This to me has been so frustrating. Like all Cal fans, I'd like to hope we've been preparing for this scenario. But in absence of a crisis comms plan and good messaging, how do they expect fans to respond? More, what message does it send to the conferences we are now courting and the rest of the college athletics community? The fact that it took them 20 hours to release a statement that projected little more than mere "awareness" of UO and UW leaving is just bad PR work, full stop. There was at least a 50/50 scenario UO and UW were jumping and the conference would splinter going into late last week. In crisis comms planning you always have that response in your pocket ready to go. Anyways, I'm done complaining. I mean it this time.
Just watched the Wilcox interview on CalRivals. Wilcox is normally pretty relaxed and takes things as they come. He was agitated and distracted but tried to put on a good face about the conference realignment. I think he is pissed and is probably asking himself why the fuck he didn't take the Oregon HC job when he had the chance. CAL just can't seem to get the fuck out of their own way.
Yeah, saw it. And saw the interview w/ Woodson. F the press. Cal should instruct their players to say, "no comment". We need the lads focused on the season, their performance for transfer options at the end of year and their future aspirations for the League.
Now, if I were a player, I would tell the F'ing press, "I'm gunna ball out this year cuz I want to transfer to the B1G and fulfill my goal of going to the League. I'm a player and I'm gunna smack all these ex-PAC12 mofo's in the mouth this year."
If things remain status quo through mid-season, all our top players and some are gone. They gone. So, Cal football ain't anything in a matter of months, mate.
Our only hope is to have a great year in both football and hoops..and to pack Memorial and Haas to show that the fans do care. TV is still going to be sticky this year because of the Pac-12 network, but we have to make sure to tune into the games on the traditional network.
Wilcox should be stressing because this year matters in a way that no other has before.
Cal fans: please post on Facebook, Twitter, Insta (or whatever apps you like) to make sure all alumni are aware of what is happening and that they need to show up huge this year.
I'm of the mind to retain west coast football, however that happens. I think following the others to the Big-10 is the best avenue for that. It's just tremendously disappointing what has transpired. Fortunately, I'm already old, bitter, and full of regrets 🤣
Why do we even want a deal from B1G? How many of you contribute to an NIL? How many WFC writers contribute to an NIL? College sports have changed and I don't believe a majority of Cal fans are contributing to the change even at $1 for NIL. Bitch all you want but are you INVESTED in this paradigm of college sport. I think not.
College football is ruled by one league: SEC. It is boring and it's slow. I didn't even watch the national championship.
As a former athlete at Cal, I would not have wanted to travel to Rutgers or Maryland to play a sport while fulfilling my #1 OBLIGATION to my studies. Cal should figure out a way to get a league w/ primarily West coast universities and colleges even if that demotes football. Hell we haven't been close to success in football for years but several Olympic sports and rugby have kicked ass. Get behind them, support them and give them the $$$ you haven't given to date. But stop whining. Cal alumni, given its size, don't give shit.
If Cal was to join the MWC their olympic sports performance would go off a cliff. Students, coaches and administrators would leave immediately and recruits would stay away. Part of the reason for Cal's success in swimming (for example) is because they compete against the best schools being in the Pac-12.
If defending national champions Cal have to go from competing against Stanford and UCLA during the regular season to Fresno State they would no longer be competing for a national championship.
"Cal should figure out a way to get a league w/ primarily West coast universities and colleges even if that demotes football."
You didn't say "MWC" explicitly, but you described it to a T lol. I think it's hilarious that you say to give $$$ to our other sports, and demote football. Where do you think that money comes from?
Olympic sports, rugby don't succeed in spite of football. They succeed partially BECAUSE their sports are funded... through our football team being part of a P5 conference.
I believe the reason Cal would want a deal from a major conference is because of all the bills it has to pay to at least remain at status quo (all the teams and debt). Any deal with a lesser conference would mean not enough money to pay the bills that keep it at status quo.
What are tax payers for? The loan can/will be paid off one way or another. I don't really care how it is paid for. But I don't want the women's and men's tennis teams traveling to Maryland for the weekend to play tennis.
Mate, no one cares about the loan atm. So no, you do not have it correct.
Start thinking about the student-athlete first, then u may be correct.
Indeed I am thinking about the student athletes. If Cal can find a way to keep and pay for ALL the teams, and they can do it in a lesser conference, then I'm for it. I will keep purchasing season tickets if Cal ends up playing only MW opponents. If they can pull that off, then I think that would place Cal outside of the big-money ring of college football where regional flavor could hopefully remain. Albeit it would probably be with comparatively lesser talent, but I'd still support that product with my season tix purchase.
