Very true, wvit ... but my wife and I just went to the Legion of Honor to see the Truth & Beauty exhibit. (It's fabulous ... if you like art at all, go ...)
Left at 10. Took 30 minutes to go through the toll plaza, 90 minutes to get there. Ate, went to the museum, stopped at Market Hall and Pegasus Books. Trip home took 90 minutes, horrid traffic the whole way.
Got through the tunnel. Couldn't see Mt. Diablo because of the smoke ... three hours of hard driving, four hours of fun.
Now, I'm not moving. Family came here in 1952, and I'm rooted. But my daughters both can't find a place to live (33 and 29) and may be forced out. One daughter and her boyfriend make in excess of $100,000 and struggle every month.
If I were them, though, I'd seriously be considering heading north. I know three couples just younger than me who have moved or are moving to the Midwest now that the kids are out of high school. If I had any brains, I probably would too -- I wouldn't have to worry about finances nearly as much.
But yes, a scholarship athlete might be attracted by free housing here, but few scholarship athletes worth recruiting do much aside from study, work out and practice. (I just talked to one about how she liked Eugene and she said she really didn't know because she's always busy. I asked about the rain, and she said she didn't notice because she was always inside.)
All that said, there are attractions in the Bay Area, no question, but there are attractions all over the Pac-12 except maybe in Pullman and Tucson (depending on how you feel about the desert and constant sunshine).