Bears Are ACC Bound

According to several sources, the long-awaited news that the Bear have finally found their home in a power four conference has finally arrived as the ACC has voted this morning to add Cal, Stanford and SMU to their conference to extend their numbers from 15 to 18 in a western expansion. The additions will be for all sports and will begin next year for the 2024-25 seasons.

The move ended a drama-filled saga where reports surfaced that shifted between reports of a no vote to a green light for Cal and their new partners on a seemingly daily basis as the ACC looked for ways to add new revenue and Cal and Stanford looking for a new home as their conference disintegrated around them.

The key to approval was a yes vote from at least 12 of 15 programs, with Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina and North Carolina State being the four reported no votes in prior weeks heading into this week’s vote.  Reports are that NC State was the crucial vote to seal the deal, with North Carolina at an impasse between the desires of UNC chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and their board of trustees muddying the waters on their vote.

As an incentive to get reluctant programs to go along with the cross-country additions, each of the new programs will forgo significant revenue, at least initially, with Cal and Stanford expected to accept 30% revenue shares and SMU no revenue at all, at least initially, with the expected additional revenue of over $50 million to be split among Notre Dame and the other 14 full members of the conference.

All three programs are expected to be at 100% revenue share by the end of 10 years with the shares increasing over time until that point. The three new programs are also expected to receive a full share of postseason performance revenue dollars from the beginning of their addition to the conference.

The news was greeted with enthusiasm by Cal alum and NIL director Kevin Kennedy, who put out a manifesto of sorts to Cal fans and alums, saying:

Cal athletics has survived. More than survived, we have, despite our own missteps over lo these past decades, gotten ourselves into a conference with new and interesting schools in fun places and with excellent academics. I can't wait to visit all of them.

I have thoughts on why this unfolded as it did and what I wish we'd done differently. I also have thoughts on what we need to change. I'm skipping all of that because I know it will just degenerate into "XYZ person is an idiot, hates our revenue sports and his/her/their mother dresses them funny." We can talk about all that later. We need a three-day moratorium on complaining. What we need to do instead is make a loud and emphatic statement to the world that CAL IS HERE TO PLAY!!!

How can we do that? Well we can use the only currency that means anything. Which is actual currency. I want to raise as much money as possible in the next 72 hours for the California Legends Collective (CAlegends.com). As part of that effort, Cal legends Stephanie and Ron Rivera, my wife and I, and Lance Cooper who is our most generous supporter and has been the absolute bedrock of our efforts for multiple Cal sports, have agreed to pool our funds and match up to $500k in whatever additional donations we receive in that time frame. So if you put in $10 or $100,000 the three of us will collectively match it dollar for dollar up to $500,000.

I want the story out there to be talking about how Cal fans raised $1 million in three days (honestly I'm really hoping for more) and how it demonstrates that the ACC didn't make a mistake. That yes, the Cal fanbase is every bit as capable and engaged as we keep saying. That a new day has dawned for Cal athletics and this is just the beginning of our efforts to not only try to be competitive but to actually win championships. Orange Bowl here we come!!!

Stanford, SMU and us moving to the ACC will be national news for 72 hours, but not much more than that. I want every story that gets written starting tomorrow to talk about how much money we raised for NIL immediately after the move was made. It's the best way we fans have to start shifting this narrative, because one thing we've learned through this is that the world believes we have criminally neglected our revenue sports. We need to change that perspective. We can talk about the Certificate program Cal created, and the Caliber Fund to massively bolster our football spending, and the nutrition center, and the academic support, and the recruiting resources, etc., etc. until we're blue in the face but it's an echo chamber in here. No one outside Cal knows about these investments and we have suffered because of that.

Cal fans don't care about sports? They just added $1m to their NIL.

Cal will never be competitive? They just added $1m to their NIL.

Cal fans don't care about being in the ACC? They just added $1m to their NIL.

So this is finally our chance to show the trolls and the media pundits they were wrong in a way that brooks no discussion. We don't need to tell them they were wrong. We need to show them. We fans need to do our part to FINALLY pour some of the needed resources into our major sports to make sure when the realignment carousel comes around again in three years we won't be a "bubble team." Because mark my words, we have gotten a new lease on life but it's temporary. And realignment is absolutely happening again within this decade. If we don't make the necessary changes, no one is picking us up next time. All our glorious history and all our athletes competing against the top competition in one of the most beautiful venues in college sports will be gone. We're not getting another shot at this

If you have ever considered giving to NIL but haven't yet gotten around to it, now is the time. If you've given already (thank you!) but didn't give everything you could, now is the time. If you've never wanted to give to NIL and didn't believe in it philosophically, I hope we've done enough at California Legends to change your mind. To show that we can both do things the right way AND succeed in the transfer portal game (please note our top 20 nationally ranked football portal class and our top 10 nationally ranked men's basketball portal class). But most importantly, if you've become complacent about the state of Cal sports, if you've come to believe nothing will ever change and if you don't see a way to personally impact the outcome, NOW IS YOUR MOMENT! Be part of the solution. Starting now.

https://calegends.com/calegendsdonate/

Stay tuned for more as available.