The direction toward big money that college football has taken in the last couple of decades and Pac-12 realignment in particular has made me think of vinyl records in the music industry. A format that died, but then was eventually resurrected to something that's sustainable and not really worried about growth.
There are approximately 800 college football teams in the US who are not playing the P5 big-money quasi-pro game that big time college football will/has become. To me, me this moment is all about whether Cal is going to get to play with the biggest dogs in something that no longer resembles traditional amateur competition or can they realistically eschew the big-time college football monstrosity, keep all of their teams, find and schedule opponents for those teams, and retain traditional and regional amateur college competition for their student athletes. I would welcome this.
But I also think I am fine either way that Cal goes, again, as long as they can keep all the teams and by doing so remain as a place where student athletes in all the sports Cal plays can showcase their talents. I think that competing in all of the sports that Cal competes in is a worthy endeavor for a flagship public university such as ours, but it's not cheap to do so.
We need to pay off our stadium debt and we want to save our nonrevenue sports. I don't think we can do either of those on a Mountain West budget. If it got to the point where the school needed a state bailout on the stadium debt, the state would undoubtedly insist that the nonrevenue sports be cut to the absolute minimum as a precondition.
State won't dare suggest something to threaten Title IX, remember this is California. Best to figure out how to pay off the debt and give out "participation trophies".
The Regents are really close to assuming teh CMS debt as we write. And yes, T9 is gonna be an issue, but it's just math. We may have to eliminate a bunch of men's sports to maintain compliance, but unless teh Regents want to continue to fund 30 sports, there is no other choice.
Really not seeing Cal getting a B1G offer anytime soon. They’ve made clear multiple times they’re not looking to get to 20 as yet…nothing has changed.
Christ and Knowlton not prioritizing winning has consequences. Where we’re really screwed though is that in this new NCAA landscape, academics are not nearly as important. If Cal can no longer count on the academic component to help make its case, then we’re seriously fuct.
Remember when, 40 years ago, we were seniors at Cal and we applied to investment banking firms? The wall in our living room was plastered with rejection letters.
Welp, our alma mater is now sitting in the arm chair staring at that wall.
The administration had 13 months to prepare for this moment. Apparently they were caught unaware and had no plans for the differing modalities of the situation.
This isn't Knowlton's fault. This has been built, piece by piece, over the last 70 years. It's cultural within the context of the campus administration and its reaction to the Ronnie Knox recruiting scandal. Chancellors at Cal have almost universally tolerated intercollegiate athletics, with certain exceptions. Practiced indifference, as it were.
As a community, Cal is wholly unprepared for this moment.
This is so short sighted. We should absolutely rebuild the Pac-12. We will be one of the marquee teams in the conference. We have four out of the original six members so we keep some of the history and continuity. And as one of the marquee teams we get to set the terms. MWC teams will jump at the chance to move up to a P5 conference so that opens up the possibility of doing unequal revenue share while we get our financial affairs in order.
And in the meantime, we can start contending for conference championships in the revenue sports and drive revenue through traditional means, ticket sales, donations, etc... If the competition level of the new Pac-12 isn't good enough for some of our Olympic sports, we make adjustments for them (I am sure some of the UO/UW/USC/UCLA programs would love to skip the trip out to Rutgers), apparently we already do non-conference alignments for a number of sports, so this wouldn't be unheard of.
Watching Cal football and basketball struggle through decades of mediocrity has been painful to watch. A lot of fans have tuned out, many for good. Begging the B1G for a minuscule revenue share is going to lead to more of the same. We have an opportunity to shape our own destiny. It might come with plenty of risk, but I would much rather take that risk than sign up for another decade or two of mediocrity. Some things are worth fighting for and keeping college football regional is one of those things. That is a hill that I would be proud for us to die on. And who knows, maybe after a decade or more of being Ohio States punching bag, UO and UW come crawling back. USC and UCLA are dead to me though, they can be the doormat of the B1G for eternity.
If the Big Ten (or more accurately Fox) was only willing to start at $30 million for Oregon and UW, there is absolutely no way they start at $25 million for Cal.
