[GK3]

Hard to separate conference realignment, NIL, liberalized transfer rules, and the soon to be full discarding of the idea of a "student athlete" for "employee athlete" but all of them are a reflection of the same thing... collegiate athletics has become all about the money (for the athletes, the schools, the coaches, and the television networks) , and not at all about the college.  If I wanted to watch minor league professional sports, I would have started going to San Jose Giants games.

Last year was a major step back in my interest in collegiate athletics in general and Stanford in specific, and the move to the ACC just cements my apathy.  I'll go to an occasional volleyball match or two, and being who I am, I'm sure I will get caught up in some sports' storybook season, but I would no longer describe myself as a fan in the traditional sense.

It's a little sad, but it's also ok.

BC

I kind of agree with you BC, but my apathy began before last year.  With neither our football or men's basketball being worth watching, I quit going to the games and watched on TV if the game was a least somewhat interesting.  The cost of the entertainment did not match up with the quality.  A trip from a small airport to SFO and back, plus at least one night in a hotel meant spending somewhere between $800 and $1000, driving meant 1,000 miles of driving.  At my age that is not so much fun as it used to be.  Trips to any of our away games meant about the same cost. 
I may actually consider making a trip to the right coast for a game just to have a chance to see the areas I have never been to.  Surprisingly I can fly to Syracuse and back for roughly the same cost of flying to SFO during reasonable hours of the day. 
I continue to hope that Taylor can at least field a well coached team, that plays hard and is fun to watch.  David Shaw's last few teams failed to meet those parameters. So I have at least some slightly renewed interest since the whole thing is going to very different competition wise.  Unfortunately NIL and the Portal makes it hard for me to really get excited, just like you described.  If we can't win consistently and at least go bowling somewhere in football and at least make the NCAA's in basketball, we will have a very hard time holding on to our best players. Winning and the degree, and at least some reasonable NIL money will help us keep guys we will other wise lose.  We shall see how it all works out.
I think the biggest need we have is to start winning again in both sports.

[GK3]

Hard to separate conference realignment, NIL, liberalized transfer rules, and the soon to be full discarding of the idea of a "student athlete" for "employee athlete" but all of them are a reflection of the same thing... collegiate athletics has become all about the money (for the athletes, the schools, the coaches, and the television networks) , and not at all about the college.  If I wanted to watch minor league professional sports, I would have started going to San Jose Giants games.

Last year was a major step back in my interest in collegiate athletics in general and Stanford in specific, and the move to the ACC just cements my apathy.  I'll go to an occasional volleyball match or two, and being who I am, I'm sure I will get caught up in some sports' storybook season, but I would no longer describe myself as a fan in the traditional sense.

It's a little sad, but it's also ok.

BC

I kind of agree with you BC, but my apathy began before last year.  With neither our football or men's basketball being worth watching, I quit going to the games and watched on TV if the game was a least somewhat interesting.  The cost of the entertainment did not match up with the quality.  A trip from a small airport to SFO and back, plus at least one night in a hotel meant spending somewhere between $800 and $1000, driving meant 1,000 miles of driving.  At my age that is not so much fun as it used to be.  Trips to any of our away games meant about the same cost. 
I may actually consider making a trip to the right coast for a game just to have a chance to see the areas I have never been to.  Surprisingly I can fly to Syracuse and back for roughly the same cost of flying to SFO during reasonable hours of the day. 
I continue to hope that Taylor can at least field a well coached team, that plays hard and is fun to watch.  David Shaw's last few teams failed to meet those parameters. So I have at least some slightly renewed interest since the whole thing is going to very different competition wise.  Unfortunately NIL and the Portal makes it hard for me to really get excited, just like you described.  If we can't win consistently and at least go bowling somewhere in football and at least make the NCAA's in basketball, we will have a very hard time holding on to our best players. Winning and the degree, and at least some reasonable NIL money will help us keep guys we will other wise lose.  We shall see how it all works out.
I think the biggest need we have is to start winning again in both sports.