It's wild that our AD office doesn't have any prepared statements or a plan B when over a year ago this was the predicted result of the PAC12 (four corners to B12, OW to B1G)
The admin has had its head stuck in the sand since Tedford’s day (if not since the 60s when they couldn’t figure out how to maintain the official branding as California across everything).
It's certain that Wilcox has 1x1s with Knowlton, but wondering if Knowlton also has a large group meeting with all of his HCs across the department? Would love to be a fly on the wall in THAT meeting. They've all gotta be absolutely pissed off right now.
Regarding the discussing litigation piece… There's a "just a guy with connections" account on Twitter that stated "There are also fears around certain studios that a lawsuit could emerge. If that happens said studios would like to quietly find a P5 home for the remaining Pac4" (https://twitter.com/MHver3/status/1688731016691687424). This entire thing has been driven by chicanery by two major media corporations that control virtually the entire college football landscape, and they used their competitive power to kneecap a potentially-competitive rival network situation (Apple streaming) while leaving 4 universities in ridiculous levels of limbo… And now don't seem very interested in finding more cash to bail us out. I'm guessing there are some lawyers at-least-looking-into this
Not a lawyer but I cannot fathom how there are not damages here. They are putting many public institutions in financial jeopardy so that they can cash in.
So you think the Regents and the tax payors of the state of CA are ok with absorbing that debt? It sure makes a lot of people who were involved with the project, look financially incompetent. I'm not a fan paying more state taxes! Simple!
The Regents became partly responsible when they let the Southern Branch bolt. And if no one thought about the worst-case scenario, that's on them. If they never discussed teh possible default on the Stadium debt then they truly are just political hacks appointed by the Gov.
It's hard to envision a scenario in which it wouldn't. But I expect that will also be the case for the NW and LA schools as well. There is all of a sudden less incentive for west coast athletes to stay coastal.
Not just that if Cal can’t get into a different conference how are they going to schedule games? When the Big Ten and SEC and big 12 eventually move to 20 teams and yes eventually they will move to 20 teams they will no longer play nonconference games. There’s no reason for them to play nonconference games because they will have enough opponents in their league. So who is Cal going to schedule outside of Stanford,Notre Dame, Oregon State and Washington state that leaves them with seven more games they need to complete their schedule.
Hard not to mourn the state of our program. Had any one of 15 missteps not been made the pac is still alive right now, and had our programs been in an even slightly better state we’re not the ones left out of realignment.
We may not be the most rabid fanbase, but it wasn’t that long ago that Haas pavilion was regularly packed and booming with Cobbs, Tyrone Wallace then Rabb and JB. And I still remember Cal FB beating Texas at home with Davis Webb. None of those teams were necessarily top notch, but even then we showed up and I doubt we would be in the position we’re in now. How I miss those days.
The days of a slow rebuilding process and player development are gone. It's a win now or bust culture. Madsen gets it. Fox and, perhaps, Wilcox whiffed. I am cutting Wilcox some slack though because he had inertia but got knee-capped. Nevertheless, the AD can't afford to be so patient. Now we are paying the price.
Also Cal fans deserve some blame. I heard a lot of you make excuses about voting with your wallets and other BS. Colorado was winless and sold out the stadium for a white out against Cal last year. Winning is great but Cal football fandom was never entirely about just winning. Disappointed in the AD, chancellor, and all the alumni for being fairweather b*tches.
What about the big financial gorilla (stadium retrofit project) in the corner?..."The roughly $18 million interest-only annual payments on the debt consumes 20% of Cal's athletics budget and 15% of the campus structural deficit; principal repayment begins in 2032 when the annual debt payment will rise to about $26 million per year, about $28 million in 2033, about $30 million per year for 2034–2038"
Not sure of your question, Byron. But the debt is simple: if Cal does not get an invite to join a Power 4 conference, the Regents/State taxpayer are on the hook for the debt. (as well as all of the existing coaches and AD salaries)
State doesn't have a choice. The Regents authorized teh long term bonds with the expectation that the Athletic Dept woudl make the payments. But if we drop to mid-major status, the AD won't even be able to pay Wilcox' contract much less any one else's, or the stadium debt.
my guess is he is more privy to certain conversations taking place. In general, the idea of universities and media companies jumping at the sight of cash seems to be genesis of it
There's a lot of finger pointing going on in the comments. My advice: read The Athletic article on the the realignment. We never had a good deal to start with. xhttps://theathletic.com/4752583/2023/08/05/pac12-apple-tv-deal-college-football-realignment/
The problem is 60% of the USA population is east of the Mississippi and those folks are going to be watching PAC12 games at Midnight. That means less eyeballs and that’s why they can’t get a great TV deal.
Exactly, This is on the Presidents as they bought Larry's snake oil. But tbf, it was an easy sale. Just tell the President's the magic words: well show the women's sports that espn will not.
Hopefully Fredrick Wiseman is recording footage for At Cal Athletics, another 20-hr ethnography style documentary, but specifically about the university's handling of realignment.
Does anybody know if the Regents meeting tomorrow means they are discussing something Cal has been offered? Or discussing who to reach out to? What are they discussing?