Why haven't Christ and Knowlton been taken to task for their complete failure to manage this matter?I want to know what they did do, didn't do, should have done, should not have done, the works for the last three years! Details! Details! Details! This hiding behind a wall of silence is total bullshit. Who is protecting them and why? I don't care if Christ is retiring in a few months or Knowlton's contract details are embarrassing to the university, CAN THEM BOTH RIGHT NOW!!! They have under performed if they have performed at all! They have severely damaged the university and its reputation and this should be sufficient grounds for dumping them at once. Retaining them would be a gigantic sign of pathetic weakness on the part of the university. They are inept total failures. Cal should never reward ineptitude or failure! Cal should be managed by the best and brightest minds on this planet, not these two idiots.
I'll bite. Christ's job is to manage a university with a multibillion dollar operating revenue. The athletic department (football and all other sports combined) probably represents about 3% of that budget. From that one could argue that from a financial perspective the athletic department is worth about 3% of Christ's attention. That being said, it's obviously a very media/perception-intensive concern. So maybe it rises to a level that could require 10% of her attention? And her bosses are the Regents.
TLDR: This shit's small potatoes to the people who would take Christ and Knowlton to task for it.
If what you say is true, Christ should never have been appointed for she was out of her element. She was not fit to run things. She needed to get out of the way. If she was overwhelmed, she should have been replaced. Others have succeeded where she has failed. If Knowlton was the one she selected to run the athletic dept, and whose contract she extended, well she selected the wrong man and kept the wrong man around. Screw percentages, neither of them served Cal athletics well, both of them failed, both of them should be canned. BTW, I suspect the athletic department was not Christ's only failure. Good riddance, the sooner the better.
I don't disagree. I see the athletic department as a really important part of the university's visibility in media. No other part of the university probably has more mentions in media/social media on as regular a basis. So if the University if trying to sell its brand, then my opinion is that they should do it through the channels that get the most eyeballs most regularly. It would be hard to argue that athletics is not that channel.
I'd like to see a chancellor who understands that and uses that. Then maybe, just maybe, this sleeping giant would stop sleeping and start gianting in front of all those eyeballs.
Any reliable sources reporting that the Big 10 is still exploring the possibility of adding Cal and Stanford after the Oregon and Washington additions? Totally agree that we have to take any deal they might offer at this point, but who’s to say they even extend an offer at all? Logically it would make sense to extend an offer at a bargain rate, but I feel like there would at least be some rumblings of such discussions if they were taking place.
Incompetence and mediocrity come at a price. It’s time for people to see that incompetent overpaid bureaucrats like Christ and Knowlton have caused significant and costly harm to Cal. They both need to be fired immediately (though it won’t happen). Christ is nice and perhaps well intentioned but as a professor of Victorian literature she lacks the skill set to run a multimillion dollar university. Her extension of Knowlton’s contract would be unforgivable if she realized the error in her ways, which does not seem to be the case.
At one time Cal stood for excellence in everything. Christ and Knowlton have made it clear that they satisfied with mediocre results in revenue sports. Time for them to go. And then Wilcox needs to be given one year to produce w winning record or be fired at the conclusion of the game where he reached 6 losses for the season.
The discourse around this news from both our many haters, as well us fans here and elsewhere (myself very much in the center) has been pretty depressing. Depressing cause we know all of the self-criticism and lack of faith in our leadership is warranted. But its depressing nonetheless if we don't also sprinkle in some modicum of hope. Everything that has needed to be said about poor leadership, a century of inertia and the cascade of mistakes and blunders that led us to this moment has been said, and there will be no shortage of opportunity for criticism and blame once the dust settles. It's beyond all of our control at this point, and CC, JK in concert with Stanford's leadership are the only ones that can save us now. So for our own mental health let's try to send some good energy back to them and ourselves, and try to begin to envision some hopeful scenarios for ourselves to at least get us through the next days.
Starting to wonder if, rather than the end, this is just a storm that Cal needs to weather on the way to a different arrangement as realizations like this begin to really sink in. It's only been a weekend, but it could be a dozen or more weeks until an eventual arrangement takes shape.
Yeah, when you think about it there are a lot of reasons why Cal needs to get itself back into a major conference and also why a number of other interested parties (the state of California, the Olympic team, etc.) would want to make it happen. Some arrangement will probably be made, albeit not as a good a one as we could have had with more proactive leadership.
I saw a scenario floated where the Mountain West votes to dissolve and then all join the remaining 4 to create a new PAC 16… avoids the penalty for leaving SDSU ran into . It then remains a power 5 and all that comes with it… thoughts?
Who wants to play Mountain West level football? It's the pigskin equivalent of AA baseball. Also, it would only reinforce the apathetic mindset of today's student body. Cal needs an adrenaline rush, not a ho hum mediocre settlement.
Step down from the Pac4 with Washington State one OSU in it?
