Exactly one year after Alabama’s board of trustees gave its initial approval to a proposed basketball and gymnastics on-campus arena, the project remains stalled.

The original cost estimate of $183 million has ballooned to almost $250 million, athletics director Greg Byrne told men’s basketball coach Nate Oats last week.

“We’ve had a number of donors give already to it, but we need more to give,” Oats said. That’s where it’s basically at.”

Byrne and Alabama school president Stuart Bell both spoke last year about the impact of nationwide inflation, especially in facility construction, on its plans for the 10,136-seat venue.

“We’ve got to get the money raised,” Oats reiterated Friday. “It is 100 percent a priority for Greg, myself, the entire athletic department, the university as a whole. They’re working on getting it done. It’s a process. They’re not putting a shovel in the ground next week that I know of. We’re going to keep working on it. Greg’s working hard on it, I know.”

Alabama’s proposed golf facility, which was announced and initially approved the same day as the arena last year, has moved forward. It received second-stage approval by the trustees in June and third-stage approval Friday, despite an increased price tag from $26 million to $39 million.

The question to Oats about the basketball arena came after his new contract with the school was approved Friday, which extends until 2019 and raises both his salary and his buyout to leave. Amid one of the best seasons in Alabama program history, two often-cited priorities for fans have been Oats’ contract and the new arena.

“Greg and I are on the same page with this,” Oats said. “We both know it’s a high priority. The department’s fully behind it. Can’t snap your fingers and it’s done, though. Greg is working. President Bell and the board of trustees. I’ve talked to different members of the board. They all know the importance of it. We’re all on the same page, to be honest with you.”

But Oats continued to stress that the team’s practice facility where it spends the majority of its time is more important to players and coaches, and Alabama’s renovated practice gym compares favorably to NBA teams’ hubs that he has visited.

‘I’ve said it before: the arena is a bigger deal for the fans, the donors, the people who come and watch the game than the players and the coaches that coach in it,” he said. “We’ve obviously proven we can keep the program at a pretty high level here [in Coleman Coliseum].

“But fans have been super passionate about it. Look, I’ll say this: hopefully every single one of our games is a sellout the rest of the year. We’re getting great support in here.”

Alabama (19-3, 9-0 in SEC) plays Saturday at LSU before returning home to host Florida next Wednesday.

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.