129 Comments

If this doesn't end Cal's half-assed support of football, I don't know what does. As they say, nothing concentrates the mind like an impending execution. But it doesn't end there. Even if the Big10 pick us up, BELIEVE ME when I say that they'll start culling the low performers from their leagues at the next media rights negotiation. That means Cal needs to cut some Olympic programs and make them club sports, clear its stadium debt, and seriously do whatever it takes to be at the forefront of NIL and other opportunities. That requires new thinking and a strategic plan other than to wear Joe Roth unis against the LA schools.

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Jul 1, 2022·edited Jul 1, 2022

Great piece Avi. You only have to look at that new conference map and see there are major holes to fill. Also, re:our market. There are tons of Big 10 alums here in the Bay Area. This whole thing seems so irrational and impractical, and yet joining them is really the only option for our survival.

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This is nothing but a pipe dream. The Big 10 told Oregon and Washington no today. We're waaaaaaaay below them in desirability.

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Cal has issued a statement neither confirming or denying that we are remaining in the pac 12 signed by both Christ and Knowlton.

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Hopefully this lights a fire under the administration but I doubt it. They have hemmed and hawed for years, choosing mediocrity or inaction over boldness. Would argue this is also why UCLA surpassed us in athletics all those years ago …

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Jul 2, 2022·edited Jul 2, 2022

Cal can repurpose the stadium as a safe space for protests from the undergrads. UCLA not gonna pay for that debt lmao

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It's like schools can now enter the transfer portal and get NIL money.

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Let's see, I'm a 3* recruit and Cal wants me to get on a plane 4 - 5 times per year to travel 6 - 8 hours ~ one way ~ to play a football game. No thanks. Perhaps to play a tennis match? Again, no thanks. I don't see how this is good for the student-athlete.

Cal should join the MWC and save their student-athletes from too much travel to different time zones.

Again the almighty $$$ was the only consideration here.

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Cal’s AD has wasted too much money on non-revenue sports over the past 20 years and has left the only two sports that matter, football and men’s basketball, to wither on the vine. They really should have cut a dozen sports when it was proposed a decade ago. Now all that AD bloat is going to drag Cal to the MWC, or worse something like D3 Ivy where there are no athletic scholarships.

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As an Illinois grad, would love to see both Cal and Stanford join the B1G. Check out the Big 10 Academic Alliance (BTAA, formerly the CIC). It’s the way the B1G schools + the University of Chicago collaborate. Also, just an FYI that Purdue is located in West Lafayette, IN, not Purdue, IN. Hopefully you all will find that out first hand after joining the Big 10!

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Great article, but please explain the fee deadline. Why would Bruins and Trojans not have to pay the Pac## an exit fee? And why would Cal (and Furd) have to pay a fee should they follow?

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Disagree. Cal is an also-ran in the Pac 12, systemically and structurally uncompetitive, not having won it's own conference outright in over 50 years with no end in sight. They will be patsies in the Big 10. This is an opportunity for Cal to realign itself with programs with whom they are on similar footing. I don't give a crap about being in a big time conference only to be drubbed year after year. I would much prefer being competitive and having an actual chance of winning the conference someday. Cal is 12-48 and 18-43 vs USC and UCLA respectively since the 1960s. Good riddance USC and UCLA

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Jul 2, 2022·edited Jul 2, 2022

The greed will eventually implode the system. Even with two 'Super Conferences' there will only be so many teams in the upper tiers. Kids want to play for a winner and a contender, even if its not in a power conference. And, kids who don't get recruited to winners in the new Super 2 will choose a winner in a lesser conference that has a chance to get to the playoffs over a middling or poor team in a super conference. I give you Clemson as an example.

The fact is that the PAC12 and ACC were very shortsighted when they would not agree to a 12 team national championship playoff with 6 guaranteed spots. It cost them big bucks and as a result USC and UCLA said fuck you, we are worth more money elsewhere. Now we have no guarantees and our revenues will drop with UCLA and USC leaving the PAC12.

There are a couple of things we can do: Schedule tougher non-conference opponents for big TV games, especially late in the season when it means something. Cut our PAC 12 schedule from 9 games against conference opponents to 8, just like the SEC does. That 9th game means half of the PAC 12 teams scheduled to play lose and that means one more loss on their records at the end of the season which destroys chances for so many of our teams to be eligible for a better bowl game or the playoffs. It's just fucking stupid, if you are trying to balance the game with making money.

Lastly, and I will say this until I die, we need to stop playing night games in the PAC12. Early kickoffs no earlier than noon PST and late kickoffs no later than 4:30. If people have to choose between games, so be it. But at least people in the midwest and east who are PAC 12 fans will watch our games...and we might even pick up some new fans. And, no away games in the midwest or east that start before 1:00 pm PST. Period! In our lust for dollars we too often agree to noon games in the east. That means our kids must get up at 5:00 am PST and game time is 9:00 am PST. I can tell you its a huge disadvantage and only a fool would submit to that kind of scheduling. Better to say no and get a team that will meet our schedule. W's mean so much in todays game; why fuck ourselves.

With that I say sayonara to USC and UCLA. Their fans will be unhappy with the decision to leave the PAC12 in about 3 years when neither of those teams is top tier in the Big Ten and neither team plays in any major bowl games and they are middling conference teams. Watch how fast the LA market drops ff when neither of those teams perform at the top level.

I say keep the PAC 12 together, sign up teams like SDSU, Fresno State, Boise State and others. Our top teams will still get national recognition, just like Clemson in the ACC. Bowl games will augment our revenues. It will hurt in the short run, but I think in the long run we'll be fine and the bigger conferences will hurt themselves as they have to spread money around to more teams, the vast majority of which will see diminishing TV ratings as their W's diminish.

If it's just about big television markets, then Stanfurd and CAL should have no problem getting invites to the super conferences, if its about adding big TV markets to the PAC12, we are already too late.

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They’re not joining the Big 10.

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The Regents angle is overblown and won’t happen.

ND is the key here and Cal better hope ND says no to the Big10. If ND says yes, Big10 will grab Stanford/UW/Oregon to round out to 20 teams and Cal well get left behind. If ND says no, our chances increase that we are the 4th invite.

I think the Big10 would like to have the Bay Area/Sacramento market but would prefer just one of the two teams in that market and that would more than likely be Stanford with ND.

Cal is basically viewed as the OSU/WSU to stanford/ucla.

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Ok so Cal to the B1G is my current dream as I would love to show all of you around Madison when they play the Badgers.

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