You might want to review how strong MW teams have been in all sports over the last decade. They consistently advance teams farther into the NCAA BB tournament every year
The Bears are going to lose a lot to Boise, SDSU and Fresno.
The Average MW team today is probably stronger than the Pac4 at this moment. It's surprising that anybody here thinks it's going to be fun flying to Columbus or Ann Arbor to be trounced by an NFL grade team
Agree, but it's not a major league setting and environment. Cal would not be forced to rise to the occasion and would remain mired in minor's league football limbo forever
It would be something, though not a Power 5. MWC is a very plausible destination for us, but it's one of the least desired outcomes because it could mean the death of many of our non-revenue sports. Their just wouldn't be the $ to support those programs in the ways we have, and it would usher in a severe drought in charitable giving because of dissappointment and a general loss of what enthusiasm still exists.
If I read it correctly, MW teams earn about $4 million per year in TV rights. Let’s say adding the 4 leftovers increases that to $10 million (probably too high) Cal would still need to ax most of its athletic programs as $10 million wouldn’t come close to covering the expenses (forget about the debt, I’m just talking about operating expenses). So we would still need to cut most of our athletic programs and have left some second tier football and basketball. What’s the point? I agree with Avi, merging with the MW is a nonstarter.
You bring in the MWC/AAC teams on a partial share. That combined with the CALimony gets us in the ballpark of where we were with the old media deal.
And at that point, the PAC-12 is restored, CAL and Stanford are the marquee teams in the conference and we start rebuilding our revenue programs with easier shots at winning seasons and conference finals. As the revenue share evens out, we either make that up with ticket sales and donor support, or we start cutting programs. But the key thing here is we control our own destiny. Build the program or bust.
Going with B1G means we are just kicking the can down the road. Our partial share means we merely keep the program afloat, while all the other teams in the conference are using that money to build. And there is no guarantee that we won't end up as the ugly ducking in the next round of media negotiations/realignment.
And as a side note, if you want to put leverage on B1G to give us a fair share of the money, what better way to do it than to threaten to rebuild a competitive conference on the west coast, a market that they thought they had just locked up for themselves.
We may be stuck with something like that if we can't get an invite from one of the big leagues. We can sound the big leagues out and see which one will offer the best overall deal (most likely the B1G or Big 12) but ultimately we're going to have to take anything that would be even 5% better than what we would get from the Mountain West.
everything depends on teh contracts, but not likely to work. Most well written contracts assign rights to a specific party and thier successor. So if the dissolve teh MW and become the Pac16 teh next day, the lawsuit would be that teh Pac16 is the successor to the MW and holds all the GOR that the MW previously had. And TV still holds the original rights.
Regardless, I'm sure that Fox/CBS who have TV rights now woudl be willing to renegotiate & extend to add 4 more schools. How much they would up the ante is all that mattrers.
Well said.. the ineptitude of my Alma mater, being less prepared than ASU and UofA this week, and with no statements this weekend, is disheartening. Not all kids play football, but I want my kids to have the college experience of rooting for their school against powerhouses. 2003 ‘SC, Mohamed’s pick in the big game, payback vs Tennessee under the lights… it’s part of being Cal. We are the flagship of the UC system and need to be in the top tier of academics and athletics.
This seems unbelievably optimistic.
I agree. If we even get an offer from the Big 10 I think its gonna look much worse then Avinash suggests.
Meanwhile, the Cal PR group has been hard at work on an updated ad campaign.
You see: a place left smoldering, wrecked by failed incompetent leadership
You see: a proud tradition no more, as your conference compatriots scamper off to new homes and destinations
You see: your fellow students and alumni left shocked, saddened, outraged
What do you see?
UC: Berkeley
Wait. What? We have a PR group? (I always thought we had a couple of interns from Haas.)
I just thought we used the same old footage since 1999, handed down from chancellor to chancellor on an old VHS
you sure its not on Beta? hahaha
I considered it hahahah
Tungas like repetition.
This to me has been so frustrating. Like all Cal fans, I'd like to hope we've been preparing for this scenario. But in absence of a crisis comms plan and good messaging, how do they expect fans to respond? More, what message does it send to the conferences we are now courting and the rest of the college athletics community? The fact that it took them 20 hours to release a statement that projected little more than mere "awareness" of UO and UW leaving is just bad PR work, full stop. There was at least a 50/50 scenario UO and UW were jumping and the conference would splinter going into late last week. In crisis comms planning you always have that response in your pocket ready to go. Anyways, I'm done complaining. I mean it this time.
