Shut down the program. No idea how surviving in the Mountain West will work. We're toast.

GoCal80 said:

---

Together, we are evaluating a variety of options [] in a manner consistent with our institutional values and budgetary realities.

---

that sounds like "We dont have any options"

Bobodeluxe said:

---

Golden One said:

---

socaltownie said:

---

Someone asked about ESP and suing. I don't own one (500 miles away in San diego). What does it say? I thought it was a yearly deal.

---

Not yearly with all ESP seat holders. When the ESP program was first announced, I paid for 2 Field Club seats for 40 years. I made a payment of $120,000 for the seats. To this point I have used 12 of those years, so I have 28 years remaining on my "contract". That commitment I made was on the assumption (which seemed reasonable in March 2010) that the Pac-12 conference would continue to exist in its then-present form. I did not make that investment to watch non-Power 5 football.

---

Well, yes you did, as it turns out.

---

ha

I'm going to respond as a Pomona College Alum, Fresno State Fan…..

1) Cal deserved this result. Even now they are arguing to the California State Legislature that Cal States should be prohibited from offering Doctoral Degrees and then using that enforced Tier 2 status to exclude them.

2) Cal's stadium will be filled with Fresno fans and SJSU fans in a way it hasn't been filled in years.

3) the Big-12 Presidents made a strategic mistake which the PAC-4 could take advantage of if they want to be a good conference athletically and can set aside academic snobbishness. The Big 12 did not take the best teams or the teams in CA.

What the Pac should do….

1) Take enough MWC schools so the MWC can vote to dissolve and take their best athletic schools and all CA schools: SDSU, Fresno, SJSU, Boise State, UNLV, New Mexico, Utah State, Colorado State, Hawaii, AF

Divide west coast: WSU, OSU, Stanford, Cal, Fresno, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV

East: Boise State, Utah State, Colorado State, Air Force, New Mexico.

Try to add 3 AAC Schools in Texas.: SMU, UNT, UTSA

Now this new conference has Northern/Central California locked and agree to not schedule the Big 12 5 OOC. ((BYU, Utah, AZ, AZ State, Colorado. Let them try to recruit Texas and Florida against the SEC.

ESPN will be locked out of the west coast PST except when AZ is on PST time and will need 7:30 PST content and will come to the PAC.

BigDaddy said:

---

A merger is the only way the remaining Pac-12 schools can get together with Mountain West programs because the MWC exit fee is $34 million for each team.

Word out tonight is that the Big XII might be willing to add additional schools.

---

Word out from whom? Any source? If Cal and Stanford went to the Big XII, at this point that would be ok with me. Any port in a storm. But I'm dubious it will happen.

Sixty years ago I came from my home in Chicago at age 17 to attend this University, and Berkeley has been my home ever since. And the Cal Bears have been my home team. A lot of disappointments over that time, but this Black Friday is shaping up to be the very worst. Sad day. Sad indeed.

Sactowndog said:

---

I'm going to respond as a Pomona College Alum, Fresno State Fan…..

1) Cal deserved this result. Even now they are arguing to the California State Legislature that Cal States should be prohibited from offering Doctoral Degrees and then using that enforced Tier 2 status to exclude them.

2) Cal's stadium will be filled with Fresno fans and SJSU fans in a way it hasn't been filled in years.

3) the Big-12 Presidents made a strategic mistake which the PAC-4 could take advantage of if they want to be a good conference athletically and can set aside academic snobbishness. The Big 12 did not take the best teams or the teams in CA.

What the Pac should do….

1) Take enough MWC schools so the MWC can vote to dissolve and take their best athletic schools and all CA schools: SDSU, Fresno, SJSU, Boise State, UNLV, New Mexico, Utah State, Colorado State, Hawaii, AF

Divide west coast: WSU, OSU, Stanford, Cal, Fresno, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV

East: Boise State, Utah State, Colorado State, Air Force, New Mexico.

Try to add 3 AAC Schools in Texas.: SMU, UNT, UTSA

Now this new conference has Northern/Central California locked and agree to not schedule the Big 12 5 OOC. ((BYU, Utah, AZ, AZ State, Colorado. Let them try to recruit Texas and Florida against the SEC.

