'The East Bay Way': Cal's Opportunity to Seize the Moment
Rooted in Berkeley.
By now you’ve heard two big pieces of news in the last week. The Oakland A’s played their last game in the Coliseum, the final sports franchise to depart the Town in five years. It’s fair to say that it has been a turbulent, troubling, and downtrodden time for Oakland sports fans over the years. The Ballers, Roots, and Soul are hoping to change that narrative but in more obscure leagues, it’s hard to captivate an A level franchise and fanbase.
Cal can be that A level team.
With a program rooted at the No. 1 public institution in the nation and a desire to break back into the national limelight, its the Bears time to be that outlet for abandoned East Bay sports fans.
This past Saturday, the California Golden Bears were awarded as the host of College GameDay for the first time in the program’s history, illustrating more of the momentum that Cal has taken control of on and off the field at this point in the season.
In a not so distant universe, Cal Athletics could have been currently hanging off a cliff. Thanks to the ACC and most of its members, along with some assistance of a Bay Area counterpart, the Bears survived. It was not easy, but they did.
Now you have to capitalize. Other than literally being on the Hayward Fault, Cal isn’t going anywhere. We’ve seen the rambunctious nature of Harmon Gym, Haas Pavilion, and California Memorial Stadium on full display over the years. Saturday night should hold the biggest crowd that Strawberry Canyon has seen since the 2019 Arizona State game (47,532 reported attendees) or 2022 Big Game (51,892 reported attendees), probably more.
From what I’ve heard, Cal Athletics understands what’s at stake this weekend. Beyond football, there’s a chance to cultivate future Saturday’s as a party inside one of the best backdrops in college football. You only get to make a first impression once. The eyes of the nation will be on Berkeley as both the fanbase and athletic department look to rewrite the narrative.
Cal fans have embraced being the underdog for some time now. It’s currently time to be in lockstep with those who feel as if they have been kicked in the face for years on end. If realignment taught me one thing, its that this fanbase isn’t going anywhere.
You’ve got the situation of a lifetime Saturday Cal fans. Of course we want the Bears to win against a Top-10 ranked Miami team, it needs no explanation. I’ve talked endlessly about how the time for talking is over for coaches and now it needs to be about results.
The same now holds true for this fanbase. We’ve put everyone on notice online and at tailgates about who we are.
Now you have to deliver. It’s time for an even better chapter of Cal fandom.
As an Oakland kid, I mourn all our losses. For Cal to be adopted we need a deliberate strategy to do so, not just hope and wait. We also need to up the game day experience with more tailgating and social opportunities...ie, turn Memorial Glade into a tailgate site with the ability to rent space, set up stuff, food trucks, beer wagons, etc...Facilitate corporate rentals of venues for a whole day experience, etc, etc, etc. While we alums love the whole thing, we need to appeal to a broader market and give them a bigger reason to show up, particularly given the logistical challenges of our location and varying kick off times. I wrote an overly long guest column about this right before we reopened Memorial. Much of what I said then still holds.
Gosh, one would love to think that a football team that's been around for 138 years, far longer than the invention of pro football, in the most populous state in the Union, could have a *base* of million and millions of football loving residents in this state. How come Cal never grew its fanbase like the the Alabamas, Texases, Michigans, Wisconsins, and even the Oregons of the football world?
Don't answer that. But I'd like to think that it's still possible. And it is right to first start with the Bay Area. This is the giant. Is it waking?