Just watched the Wilcox interview on CalRivals. Wilcox is normally pretty relaxed and takes things as they come. He was agitated and distracted but tried to put on a good face about the conference realignment. I think he is pissed and is probably asking himself why the fuck he didn't take the Oregon HC job when he had the chance. CAL just can't seem to get the fuck out of their own way.
Yeah, saw it. And saw the interview w/ Woodson. F the press. Cal should instruct their players to say, "no comment". We need the lads focused on the season, their performance for transfer options at the end of year and their future aspirations for the League.
Now, if I were a player, I would tell the F'ing press, "I'm gunna ball out this year cuz I want to transfer to the B1G and fulfill my goal of going to the League. I'm a player and I'm gunna smack all these ex-PAC12 mofo's in the mouth this year."
If things remain status quo through mid-season, all our top players and some are gone. They gone. So, Cal football ain't anything in a matter of months, mate.
Our only hope is to have a great year in both football and hoops..and to pack Memorial and Haas to show that the fans do care. TV is still going to be sticky this year because of the Pac-12 network, but we have to make sure to tune into the games on the traditional network.
Wilcox should be stressing because this year matters in a way that no other has before.
Cal fans: please post on Facebook, Twitter, Insta (or whatever apps you like) to make sure all alumni are aware of what is happening and that they need to show up huge this year.
I welcome his resignation look at his record...
I'm of the mind to retain west coast football, however that happens. I think following the others to the Big-10 is the best avenue for that. It's just tremendously disappointing what has transpired. Fortunately, I'm already old, bitter, and full of regrets 🤣
Why do we even want a deal from B1G? How many of you contribute to an NIL? How many WFC writers contribute to an NIL? College sports have changed and I don't believe a majority of Cal fans are contributing to the change even at $1 for NIL. Bitch all you want but are you INVESTED in this paradigm of college sport. I think not.
College football is ruled by one league: SEC. It is boring and it's slow. I didn't even watch the national championship.
As a former athlete at Cal, I would not have wanted to travel to Rutgers or Maryland to play a sport while fulfilling my #1 OBLIGATION to my studies. Cal should figure out a way to get a league w/ primarily West coast universities and colleges even if that demotes football. Hell we haven't been close to success in football for years but several Olympic sports and rugby have kicked ass. Get behind them, support them and give them the $$$ you haven't given to date. But stop whining. Cal alumni, given its size, don't give shit.
This is off-base on many levels.
If Cal was to join the MWC their olympic sports performance would go off a cliff. Students, coaches and administrators would leave immediately and recruits would stay away. Part of the reason for Cal's success in swimming (for example) is because they compete against the best schools being in the Pac-12.
If defending national champions Cal have to go from competing against Stanford and UCLA during the regular season to Fresno State they would no longer be competing for a national championship.
Where did I say we should join the MWC?
"Cal should figure out a way to get a league w/ primarily West coast universities and colleges even if that demotes football."
You didn't say "MWC" explicitly, but you described it to a T lol. I think it's hilarious that you say to give $$$ to our other sports, and demote football. Where do you think that money comes from?
Olympic sports, rugby don't succeed in spite of football. They succeed partially BECAUSE their sports are funded... through our football team being part of a P5 conference.
"Why do we even want a deal from B1G? "
I believe the reason Cal would want a deal from a major conference is because of all the bills it has to pay to at least remain at status quo (all the teams and debt). Any deal with a lesser conference would mean not enough money to pay the bills that keep it at status quo.
Do I have that correct?
What are tax payers for? The loan can/will be paid off one way or another. I don't really care how it is paid for. But I don't want the women's and men's tennis teams traveling to Maryland for the weekend to play tennis.
Mate, no one cares about the loan atm. So no, you do not have it correct.
Start thinking about the student-athlete first, then u may be correct.
Cal's endowment is almost $7 billion, how about they tap into that to pay their debts and not the tax payers or students.
Indeed I am thinking about the student athletes. If Cal can find a way to keep and pay for ALL the teams, and they can do it in a lesser conference, then I'm for it. I will keep purchasing season tickets if Cal ends up playing only MW opponents. If they can pull that off, then I think that would place Cal outside of the big-money ring of college football where regional flavor could hopefully remain. Albeit it would probably be with comparatively lesser talent, but I'd still support that product with my season tix purchase.
MW doesn't come close to your desire to pay off the debt, so I see we are in agreement.
The direction toward big money that college football has taken in the last couple of decades and Pac-12 realignment in particular has made me think of vinyl records in the music industry. A format that died, but then was eventually resurrected to something that's sustainable and not really worried about growth.
