15 million to $20 million per season, concern is growing about the future of college sports, particularly non-revenue sports. The University of Alabama has 21 athletic programs, but only consistently turns a profit with football and men’s basketball.

The Crimson Tide, along with the rest of the Southeastern Conference, is investing heavily in football, raising the question of whether a reduction in football programs is on the horizon to offset new budget spending.

“Whatever we do at Alabama and I know Jon for Auburn, we want to be great at it and we signed up to be a big college sport and we’re proud of that. Is it perfect? ​​No, but there is a lot of good happening within the walls of our athletic department,” Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said Monday. “We all fund football at a very high level. We will not stop investing in football, it will not happen, because of the impact it will have on everything else. Dr Witt has been the first to say it, but one of the best investments the University of Alabama ever made was Nick Saban. So there’s criticism about that sometimes, but it was a very, very good investment.

The University of Alabama boasted a modest enrollment of 25,580 in 2007, when Saban was initially hired. Six national championship victories and 16 years later, enrollment has soared to 38,645 in 2022 with a landscape shift toward a student population made up of more out-of-state students than Alabama students.

Byrne replaced Saban with former Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer, signing him this spring to an eight-year, $87 million contract. The 2024 college football season will be the first year of the 12-team playoffs and a divisionless Southeastern Conference, making the football landscape even more challenging and success all the more valuable.