ESPN will be locked out of the west coast PST except when AZ is on PST time and will need 7:30 PST content and will come to the PAC.

---

1. Cal deserves this because of the pompous entitlement.

2. No one will fill Cal's stadium. MAYBE in the first year when fans aren't aware Cal isn't a major anymore. SJSU cant fill its own stadium. It had to sell tickets to watch a marching band to sneak above the D1A minimum to not be in a position to fight not be relegated, FFS. Oh, and Cal is going to lose a lot of long time fans out of spite.


If thats what the Pac does, I see one or maybe two games I would be interested in watching (at all, TV or in person) a year. I dont see that as a great option.

As a Cal fan, I would not be a fan of Cal in that scenario. And that looks like its probably the most likely scenario.

I will always watch Cal and attend any day games. I dont care who the play. Glad to be rid of usc and ucla.

Cal Strong! said:

---

Cal Strong has no followed conference realignment as closely as other. He too busy doing squats, pushups, growing winter fruits/veggies here in New Zealand, and trying to keep peppers and tomatillos alive in his pop-up greenhouses.

But he did read something a while ago that some of the B1G university presidents really want Cal and stanfurd because Cal is such a good academic institution. Presumably (and paradoxically) they want stanfurd because they are also interested in illiterate mouth breathers who prefer to copulate with their own sisters and cousins.

As for the academic attraction, Cal Strong assumes the presidents of Michigan, Northwestern, and Wisconsin would like an elite West Coast academic powerhouse like Cal. But they are bumping up against the other presidents and all the athletic directors who don't want to split the pie further and who don't see the Bay Area recruiting and media market as attractive enough to balance the dilution of their shares of the pie.

---

OldenBear need salsa update - only thing keep him half-sane today is thought of Gold Bar Cal whisky, with chips and salsa

I feel you on the whiskey, I'm currently drinking some Hakushu 12. Brought out the big guns for this sad occasion

TottenhamBear said:

---

I feel you on the whiskey, I'm currently drinking some Hakushu 12. Brought out the big guns for this sad occasion

---

Great choice. Mezcal for me tonight but I have a bottle of Yamazaki 25 I had been saving a for a Cal Rose bowl… I wouldn't touch it for any other occasion, birth of my child included.

TottenhamBear said:

---

I feel you on the whiskey, I'm currently drinking some Hakushu 12. Brought out the big guns for this sad occasion

---

We need bigger guns - this is gonna be rough before it's done. Wonder what the current market price for a liver is on the dark web

We have a university stuffed to the brim with bureaucrats, trading off of a name and reputation that they did nothing to earn and certainly nothing to maintain. This is the result of a decade long daydream.

Absent B10 machinations, any hope Apple "takes care" of Cal and a Stanford and puts together a streaming deal similar to a watered down Notre Dame NBC arrangement? At least they would get 2 games per week, in the process strengthening ties to both universities. Both schools have been a talent pipeline for Apple.

i got a guy...

yeah don't touch that. That's liquid gold at this point hahahah

Discussions were held with the remaining 3 about a MWC merger or even a formation of a brand new coast to coast league that would encompass the strongest remaining brands of the G5.

— MHver3 (@MHver3) August 5, 2023

stanfurd mad. maybe should've gotten mad like 11 months ago maybe.

GK has run of out good ideas

MHver is not a reliable source.

You underestimate the hatred and disdain for Cal residents of the valley have for your school which has perpetually used political influence to hold down the CSU system and the San Joaquin Valley.

Whether Cal fans show up is irrelevant. Fresno fans will fill up Memorial Stadium all on their own. For the first time in decades all of CA will be represented in the PAC versus the elite…..

If you have Cal, Stanford, Fresno, SJSU and SDSU….. two schools in LA with a 15% acceptance rate will have less impact than you think.

Or you can continue the academic snobbery that brought you to this point. My Alma Mater is has highly regarded as yours and do you think I care it is in a conference with LaVerne? Does Pomona College say we are going to only associate with CMC and CalTech? No of course not…..

