This is an opinion column.

Billy Joel famously wrote about the night the lights went out on Broadway.

The catchy tune with an apocalyptic theme was released eight years after Coleman Coliseum opened its doors in Tuscaloosa. By Wednesday night, these unrelated events remained unrelated, but the lights went out in Coleman.

And they didn’t come back on for approximately 17 minutes of a nationally televised, electrical embarrassment. ESPN was live in Tuscaloosa for what became a classic 79-75 Alabama win over rival Auburn but the opening sequence highlighted the elephant lurking in that dimly lit airplane hangar.

Coleman Coliseum’s got to go.

It’s time for it to enjoy the retirement life on the Florida coast or become a useful parking lot.

There’s really little defense for prolonging the lifespan of this cavernous concrete glimpse into what someone thought was a good idea in the 1960s.

So, everyone agrees on something, a feat of its own in 2024. Time for something new.

That was also the consensus Feb. 3, 2022 when a University of Alabama board of trustees committee gave the initial approval to begin the process.

“Grab a shovel,” was the lede to my story that day from the Birmingham meeting. “Eventually.”

Repeat eventually.

Maybe one more time.

Approaching the two-year anniversary of that meeting and unanimous vote, this hypothetical arena has appeared on exactly zero more meeting agendas.

Meanwhile, Coleman needed 17 minutes to get working lights on Wednesday night.

What gives?

What’s the deal here?

Look no further than the lapel of Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne’s jacket during the blackout game. It wasn’t the traditional ‘script A’, rather the pennant shaped logo of Yea Alabama, the Crimson Tide’s official NIL collective.

When asking what’s changed the most since the conceptual illustrations of this potential new facility went public, here’s your answer. The arms race is a two-front battle — one that now extends beyond the newest and finest facilities.

The last few weeks should be all the evidence needed to drive that point home.

Football programs with deep NIL resources have picked at the bones of Alabama’s post-Saban roster. Photos of Isaiah Bond in a Lamborghini on a visit to Austin before signing with Texas comes to mind. Ohio State’s so mad Michigan won a national title, it backed the Brinks truck right into Tuscaloosa to nab two of the best players in the last to recruiting classes — defensive back Caleb Downs and quarterback Julian Sayin.

Of course, other factors are in play in the aftermath of Saban’s retirement.

But it’s also no coincidence Byrne’s been wearing the Yea Alabama pin everywhere there’s a camera as the collective makes desperate pleas to build the war chest to fortify the roster.

That takes significant donations — dollars that traditionally would have been a no-brainer for the Coleman retirement fund.

That collection plate is being passed a second time and the priority has clearly been on the Jimmys and Joes over the land movers and backhoes.

This NIL environment has shifted and evolved quite a bit in the two years since the unnamed arena project officially rolled out. In fact, Yea Alabama launched a day short of the one-year anniversary of that trustees meeting as the fundraising world’s been turned on its head.

It’s also no secret the pockets in the state of Alabama don’t have quite the depth as with other peers on the competition field. The lack of Fortune 500 companies within the borders can’t be ignored in this race for donor dollars.

If anything, the window was missed to get this arena project into the construction phase the priorities shifted.

Byrne has cited rising construction and material costs as reasons for the delayed action. No doubt, inflation is a factor here.

Also true is the fact Baylor just opened a $212 million basketball arena that looks strikingly similar to the plans Alabama unveiled two years ago. The Big 12 school broke ground in May 2022 on Foster Pavilion whose court was named for the people who made a $7 million donation to the project. “Mark & Paula Hurd Floor” is tribute to Mark Hurd, the late former CEO of Oracle and his widow Paula, now dating Bill Gates.

So yeah, that’s what it takes to build a new arena these days.

Alabama certainly needs it, though the atmosphere in Coleman Coliseum on Wednesday overcame the structural deficiencies of its setting.

One day, the Jan. 24 visit from Auburn will be remembered as the night the lights went out at Coleman.

Eventually, they’ll go down for the last time.

Eventually.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.