https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/acc/2025/03/26/stanford-california-college-football-gm-andrew-luck-ron-rivera/82654639007/

Pay wall. I didn't realize that USA Today still existed.

BearoutEast67 said:

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Pay wall. I didn't realize that USA Today still existed.

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In my browser when I opened the link and cleared the pop up, I selected the show reader option from the menus and I got the entire article.

While I'm sympathetic to what the writer is advocating, using academic endowments for athletics and in particular, paying players, faces both legal and internal political hurdles. This is a time when Cal campus is facing drastic cuts, and even Stanford, one of the gold standards in donor participation, announcing it is facing financial uncertainties due to potential cuts and delays in government funding, which could significantly impact its budget, leading to a hiring freeze and other measures. Bypassing endowment funding to athletics at this time seems like a bridge to far or whatever metaphor you want for ain't going to happen.

LOL. He misread a digit

"The Stanford endowment, according to the school, is worth $37.6 billion as of August 2024, and the California endowment is worth $29.5 billion as of June 2024. Each can be used, in part, for collegiate athletics."


He counted the entire UC endowment. UCSD is on the line and would like a word.

https://www.ucop.edu/investment-office/investment-reports/annual-reports/annual-endwoment-report-fy-2022-2023.pdf

wifeisafurd said:

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While I'm sympathetic to what the writer is advocating, using academic endowments for athletics and in particular, paying players, faces both legal and internal political hurdles. This is a time when Cal campus is facing drastic cuts, and even Stanford, one of the gold standards in donor participation, announcing it is facing financial uncertainties due to potential cuts and delays in government funding, which could significantly impact its budget, leading to a hiring freeze and other measures. Bypassing endowment funding to athletics at this time seems like a bridge to far or whatever metaphor you want for ain't going to happen.

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Absolutely. It will be tough enough to get agreement to tap our endowment for academic purposes in the midst of the ongoing Federal cuts to education and research. There is ZERO chance our endowment (more like $6.9 billion) gets spent propping up athletics.

In Cal's case, our only chance of surviving in the era of professionalization of college sports is to become the East Bay's professional team. We need to win, market to a broader audience, fill Memorial and Haas and up our TV ratings.

calumnus said:

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wifeisafurd said:

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While I'm sympathetic to what the writer is advocating, using academic endowments for athletics and in particular, paying players, faces both legal and internal political hurdles. This is a time when Cal campus is facing drastic cuts, and even Stanford, one of the gold standards in donor participation, announcing it is facing financial uncertainties due to potential cuts and delays in government funding, which could significantly impact its budget, leading to a hiring freeze and other measures. Bypassing endowment funding to athletics at this time seems like a bridge to far or whatever metaphor you want for ain't going to happen.

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Absolutely. It will be tough enough to get agreement to tap our endowment for academic purposes in the midst of the ongoing Federal cuts to education and research. There is ZERO chance our endowment (more like $6.9 billion) gets spent propping up athletics.

In Cal's case, our only chance of surviving in the era of professionalization of college sports is to become the East Bay's professional team. We need to win, market to a broader audience, fill Memorial and Haas and up our TV ratings.

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"Our only chance."

Truth.

calumnus said:

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wifeisafurd said:

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While I'm sympathetic to what the writer is advocating, using academic endowments for athletics and in particular, paying players, faces both legal and internal political hurdles. This is a time when Cal campus is facing drastic cuts, and even Stanford, one of the gold standards in donor participation, announcing it is facing financial uncertainties due to potential cuts and delays in government funding, which could significantly impact its budget, leading to a hiring freeze and other measures. Bypassing endowment funding to athletics at this time seems like a bridge to far or whatever metaphor you want for ain't going to happen.

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Absolutely. It will be tough enough to get agreement to tap our endowment for academic purposes in the midst of the ongoing Federal cuts to education and research. There is ZERO chance our endowment (more like $6.9 billion) gets spent propping up athletics.

In Cal's case, our only chance of surviving in the era of professionalization of college sports is to become the East Bay's professional team. We need to win, market to a broader audience, fill Memorial and Haas and up our TV ratings.

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If the USL Oakland Roots can get 26k fans to the abominable Oakland Coliseum for a game, Cal football should be able to get 50k.

golden sloth said:

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calumnus said:

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wifeisafurd said:

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While I'm sympathetic to what the writer is advocating, using academic endowments for athletics and in particular, paying players, faces both legal and internal political hurdles. This is a time when Cal campus is facing drastic cuts, and even Stanford, one of the gold standards in donor participation, announcing it is facing financial uncertainties due to potential cuts and delays in government funding, which could significantly impact its budget, leading to a hiring freeze and other measures. Bypassing endowment funding to athletics at this time seems like a bridge to far or whatever metaphor you want for ain't going to happen.

---

Absolutely. It will be tough enough to get agreement to tap our endowment for academic purposes in the midst of the ongoing Federal cuts to education and research. There is ZERO chance our endowment (more like $6.9 billion) gets spent propping up athletics.

In Cal's case, our only chance of surviving in the era of professionalization of college sports is to become the East Bay's professional team. We need to win, market to a broader audience, fill Memorial and Haas and up our TV ratings.

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If the USL Oakland Roots can get 26k fans to the abominable Oakland Coliseum for a game, Cal football should be able to get 50k.

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You went to that, too, eh? I waited 20 minutes in line for food! Loved the men's room, though: old school troughs to pee in, just like CMS before the renovation!

I didn't read article but if idea is to use academic endowments for sports I consider the article spam