There are approximately 800 college football teams in the US who are not playing the P5 big-money quasi-pro game that big time college football will/has become. To me, me this moment is all about whether Cal is going to get to play with the biggest dogs in something that no longer resembles traditional amateur competition or can they realistically eschew the big-time college football monstrosity, keep all of their teams, find and schedule opponents for those teams, and retain traditional and regional amateur college competition for their student athletes. I would welcome this.
But I also think I am fine either way that Cal goes, again, as long as they can keep all the teams and by doing so remain as a place where student athletes in all the sports Cal plays can showcase their talents. I think that competing in all of the sports that Cal competes in is a worthy endeavor for a flagship public university such as ours, but it's not cheap to do so.
I concur, if this can be accomplished I'm in full agreement. I love the mix of education and athletics.
We need to pay off our stadium debt and we want to save our nonrevenue sports. I don't think we can do either of those on a Mountain West budget. If it got to the point where the school needed a state bailout on the stadium debt, the state would undoubtedly insist that the nonrevenue sports be cut to the absolute minimum as a precondition.
atm we aren't paying anything, hard stop.
I'm not and have not suggested MW.
State won't dare suggest something to threaten Title IX, remember this is California. Best to figure out how to pay off the debt and give out "participation trophies".
The Regents are really close to assuming teh CMS debt as we write. And yes, T9 is gonna be an issue, but it's just math. We may have to eliminate a bunch of men's sports to maintain compliance, but unless teh Regents want to continue to fund 30 sports, there is no other choice.
Really not seeing Cal getting a B1G offer anytime soon. They’ve made clear multiple times they’re not looking to get to 20 as yet…nothing has changed.
Christ and Knowlton not prioritizing winning has consequences. Where we’re really screwed though is that in this new NCAA landscape, academics are not nearly as important. If Cal can no longer count on the academic component to help make its case, then we’re seriously fuct.
Remember when, 40 years ago, we were seniors at Cal and we applied to investment banking firms? The wall in our living room was plastered with rejection letters.
Welp, our alma mater is now sitting in the arm chair staring at that wall.
The administration had 13 months to prepare for this moment. Apparently they were caught unaware and had no plans for the differing modalities of the situation.
Knowlton is an idiot, we've been saying that for 3+ years.
This isn't Knowlton's fault. This has been built, piece by piece, over the last 70 years. It's cultural within the context of the campus administration and its reaction to the Ronnie Knox recruiting scandal. Chancellors at Cal have almost universally tolerated intercollegiate athletics, with certain exceptions. Practiced indifference, as it were.
As a community, Cal is wholly unprepared for this moment.
I wasn't placing fault, I just stated a fact: Knowlton is an idiot.
BTW, he has had a seat at the table for the past 3+ years and not much has come of it other than the remodeling of his home in Colorado.
Sorry but I never knew that feeling. Plus all the hrs you have to work it comes out 30$ per hr and a good looking wife lol...
This is so short sighted. We should absolutely rebuild the Pac-12. We will be one of the marquee teams in the conference. We have four out of the original six members so we keep some of the history and continuity. And as one of the marquee teams we get to set the terms. MWC teams will jump at the chance to move up to a P5 conference so that opens up the possibility of doing unequal revenue share while we get our financial affairs in order.
And in the meantime, we can start contending for conference championships in the revenue sports and drive revenue through traditional means, ticket sales, donations, etc... If the competition level of the new Pac-12 isn't good enough for some of our Olympic sports, we make adjustments for them (I am sure some of the UO/UW/USC/UCLA programs would love to skip the trip out to Rutgers), apparently we already do non-conference alignments for a number of sports, so this wouldn't be unheard of.
Watching Cal football and basketball struggle through decades of mediocrity has been painful to watch. A lot of fans have tuned out, many for good. Begging the B1G for a minuscule revenue share is going to lead to more of the same. We have an opportunity to shape our own destiny. It might come with plenty of risk, but I would much rather take that risk than sign up for another decade or two of mediocrity. Some things are worth fighting for and keeping college football regional is one of those things. That is a hill that I would be proud for us to die on. And who knows, maybe after a decade or more of being Ohio States punching bag, UO and UW come crawling back. USC and UCLA are dead to me though, they can be the doormat of the B1G for eternity.
Conference realignment will continue. Being the boss of a rebuilt Pac12 conference won't mean much. If it is successful, we will lose more schools.