Quit whining, set aside your elitism that turns off the rest of the state and figure out how you can own the west coast and Hawaii.

nikeykid said:

---

Discussions were held with the remaining 3 about a MWC merger or even a formation of a brand new coast to coast league that would encompass the strongest remaining brands of the G5.

— MHver3 (@MHver3) August 5, 2023

stanfurd mad. maybe should've gotten mad like 11 months ago maybe.

GK has run of out good ideas

---

This is embarrassing - the fact this idea is under consideration means we aren't even a remote thought to be I. The B1G. We got played and deservedly so.

Also - it is great that Stanford showed emotion. Contrary to the message we got, Carol and Jim are absolutely standing on the sidelines. F those morons.

Sactowndog said:

---

I'm going to respond as a Pomona College Alum, Fresno State Fan…..

1) Cal deserved this result. Even now they are arguing to the California State Legislature that Cal States should be prohibited from offering Doctoral Degrees and then using that enforced Tier 2 status to exclude them.

2) Cal's stadium will be filled with Fresno fans and SJSU fans in a way it hasn't been filled in years.

3) the Big-12 Presidents made a strategic mistake which the PAC-4 could take advantage of if they want to be a good conference athletically and can set aside academic snobbishness. The Big 12 did not take the best teams or the teams in CA.

What the Pac should do….

1) Take enough MWC schools so the MWC can vote to dissolve and take their best athletic schools and all CA schools: SDSU, Fresno, SJSU, Boise State, UNLV, New Mexico, Utah State, Colorado State, Hawaii, AF

Divide west coast: WSU, OSU, Stanford, Cal, Fresno, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV

East: Boise State, Utah State, Colorado State, Air Force, New Mexico.

Try to add 3 AAC Schools in Texas.: SMU, UNT, UTSA

Now this new conference has Northern/Central California locked and agree to not schedule the Big 12 5 OOC. ((BYU, Utah, AZ, AZ State, Colorado. Let them try to recruit Texas and Florida against the SEC.

ESPN will be locked out of the west coast PST except when AZ is on PST time and will need 7:30 PST content and will come to the PAC.

---

Addressing #3 only, neither Cal nor Stanford would bring any value in either men's basketball or football to the Big 12. IF the Big 12 takes anyone else from the PAC 12 it will be OSU and Wazzu.

check his tweets this entire week. he's nailed everything, including timing of decisions.

Sactowndog said:

---

I'm going to respond as a Pomona College Alum, Fresno State Fan…..

1) Cal deserved this result. Even now they are arguing to the California State Legislature that Cal States should be prohibited from offering Doctoral Degrees and then using that enforced Tier 2 status to exclude them.

2) Cal's stadium will be filled with Fresno fans and SJSU fans in a way it hasn't been filled in years.

3) the Big-12 Presidents made a strategic mistake which the PAC-4 could take advantage of if they want to be a good conference athletically and can set aside academic snobbishness. The Big 12 did not take the best teams or the teams in CA.

What the Pac should do….

1) Take enough MWC schools so the MWC can vote to dissolve and take their best athletic schools and all CA schools: SDSU, Fresno, SJSU, Boise State, UNLV, New Mexico, Utah State, Colorado State, Hawaii, AF

Divide west coast: WSU, OSU, Stanford, Cal, Fresno, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV

East: Boise State, Utah State, Colorado State, Air Force, New Mexico.

Try to add 3 AAC Schools in Texas.: SMU, UNT, UTSA

Now this new conference has Northern/Central California locked and agree to not schedule the Big 12 5 OOC. ((BYU, Utah, AZ, AZ State, Colorado. Let them try to recruit Texas and Florida against the SEC.

ESPN will be locked out of the west coast PST except when AZ is on PST time and will need 7:30 PST content and will come to the PAC.

---

All uc is opposed to csu doing that and given the crisis in enrollment at several perhaps get undergrad fixed first.

Quite frankly UCLA is 0-4 against Fresno their last 4 games. SDSU beat Utah 2 years ago.

Every school that left for the Big 12 depends on CA recruiting. If forced to rely on Midwest recruiting it will further dilute their pool of talent.

You guys are Cal alums… act like it and start problem solving and understanding your advantages….