One thing I think is that all this is about a relatively small amount of money. Poor athletes at West coast schools are now going to have to live on planes and play out of their time zones for a few million bucks? That's peanuts to the State of CA.
I would assume that it will have everything to do with Cal's present plight: current state, offers, options, etc. and hopefully some special guests that are closer to the situation (i.e. Christ and hopefully, Knowlton).
Hard to tell how much meat there is with the potential ACC invite now brewing. When the PAC had 10 teams, there was an interesting possibility of forming a bi-coastal superconference with them. Now, feels like the cons outweigh the pros (depending on if there is a Big10, Big 12, etc possibility still down the road)..
It's probably more of a CYA meeting: if Cal has to partner/join the Mountain West or go Indy, how much of a financial hit will we the Regents (aka taxpayers) take? What are the other options?
That's what I'm wondering. If this is just a "What the hell is going on?" meeting, then who cares. If they are meeting because an offer is on the table or an idea, then that is interesting.
They don’t have an offer, their only hope is to pressure the California university system to step in and stop UCLA from going to the Big 10 unless Cal goes too.
Indeed, a relatively small amount of money at the Regent level, but the situation of student athletes, and especially the optics on this are probably concerning for UC.
Cal was ready to sign off on the Grant of Rights, but other conference members had different plans. The Board of Regents now has to figure out the athletic department’s next steps
It's wild that our AD office doesn't have any prepared statements or a plan B when over a year ago this was the predicted result of the PAC12 (four corners to B12, OW to B1G)
The admin has had its head stuck in the sand since Tedford’s day (if not since the 60s when they couldn’t figure out how to maintain the official branding as California across everything).
It's certain that Wilcox has 1x1s with Knowlton, but wondering if Knowlton also has a large group meeting with all of his HCs across the department? Would love to be a fly on the wall in THAT meeting. They've all gotta be absolutely pissed off right now.
for due diligence sake he's had to have
Regarding the discussing litigation piece… There's a "just a guy with connections" account on Twitter that stated "There are also fears around certain studios that a lawsuit could emerge. If that happens said studios would like to quietly find a P5 home for the remaining Pac4" (https://twitter.com/MHver3/status/1688731016691687424). This entire thing has been driven by chicanery by two major media corporations that control virtually the entire college football landscape, and they used their competitive power to kneecap a potentially-competitive rival network situation (Apple streaming) while leaving 4 universities in ridiculous levels of limbo… And now don't seem very interested in finding more cash to bail us out. I'm guessing there are some lawyers at-least-looking-into this
Not a lawyer but I cannot fathom how there are not damages here. They are putting many public institutions in financial jeopardy so that they can cash in.
So you think the Regents and the tax payors of the state of CA are ok with absorbing that debt? It sure makes a lot of people who were involved with the project, look financially incompetent. I'm not a fan paying more state taxes! Simple!
maybe they need financial literacy courses before we do
The Regents became partly responsible when they let the Southern Branch bolt. And if no one thought about the worst-case scenario, that's on them. If they never discussed teh possible default on the Stadium debt then they truly are just political hacks appointed by the Gov.
Does this open the de-commitment flood gates?
It's hard to envision a scenario in which it wouldn't. But I expect that will also be the case for the NW and LA schools as well. There is all of a sudden less incentive for west coast athletes to stay coastal.
Not just that if Cal can’t get into a different conference how are they going to schedule games? When the Big Ten and SEC and big 12 eventually move to 20 teams and yes eventually they will move to 20 teams they will no longer play nonconference games. There’s no reason for them to play nonconference games because they will have enough opponents in their league. So who is Cal going to schedule outside of Stanford,Notre Dame, Oregon State and Washington state that leaves them with seven more games they need to complete their schedule.
Big 10 already proposing a 10 game season. Quality OOC about to become a casualty of the realignment wars
Hard not to mourn the state of our program. Had any one of 15 missteps not been made the pac is still alive right now, and had our programs been in an even slightly better state we’re not the ones left out of realignment.
We may not be the most rabid fanbase, but it wasn’t that long ago that Haas pavilion was regularly packed and booming with Cobbs, Tyrone Wallace then Rabb and JB. And I still remember Cal FB beating Texas at home with Davis Webb. None of those teams were necessarily top notch, but even then we showed up and I doubt we would be in the position we’re in now. How I miss those days.
And don't forget Tennessee visiting for a night game in Memorial. Even the tree sitters couldn't ruin teh night.
And guys like Aaron Rodgers and Marshawn Lynch doing amazing things on the field.
''This is the chart that explains projected TV rights distributions by league''
https://twitter.com/UofLSheriff50/status/1686926301993529344
Article from SwimSwam
Why Conference Realignment Might Be a Blessing in Disguise (Except for Cal and Stanford)
https://swimswam.com/why-conference-realignment-might-be-a-blessing-in-disguise-except-for-cal-and-stanford/
From that chart, we should join SEC
Anything but the MWC
The days of a slow rebuilding process and player development are gone. It's a win now or bust culture. Madsen gets it. Fox and, perhaps, Wilcox whiffed. I am cutting Wilcox some slack though because he had inertia but got knee-capped. Nevertheless, the AD can't afford to be so patient. Now we are paying the price.