If the Big Ten (or more accurately Fox) was only willing to start at $30 million for Oregon and UW, there is absolutely no way they start at $25 million for Cal.
Maybe $26 million
30 MM is so small compared to the Apple deal!
Why haven't Christ and Knowlton been taken to task for their complete failure to manage this matter?I want to know what they did do, didn't do, should have done, should not have done, the works for the last three years! Details! Details! Details! This hiding behind a wall of silence is total bullshit. Who is protecting them and why? I don't care if Christ is retiring in a few months or Knowlton's contract details are embarrassing to the university, CAN THEM BOTH RIGHT NOW!!! They have under performed if they have performed at all! They have severely damaged the university and its reputation and this should be sufficient grounds for dumping them at once. Retaining them would be a gigantic sign of pathetic weakness on the part of the university. They are inept total failures. Cal should never reward ineptitude or failure! Cal should be managed by the best and brightest minds on this planet, not these two idiots.
I'll bite. Christ's job is to manage a university with a multibillion dollar operating revenue. The athletic department (football and all other sports combined) probably represents about 3% of that budget. From that one could argue that from a financial perspective the athletic department is worth about 3% of Christ's attention. That being said, it's obviously a very media/perception-intensive concern. So maybe it rises to a level that could require 10% of her attention? And her bosses are the Regents.
TLDR: This shit's small potatoes to the people who would take Christ and Knowlton to task for it.
That is what the Furd is also thinking!
If what you say is true, Christ should never have been appointed for she was out of her element. She was not fit to run things. She needed to get out of the way. If she was overwhelmed, she should have been replaced. Others have succeeded where she has failed. If Knowlton was the one she selected to run the athletic dept, and whose contract she extended, well she selected the wrong man and kept the wrong man around. Screw percentages, neither of them served Cal athletics well, both of them failed, both of them should be canned. BTW, I suspect the athletic department was not Christ's only failure. Good riddance, the sooner the better.
I don't disagree. I see the athletic department as a really important part of the university's visibility in media. No other part of the university probably has more mentions in media/social media on as regular a basis. So if the University if trying to sell its brand, then my opinion is that they should do it through the channels that get the most eyeballs most regularly. It would be hard to argue that athletics is not that channel.
I'd like to see a chancellor who understands that and uses that. Then maybe, just maybe, this sleeping giant would stop sleeping and start gianting in front of all those eyeballs.
Any reliable sources reporting that the Big 10 is still exploring the possibility of adding Cal and Stanford after the Oregon and Washington additions? Totally agree that we have to take any deal they might offer at this point, but who’s to say they even extend an offer at all? Logically it would make sense to extend an offer at a bargain rate, but I feel like there would at least be some rumblings of such discussions if they were taking place.
Incompetence and mediocrity come at a price. It’s time for people to see that incompetent overpaid bureaucrats like Christ and Knowlton have caused significant and costly harm to Cal. They both need to be fired immediately (though it won’t happen). Christ is nice and perhaps well intentioned but as a professor of Victorian literature she lacks the skill set to run a multimillion dollar university. Her extension of Knowlton’s contract would be unforgivable if she realized the error in her ways, which does not seem to be the case.
At one time Cal stood for excellence in everything. Christ and Knowlton have made it clear that they satisfied with mediocre results in revenue sports. Time for them to go. And then Wilcox needs to be given one year to produce w winning record or be fired at the conclusion of the game where he reached 6 losses for the season.
I think you mean multi-BILLION dollar university
Is Hal Mumme available?
The discourse around this news from both our many haters, as well us fans here and elsewhere (myself very much in the center) has been pretty depressing. Depressing cause we know all of the self-criticism and lack of faith in our leadership is warranted. But its depressing nonetheless if we don't also sprinkle in some modicum of hope. Everything that has needed to be said about poor leadership, a century of inertia and the cascade of mistakes and blunders that led us to this moment has been said, and there will be no shortage of opportunity for criticism and blame once the dust settles. It's beyond all of our control at this point, and CC, JK in concert with Stanford's leadership are the only ones that can save us now. So for our own mental health let's try to send some good energy back to them and ourselves, and try to begin to envision some hopeful scenarios for ourselves to at least get us through the next days.
Perspective from Olympic sports. Is there any rich person who care about Team USA?
https://www.si.com/college/2023/08/06/potential-power-five-exclusion-stanford-cal-team-usa-olympics
Thanks for that. A much-needed perspective.
Starting to wonder if, rather than the end, this is just a storm that Cal needs to weather on the way to a different arrangement as realizations like this begin to really sink in. It's only been a weekend, but it could be a dozen or more weeks until an eventual arrangement takes shape.