1) if you merge with the MWC then CBS and ESPN have no west coast programming. Fox will have the Big but will have pissed off much of the west coast….

2) two schools with a 12% acceptance rate is not how the BiG operates. Having Fresno State, SJSU and SDSU in conference increases your conference reach. If it somehow kills your Doctoral programs then they weren't that good anyway.

3) own and dominate California and expand from their….

4) the top MWC programs are better than you think….

California has the recruiting and the population. All of California north of the Tehachapi's is bigger than most states and a MWC/PAC-4 would dominate.

Not getting any team there was a mistake. Yormark knew that fact and wanted Fresno but University Presidents make dumb business decisions when the prioritize Academics over athletics as you have learned in spades.

But Big 12 Presidents made the same mistake with no one in CA…. It's an opportunity.

The funny thing is, look at Cincinnati. We gotta follow how they did it.

Tear down, rebuild from the ground up. Play moneyball with recruits. Find guys that fit our style and although it's a lot harder with our academic standard that hamstrings our ability to recruit, i'm sure there are guys out there that work.

The problem is that I don't believe this leadership can get it done. But I will say this. Our team this year is gonna come out freaking juiced, Imagine the entire country laughing at you for getting screwed. Punch em in the mouth and make em remember.

TottenhamBear said:

---

The funny thing is, look at Cincinnati. We gotta follow how they did it.

Tear down, rebuild from the ground up. Play moneyball with recruits. Find guys that fit our style and although it's a lot harder with our academic standard that hamstrings our ability to recruit, i'm sure there are guys out there that work.

The problem is that I don't believe this leadership can get it done. But I will say this. Our team this year is gonna come out freaking juiced, Imagine the entire country laughing at you for getting screwed. Punch em in the mouth and make em remember.

---

We have never been committed to excellence in football or basketball. Cal should be about committing to excellence at all levels - academic and athletic. There is no chance in hell I would support us competing against MWC teams or plotting for a Cincinnati like resurrection. Just rip the bandaid off and focus on academics. Stop the half measures.

BearMDJD said:

---

TottenhamBear said:

---

The funny thing is, look at Cincinnati. We gotta follow how they did it.

Tear down, rebuild from the ground up. Play moneyball with recruits. Find guys that fit our style and although it's a lot harder with our academic standard that hamstrings our ability to recruit, i'm sure there are guys out there that work.

The problem is that I don't believe this leadership can get it done. But I will say this. Our team this year is gonna come out freaking juiced, Imagine the entire country laughing at you for getting screwed. Punch em in the mouth and make em remember.

---

We have never been committed to excellence in football or basketball. Cal should be about committing to excellence at all levels - academic and athletic. There is no chance in hell I would support us competing against MWC teams or plotting for a Cincinnati like resurrection. Just rip the bandaid off and focus on academics. Stop the half measures.

---

This is what Carol and Jim have always wanted to do. Put so little effort in that it broke our will. The bear will quit and the bear will die. There is only so much the fans could do in the end. I am walking away after this season if we go to MWC and would prefer we just focused on academics like Carol and the past admins have always wanted.

but that's the problem. We can't have it both ways. If we want to actually commit to football, we gotta follow cinci, If not then I agree, what's the point. Just end it completely and call it a day.

Sactowndog said:

---

You underestimate the hatred and disdain for Cal residents of the valley have for your school which has perpetually used political influence to hold down the CSU system and the San Joaquin Valley.

Whether Cal fans show up is irrelevant. Fresno fans will fill up Memorial Stadium all on their own. For the first time in decades all of CA will be represented in the PAC versus the elite…..

If you have Cal, Stanford, Fresno, SJSU and SDSU….. two schools in LA with a 15% acceptance rate will have less impact than you think.

Or you can continue the academic snobbery that brought you to this point. My Alma Mater is has highly regarded as yours and do you think I care it is in a conference with LaVerne? Does Pomona College say we are going to only associate with CMC and CalTech? No of course not…..

Quit whining, set aside your elitism that turns off the rest of the state and figure out how you can own the west coast and Hawaii.

