petalumabear said:
calumnus said:
petalumabear said:
calumnus said:
My thoughts:
1. Not really our problem they are in a different conference.
2. I kinda hope they do win the B1G, and beating out the SEC for a National Championship? I would not mind that at all.
3. Knight is 86 and I doubt his heirs will feel the same about Oregon athletics. This too shall pass.
Agree about it passing calumnus but the bigger question from where I sit is why don't we have any billionaires who love Cal football and hoops. Not in any way knocking our substantial donors but it sure seems like our "whales" have other interests. Yes I donate but from the minnow class.
I would mostly blame the Cal athletics department both in the way our team is marketed to the student body at large and the selection of potential donors to be cultivated (or not).
That said, we are still early in the NIL era and doing well in it. While our alumni when compared to others probably see that there are higher needs than Cal football and basketball, we do have a very wealthy alumni base.
I do think that playing in the ACC on a more national stage, and now an alum as chancellor, gives us a chance to change the script.
Can't disagree with your position. Just thinking that some potential funding sources don't have the same passion for the major sports.
I disagree.
I hate to keep using her as an example but I'm going to use her as an example.
Take Cynthia Marshall. A former Cal cheer leader and the first African American cal cheer leader raised in the bay who has only known a Cal education post high school.
She's the CEO of the Dallas mavericks and the former CEO of her own company and CRO of AT&T
She undoubtedly has a passion for Cal Football and is undoubtedly a billionaire who more than likely contributes along with our other living 10-15 billionaire alumni.
The difference is that when they contribute to Cal it's a donation whereas when Knight contributes to Oregon it's a business decision meant to exploit loopholes in the tax code to basically, in simple terms, get free advertising on the government's dime.
Everyone knows oregon is Nike u. And there you have it. The man has effectively gotten away with tip toeing quid pro quo with a 501c for the last 30 years. There's a reason the furdies don't have **** named after his son, big nike swooshes on the sides of buildings…because while i still think the furdies are a bunch of spoiled Kardashians prancing around in paper mache clown uniforms…they aren't idiots. Whereas the liberal arts school up north? Ummm yeah.
