Alabama’s athletics department just released their newest financial numbers earlier today, and the good news is that they’ve finally caught a break after a few rough years. The word is, for the 2024–25 fiscal year, the school is reporting a $33 million surplus. Mind you, this is a big-time win compared to the $28 million and $12 million losses they had in the two years over the last 2 years. All thanks to Kalen DeBoer and Alabama football.

The biggest reason for this “profit” is actually a bit of a clever accounting move. The university gave the athletics department a one-time boost of about $27 million to get ready for the “House settlement.” This new rule will eventually let schools share revenue with players. Because that money was counted as income this year, but the actual payments to players won’t start until next season. It makes the current budget look way more flush than it actually is in the long run.

The department also managed to slash its overall spending by about $28 million, largely because the chaos of changing football coaches is finally over.
Last year was super expensive because they were essentially paying for two coaching staffs at the same time while moving from Nick Saban to Kalen DeBoer. This year, football coaching costs dropped from $47 million down to $25 million. This alone accounts for most of the money they saved across their entire athletics department.

When you look at the breakdown of the 21 different sports teams, it’s clear that football is still the powerhouse paying for everyone else’s lunch. The football team brought in nearly $148 million and walked away with a $65 million profit. That’s massive respite compared to what happened in the last two years. Men’s basketball also had a solid year with a $9 million profit. But almost every other sport, including baseball and women’s basketball actually operated at a loss.

Even though things look great right now, the school warned that this surplus won’t last forever. Next year, those big settlement costs will start kicking in. And Alabama will have to share over $20 million a year with its athlete. For now, though, the Tide’s bank account is riding a high wave thanks to football being a powerhouse and some smart planning for the future.

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However, the big question is would that suffice their SEC edge loss?

Alabama fails to make it into the top four pound-for-pound recruiting rankings in the SEC

Alabama and Kalen DeBoer are still trying to recover after that Rose Bowl loss. As they looked ahead to 2026, they hoped for a fresh start. However, recruiting news brought more challenges. Four SEC rivals, LSU, Texas, Texas A&M, and Florida, did better than Alabama in both high school recruiting and the transfer portal.

According to On3 Sports, only six teams in the country signed both a top-15 high school recruiting class and a top-15 transfer class in 2026. Those teams included LSU, Texas, Texas A&M, Florida, Notre Dame, and Miami. Alabama did not make that list because its transfer portal class was not ranked in the top 15. Meanwhile, teams like Texas A&M and LSU ranked in the top five for transfer players.

Even though Alabama struggled in the transfer portal, it’s school recruiting is good as anybody in the country. The Roll Tide’s ranked No. 6 in the 2026 recruiting rankings with 26 commits.

That is better than many of their SEC rivals. So, the main issue for Alabama is not high school recruiting, but maybe bringing in experienced players from the transfer portal.

One reason for the transfer portal struggles could be the team’s recent performance. In DeBoer’s first year, Alabama finished 9-4 and missed the Playoff. Although they improved, the early struggles may have made some transfer players unsure about Bama end of the day.