Also Cal fans deserve some blame. I heard a lot of you make excuses about voting with your wallets and other BS. Colorado was winless and sold out the stadium for a white out against Cal last year. Winning is great but Cal football fandom was never entirely about just winning. Disappointed in the AD, chancellor, and all the alumni for being fairweather b*tches.
What about the big financial gorilla (stadium retrofit project) in the corner?..."The roughly $18 million interest-only annual payments on the debt consumes 20% of Cal's athletics budget and 15% of the campus structural deficit; principal repayment begins in 2032 when the annual debt payment will rise to about $26 million per year, about $28 million in 2033, about $30 million per year for 2034–2038"
Not sure of your question, Byron. But the debt is simple: if Cal does not get an invite to join a Power 4 conference, the Regents/State taxpayer are on the hook for the debt. (as well as all of the existing coaches and AD salaries)
If state tax can cover the debt, that will be amazing.
State doesn't have a choice. The Regents authorized teh long term bonds with the expectation that the Athletic Dept woudl make the payments. But if we drop to mid-major status, the AD won't even be able to pay Wilcox' contract much less any one else's, or the stadium debt.
Wilcox said, "From what I know, it didn’t really need to come to this"
Does anyone know specifically what he's talking about here?
my guess is he is more privy to certain conversations taking place. In general, the idea of universities and media companies jumping at the sight of cash seems to be genesis of it
There's a lot of finger pointing going on in the comments. My advice: read The Athletic article on the the realignment. We never had a good deal to start with. xhttps://theathletic.com/4752583/2023/08/05/pac12-apple-tv-deal-college-football-realignment/
The problem is 60% of the USA population is east of the Mississippi and those folks are going to be watching PAC12 games at Midnight. That means less eyeballs and that’s why they can’t get a great TV deal.
That was because of Larry Scott.
Larry Scott not getting DirecTV to sign on was a crime
He sure deserves blame but there’s a collective blame to go around with arrogance of university Presidents who thought the PAC 12 was invincible.
Exactly, This is on the Presidents as they bought Larry's snake oil. But tbf, it was an easy sale. Just tell the President's the magic words: well show the women's sports that espn will not.
Hopefully Fredrick Wiseman is recording footage for At Cal Athletics, another 20-hr ethnography style documentary, but specifically about the university's handling of realignment.
Turns out we weren't thinking outside the box. The commissioners' plan was hiding in plain sight right beneath our very noses...
https://imgflip.com/i/7v1xfg
file:///var/mobile/Library/SMS/Attachments/85/05/68608A0E-66DA-4B6F-9F78-3D84FBDC8268/IMG_0753.jpeg
Sorry to repost something but thought it would be if interest - ACC in discussions to add Cal and Stanfurd
Does anybody know if the Regents meeting tomorrow means they are discussing something Cal has been offered? Or discussing who to reach out to? What are they discussing?
One thing I think is that all this is about a relatively small amount of money. Poor athletes at West coast schools are now going to have to live on planes and play out of their time zones for a few million bucks? That's peanuts to the State of CA.
Based on the last Regents meeting, they probably don't even realize most of the PAC12 schools are out and we aren't in the B1G
There is but one agenda item:
B1(X) Discussion UC Berkeley Pac-12 Conference Membership
I would assume that it will have everything to do with Cal's present plight: current state, offers, options, etc. and hopefully some special guests that are closer to the situation (i.e. Christ and hopefully, Knowlton).
Hard to tell how much meat there is with the potential ACC invite now brewing. When the PAC had 10 teams, there was an interesting possibility of forming a bi-coastal superconference with them. Now, feels like the cons outweigh the pros (depending on if there is a Big10, Big 12, etc possibility still down the road)..
It's probably more of a CYA meeting: if Cal has to partner/join the Mountain West or go Indy, how much of a financial hit will we the Regents (aka taxpayers) take? What are the other options?
A huge one! MW schools only get $4 million a year.
which won't even cover Wilcox' contract
That's what I'm wondering. If this is just a "What the hell is going on?" meeting, then who cares. If they are meeting because an offer is on the table or an idea, then that is interesting.
probably a mix of both if i had to guess. Skepticism that it got this far but hearing offers
With an emergency meeting with the regents...my guess/hope is that they have at least 1 offer on the table.
They don’t have an offer, their only hope is to pressure the California university system to step in and stop UCLA from going to the Big 10 unless Cal goes too.
that ship has sailed!
lol what
Indeed, a relatively small amount of money at the Regent level, but the situation of student athletes, and especially the optics on this are probably concerning for UC.
I don't, but I hope the discussion is about whether to take the ACC invite, BIG10 invite, or the MWC invite.
Cal was ready to sign off on the Grant of Rights, but other conference members had different plans. The Board of Regents now has to figure out the athletic department’s next steps
https://www.on3.com/os/news/cal-california-berkeley-board-of-regents-meeting-pac-12-membership-big-12-apple/