Cal Legends Collective raises over $1.6 million for the Bears in the past month
Huge momentum for the California Golden Bears, with still plenty of time to donate.
Thanks to the Cal community for their hard work over the last few weeks in answering the call for donations fro the Bears. Thanks to your efforts, thanks to an array of donors of all types,the Cal Legends NIL Collective has fundraised $930,000 for football (93% to goal out of a million) and over $700,000 for men’s basketball (140%+ to a goal of half a million). And the outcomes have been tangible, with huge commitments via the transfer portal in both sports.
There is still time to donate for the spring drive. Despite exceeding its goals in Cal men’s basketball and coming close so far in football, the Bears still could use resourcing to try and put them over the top in the first year of the ACC. They also need to keep the war chest heavy for the coming season and get a jumpstart for any additional summer and fall needs. So here are the links to donate for the last few days of the spring drive.
Links are here to donate (and to share with others who would be interested in contributing as well).
Cal football is courting several high-level transfers. Justin Wilcox and crew have landed several potential contributors in the last month in Oklahoma CB Jasiah Wagoner, LSU safety Ryan Yaites, Wisconsin OLB T.J. Bollers, Michigan State OL Braden Miller, Youngstown State OLB Deamontae Diggs. If the Bears want to get all their targets, donating to Cal’s NIL collective and going beyond surpassing million dollar initial goal. You can donate here. Just $70,000 to go to hit $1 million!
Cal men’s basketball is looking for one more impact starter that even further cement the dramatic return of the Bears to national relevance. Mark Madsen had a dream weekend in landing Andrej Stojakovic, Rytis Petraitis, and Mady Sissoko to round out one of the best portal classes by any college basketball program. The last piece needed is one more playmaker who can complement this new talent. Whether it be guard or forward, playmakers will likely require additional commitments. You can donate here.
Cal women’s basketball is also needing resources to help capture the best possible impact players. With a great recruiter in Charmin Smith who has begun the turnaround with women’s hoops, the Bears are looking to rebuild their team. She needs funds to keep building on last year’s improvements. You can donate here.
We encourage you to donate to whichever one of these three programs you feel, whether it’s matching or whether it’s at the figure you feel most comfortable. We also encourage you to leave comments so we can show how invested the Write For California community is in our success. It’s now or never for Cal Athletics.
Go Bears!
Last line is the most important. Some folks are reluctant to jump into NIL because it seems like they’ll never be able to get out again. But that’s not how I am looking at it.
Because of Cal’s bad to mediocre performance in its revenue sports over the last several years, it almost found itself relegated out of the power conferences altogether. We literally got into the ACC by the skin of our teeth. And the realignment wheel is absolutely going to spin again in the very near term. It is up to the Cal community and our coaching staff to demonstrate that we have a serious athletic department that can actually compete at this level. We have squandered our opportunities and our advantages for far too long. So it is now or never for this program to succeed. Cal currently has a top 20 portal class for football and a top 10 one for men’s basketball. With still more room for improvement. That is far better than we’ve done in recruiting in any of our revenue sports for quite a long time. And it is largely thanks to NIL and the efforts of the Cal community.
I’m pushing all the chips on to the table for 2024 I can. And if we can, in fact, generate some buzz and excitement around this program, I am fully confident others will step in. But regardless Cal needs to show ESPN and Fox and everyone else that we are in this to win. This is how.
Can we get a collective 'Fuck Yeah'?