The paintings inside the historic Waysider breakfast restaurant in Tuscaloosa don’t depict many of Alabama’s heroics on the hardwood.
People still talk about the far table in the back where Paul “Bear” Bryant used to take his coffee. Does anyone know where Wimp Sanderson ate his breakfast? Does anyone care?
Lately, athletic director Greg Byrne and basketball coach Nate Oats have taken the politically correct approach of labeling Alabama as a “championship school.” That makes for a nice quote, but Alabama is hardly a battleground state when it comes to determining its favorite sport.
Alabama is a football school. It always has been and will remain to be, regardless of the trajectory of its other programs.
There’s nothing wrong with that, by the way. America, after all, is a football country. The NFL generated $18 billion in revenue last year. That’s nearly as much as the nation’s next two biggest sporting leagues — MLB ($11.5 billion) and NBA ($10 billion) — combined. It’s the same at Alabama, where the football program generated $140.3 million of the athletic department’s $234.8 million revenue.
Still, if Alabama is going to remain a football school that continues to contend for championships in other sports, Byrne has quite the balancing act in front of him.
The recent House v. NCAA settlement will now allow schools to share roughly $20.5 million in departmental revenue with players for the upcoming academic year. On Saturday, Byrne confirmed that Alabama will be “fully funding” revenue sharing. Byrne didn’t disclose how Alabama will disperse its $20.5 million cap, but it’s a safe bet that the overwhelming majority will be spent on the football program.
Go ahead and take a moment to catch your breath from the shock.
Once again, there’s nothing wrong with Alabama devoting most of its money toward football. The majority of programs will do the same. In February, Georgia announced that its pay distribution model will see 75% of its revenue sharing go toward football (13.5M). From there, 15% will go to men’s basketball ($2.7M), 5% will go to women’s basketball ($900K) and the remaining 5% will be spread out amongst the rest of its sports.
Alabama’s breakdown will likely look similar, but other schools could take different approaches. Football is king in most places across the nation, and some schools might devote 80-85% of their rev-share budget to their biggest money-maker.
Conversely, basketball-centric schools might bump up their men’s basketball percentage in order to gain a leg up in a sport where they have more of a realistic chance to contend. For example, St. John’s doesn’t even have a Division I football team. If the Red Storm is able to come up with $20.5 million, what’s stopping it from devoting $15 million of it to men’s basketball?
It’s worth noting that a smaller school like St. John’s might not be able to fully fund its revenue sharing the same way Alabama or any other Power Four programs could. Still, if the Johnnies could dole out even $10 million in revenue sharing, 85% of that total toward basketball would triple Georgia’s projected budget. In a sport like basketball, that advantage can go a long way.
Most of the teams willing to take a basketball-centric approach reside outside of the Power Four. But with so much competition in football, what’s stopping other programs from chasing a title on the hardwood?
Basketball blue bloods such as Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina will still spend more on football but figure to devote more to hoops than the average college power.
Why stop there, though?
Most would consider Arkansas a “football school,” but the Hogs have one of college basketball’s most successful coaches in John Calipari and appear to be a far way off from catching up to the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Texas and LSU on the gridiron.
How bout a team like Auburn, desperate to get out from the shadow of its rival? Alabama has a five-game winning streak in the Iron Bowl and will likely be favored to extend that run to six when the two teams meet in Jordan-Hare Stadium in November.
Auburn is still a football-first university. However, if things go south with Hugh Freeze in Year 3, could the Tigers prioritize beating the Tide to the state’s first national title in basketball? Bruce Pearl isn’t going to be on the Plains forever, so that move might make a bit more sense than some Auburn fans would like to admit.
So, where does that leave Alabama?
The Tide is viewed as one of the title favorites heading into this year’s football season. It will also likely start the basketball season ranked inside the top 10 and will be widely expected to make a program-record fourth straight Sweet-16 appearance.
Five years ago, there wouldn’t have been any pause toward the idea of pumping 80% or more of the athletic program’s revenue into football. However, that was while Nick Saban was still at the helm and before Oats built the Tide into a perennial contender.
What happens if Kalen DeBoer is unable to rebound from a disappointing first season and get Alabama football back on its annual playoff track? Football would continue to be the university’s clear breadwinner, but basketball would have a legitimate argument to overtake the role of the Tide’s most consistent title threat.
Would Alabama stick to its roots and dig deeper into its pockets to reclaim its ever-so-slightly fading glory on the football field? Or would it capitalize on having one of college basketball’s top head coaches and fund Oats with rosters capable of making future Final Fours.
If you ask Byrne, he’ll tell you he’s planning to do both moving forward. Perhaps that’s possible. All I know is those paintings on the wall in Waysider aren’t cheap. And the moments they depict are going to be even more expensive.
It’s a new month, and that means a new cocktail for a cause from our friends at Session Cocktails in Tuscaloosa. This month, Session will be supporting Druid City Pride, a non-profit community organization that serves and advocates the LGBTQ+ members of West Alabama.
This week’s cocktail for a cause is called the Drag Queen. The sweet concoction is comprised of 2 ounces of vodka, 1 ounce of strawberry puree, 3/4 ounce of lime juice and six dashes of orange bitters. Stop by and enjoy one all month.
Cheers!
(Commercial break: My drink of the week section is now sponsored by my friends at Session Cocktails in Tuscaloosa. Session has been a mainstay in Tuscaloosa’s cocktail scene since 2019 and offers some of the tastiest drinks in town. Stop by and tell them I said hi!)
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