Byrne "Optimistic" About New Model in College Athletics

College athletics has undergone a generation's worth of changes in the last half-decade, and the rules have once again changed following the House v. NCAA settlement late last week.

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Alabama has committed to fully funding the $20.5 million in revenue sharing, and Alabama Athletic Director Greg Byrne said that while Alabama has been fortunate to be in a better financial position than most other schools, it now adds a $20.5 million bracket to its athletics budget.

For many schools, a $20.5 budget increase would cause schools to cut multiple athletic programs, but for Alabama, Greg Byrne is adamant that Alabama won't cut programs, and he is actually optimistic about the latest change in college athletics.

"I do [sound optimistic]. I get a little frustrated - I put out a tweet out there the other day that said - Actually, Travis Goff, the AD at Kansas, put out a really good statement about it. 'I'm tired of reading about all these anonymous sources about how this isn't going to work.' And a lot of it is coming from people who have an incentive to have disruption, and this has been good for the business they're in. I've told our coaches and staff, 'We need to make this work. We need to say we're gonna give everything we possibly can.'"

Byrne also gave an analogy for how Alabama is handling the changes in college athletics.

"If the speed limit is 75, we're going to go 75," Byrne continued. "But we're not gonna go 80 on purpose, and we're not gonna go 95 for sure. We need to have our peer institutions all be committed to that, and I sense a real desire for that to be the case. Understand what we can and can't do, live within these parameters, and I think that's good for everybody involved."

"The other thing I think it will do is if there is reasonableness in marketing opportunities - and there will be a school out there that has more opportunities in this sport than others - but overall, I do think this will give an opportunity to slow down the transfer portal, which will give the young men and young women more stability in their academic experience and athletic experience and their social experience. On top of that, it will give our fans an opportunity to build longer-term relationships with the young men and young women in our program. I think that's healthy all the way around for the individual and the enterprise of college sports."

Listen to Ryan Fowler's full interview with Greg Byrne here.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.