Yeah, when you think about it there are a lot of reasons why Cal needs to get itself back into a major conference and also why a number of other interested parties (the state of California, the Olympic team, etc.) would want to make it happen. Some arrangement will probably be made, albeit not as a good a one as we could have had with more proactive leadership.
I saw a scenario floated where the Mountain West votes to dissolve and then all join the remaining 4 to create a new PAC 16… avoids the penalty for leaving SDSU ran into . It then remains a power 5 and all that comes with it… thoughts?
Who wants to play Mountain West level football? It's the pigskin equivalent of AA baseball. Also, it would only reinforce the apathetic mindset of today's student body. Cal needs an adrenaline rush, not a ho hum mediocre settlement.
Im sure the Mountain West would love that, they would functionally take over the conference with a title bump to boot.
Four Pac team’s remaining would be better off trying to poach the best non Power 5 teams from other conferences.
Yeah Mountain West has a few ok teams but man it is quite a step down.
Hat tip to the Big XII which seemed to be toast with OU and Texas leaving, but now has eaten our lunch
Step down from the Pac4 with Washington State one OSU in it?
You might want to review how strong MW teams have been in all sports over the last decade. They consistently advance teams farther into the NCAA BB tournament every year
Have you SEEN the head2head results?
There are some mountain west teams we might not be able to beat!
The head 2 head results pretty much prove that.
The Bears are going to lose a lot to Boise, SDSU and Fresno.
The Average MW team today is probably stronger than the Pac4 at this moment. It's surprising that anybody here thinks it's going to be fun flying to Columbus or Ann Arbor to be trounced by an NFL grade team
Agree, but it's not a major league setting and environment. Cal would not be forced to rise to the occasion and would remain mired in minor's league football limbo forever
It would be something, though not a Power 5. MWC is a very plausible destination for us, but it's one of the least desired outcomes because it could mean the death of many of our non-revenue sports. Their just wouldn't be the $ to support those programs in the ways we have, and it would usher in a severe drought in charitable giving because of dissappointment and a general loss of what enthusiasm still exists.
If I read it correctly, MW teams earn about $4 million per year in TV rights. Let’s say adding the 4 leftovers increases that to $10 million (probably too high) Cal would still need to ax most of its athletic programs as $10 million wouldn’t come close to covering the expenses (forget about the debt, I’m just talking about operating expenses). So we would still need to cut most of our athletic programs and have left some second tier football and basketball. What’s the point? I agree with Avi, merging with the MW is a nonstarter.
You bring in the MWC/AAC teams on a partial share. That combined with the CALimony gets us in the ballpark of where we were with the old media deal.
And at that point, the PAC-12 is restored, CAL and Stanford are the marquee teams in the conference and we start rebuilding our revenue programs with easier shots at winning seasons and conference finals. As the revenue share evens out, we either make that up with ticket sales and donor support, or we start cutting programs. But the key thing here is we control our own destiny. Build the program or bust.
Going with B1G means we are just kicking the can down the road. Our partial share means we merely keep the program afloat, while all the other teams in the conference are using that money to build. And there is no guarantee that we won't end up as the ugly ducking in the next round of media negotiations/realignment.
And as a side note, if you want to put leverage on B1G to give us a fair share of the money, what better way to do it than to threaten to rebuild a competitive conference on the west coast, a market that they thought they had just locked up for themselves.
We may be stuck with something like that if we can't get an invite from one of the big leagues. We can sound the big leagues out and see which one will offer the best overall deal (most likely the B1G or Big 12) but ultimately we're going to have to take anything that would be even 5% better than what we would get from the Mountain West.
everything depends on teh contracts, but not likely to work. Most well written contracts assign rights to a specific party and thier successor. So if the dissolve teh MW and become the Pac16 teh next day, the lawsuit would be that teh Pac16 is the successor to the MW and holds all the GOR that the MW previously had. And TV still holds the original rights.
Regardless, I'm sure that Fox/CBS who have TV rights now woudl be willing to renegotiate & extend to add 4 more schools. How much they would up the ante is all that mattrers.
Well said.. the ineptitude of my Alma mater, being less prepared than ASU and UofA this week, and with no statements this weekend, is disheartening. Not all kids play football, but I want my kids to have the college experience of rooting for their school against powerhouses. 2003 ‘SC, Mohamed’s pick in the big game, payback vs Tennessee under the lights… it’s part of being Cal. We are the flagship of the UC system and need to be in the top tier of academics and athletics.