Alabama athletics plans to add 40 scholarships across all of its sports following the House vs. NCAA settlement’s presumed approval later this year. However, Greg Byrne made clear during a Fox News podcast appearance on Monday that he doesn’t think the Crimson Tide will be in the same zip code as some of the schools fans would consider peers, including Texas.

“Chris Del Conte is one of my best friends, the AD at Texas” Byrne said on the Will Cain Show. “They’re a bit of an outlier in terms of how they’re managing the scholarship number because they have the financial flexibility to do that. I’m Alabama, which people think we’re flush. We don’t have that same flexibility, OK?

“We’ve had some challenging conversations with some of our coaches in saying,’ You’re gonna have this number of scholarships to work with. There will be schools that have more than you do.‘”

Texas announced in February that it plans to add around 200 scholarships across its sports. Elsewhere in the SEC, Georgia plans to put an additional 100 athletes on scholarship.

The House settlement would eliminate scholarship limits, in favor of roster limits, eliminating walk-ons. While the NCAA will limit football rosters to 105 players, the SEC announced it will limit its teams even further, down to 85, which was the previous scholarship limit.

“As much as sometimes people think we have an unlimited supply of money, there are limited resources,” Byrne said. “And so we’re gonna have to make decisions on what takes place.”

Byrne also said he was concerned about some athletic programs disappearing after the house settlement goes through. The settlement would allow revenue sharing with players for the first time.

“And I’m at Alabama, and we’re committed to have as many sports as we can,” Byrne said. “But at some point, you’ve already seen some schools– St. Francis, I believe I’m saying the university right– Just went from Division I to Division III the other day. I know Loyola Marymount, which again, isn’t maybe the same brand as some others, but still a Division I school, they just cut a number of sports.

“It will be interesting to see, if in fact the House settlement does go through, some of the financial decisions that people are going to have to make. And I’m at Alabama, again, we’re having to make some tough financial decisions in what we do on a daily basis to support our young people.”

Byrne said Alabama spends around $195,000 per year on each of its scholarship athletes.

Alabama athletics brought in $234.8 million in Fiscal Year 2024, but spent $262.8 million, according to its latest NCAA revenues and expenses report, obtained by AL.com via an open records request. That’s more revenue than at least 10 other SEC schools, though Texas and Georgia are among those with more, with the Longhorns reporting $331.9 million in revenue and the Bulldogs bringing in $241.8.