---

Why would Cal run a hospitality operation for Fresno State fans? The tickets that keep the thing running are the ESP's and those will absolutely collapse (not to mention all the lawsuits when people try and fail to get their money back).

And frankly, don't come in here and compare Pomona College to us, the day this all went down. Go back to your Dawg board. We are not the same.

TrueBlue42 said:

---

We have a university stuffed to the brim with bureaucrats, trading off of a name and reputation that they did nothing to earn and certainly nothing to maintain.

---

Amen, brother!

Lottery tickets?

Because your other option is to quit football. Which quite frankly is fine if you all want to quit.

Sactowndog said:

---

Quite frankly UCLA is 0-4 against Fresno their last 4 games. SDSU beat Utah 2 years ago.

Every school that left for the Big 12 depends on CA recruiting. If forced to rely on Midwest recruiting it will further dilute their pool of talent.

You guys are Cal alums… act like it and start problem solving and understanding your advantages….

1) if you merge with the MWC then CBS and ESPN have no west coast programming. Fox will have the Big but will have pissed off much of the west coast….

2) two schools with a 12% acceptance rate is not how the BiG operates. Having Fresno State, SJSU and SDSU in conference increases your conference reach. If it somehow kills your Doctoral programs then they weren't that good anyway.

3) own and dominate California and expand from their….

4) the top MWC programs are better than you think….

---

Own California? That's not possible for any MWC team. Even if USC and UCLA dropped down to the MWC. California would just dropout of the national conversation.

At this point, a merger with the Mountain West makes the most sense, at least on paper. And it will have to be a merger, imo, due to the exorbinant MWC exit fees.

Unfortunately, I think Cal as an institution has too much pride to commit to this. Or maybe you're right to call it elitism, or snobbery. Whatever. And I think there's been a total disconnect from reality within the halls of power at Cal, both with Christ and within the AD.

They were blindsided by the USC/UCLA announcement. But since then, it's like they haven't acted with any sense of urgency, but instead seemed to have been extremely naive about the extremely volatile and rapidly changing college sports landscape and are now completely dumbfounded that they've landed in such a desperate spot.

It's as if they can't believe that Oregon and Washington chose the B1G over the Pac-9, or that the Four Corners schools fled to Texas. But every one of these universities spent the last year, since the USC/UCLA bombshell, working on an exit strategy to get out of this vulnerable, dying league. B1G with the Irish.

Meanwhile, Christ/Knowlton ook like a couple of rubes who sat of their hands while they got hustled out of their life savings by traveling salesman George Kliavkoff and his big promise of a rich media deal payday and a new day in the Pac-12.

Will they now look to the "lowly" Mountain West Conference for a lifeline? Who knows, desperate times and all that. And ss the Bard wrote, "Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows." Maybe this is the way forward...

BigDaddy said:

---

At this point, a merger with the Mountain West makes the most sense, at least on paper. And it will have to be a merger, imo, due to the exorbinant MWC exit fees.

Unfortunately, I think Cal as an institution has too much pride to commit to this. Or maybe you're right to call it elitism, or snobbery. Whatever. And I think there is a real disconnect from reality within the halls of power at Cal, both with Crist and within the AD.

They were blindsided by the USC/UCLA announcement. But since then, it's like they haven't acted with any sense of urgency, but instead seemed to have been extremely naive about the extremely volatile and rapidly changing college sports landscape and are completely dumbfounded that they've landed in such a desperate spot.

It's as if they can't believe that Oregon and Washington chose the B1G over the Pac-9, or that the Four Corners schools are gone to Texas. But every one of these universities spent the last year, since the USC/UCLA bombshell, working on an exit strategy to get out of this distressed league. Even "our partner", Stanford, was trying to leverage their relationship with Notre Dame to get into the B1G with the Irish.

Meanwhile, Crist/Knowlton look like a couple of rubes who sat of their hands while they got hustled out of their life savings by traveling salesman George Kliavkoff and his promises of a rich media deal payday.

Will they now look to the "lowly" Mountain West Conference for a lifeline? Who knows, desperate times and all that. As the Bard wrote, "Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows." Maybe this is the way forward...

---

But they explicitly said in their statement that they were not waiting on the sidelines.