[Goose]

There will be a few out there who still say they want the top academics, etc. But they’re only so many unicorns. Stanford has a choice – join in full the New World order or either drop football totally or  get used to three and nine seasons. They aren’t going to sell enough “40 year decisions” to field a competitive football team. Not in 2025.

I fully agree that Stanford isn't going to sell enough "40 year decisions" to field a competitive football team in 2025. It seems probable that that will be true in the near future as well. In the past, it was only intermittently true that Stanford could field a "good" team. Going forward it will be even more challenging.

I am however not of the opinion that Stanford has only the three choices listed above. Clearly Stanford could continue to play football but at a "lower level" conference, at least today. I am not advocating it, but it is a possibility. It is unclear to me that Stanford has to "join in full the New World order" for several reasons. The most important reason is that it is unclear exactly what that "New Order" is. It certainly seems probable NIL is going to be part of the new order going forward. The House settlement may or may not, whatever it turns out to be. There are going to be many lawsuits and legal challenges to whatever is true at any given moment. So what exactly are we joining?  Even if we could agree on what that was it seems that it will change continuously for at least the next few years. Do we embrace all the changes? It is going to be difficult to track.

While I don't at all like the professionalization of college sports, I can not categorically say exactly where my "red line" is. I can say that athletes not being students is something I don't think Stanford or college football can accept.  At that point the football program no longer belongs as part of an academic institution.  Short of that, I think there is room for maneuver. There may be parts of the "new order" that are fine, other parts that I think are inappropriate. It is IMO possible to pick and chose, at least in some cases. That may make it more difficult to have a good football team at Stanford than at e.g. Notre Dame. However, that was true 10 years ago and we were fine with it. The question is where is that balance today. It may be possible to not be "all in".

[Goose]

There will be a few out there who still say they want the top academics, etc. But they’re only so many unicorns. Stanford has a choice – join in full the New World order or either drop football totally or  get used to three and nine seasons. They aren’t going to sell enough “40 year decisions” to field a competitive football team. Not in 2025.

I fully agree that Stanford isn't going to sell enough "40 year decisions" to field a competitive football team in 2025. It seems probable that that will be true in the near future as well. In the past, it was only intermittently true that Stanford could field a "good" team. Going forward it will be even more challenging.

I am however not of the opinion that Stanford has only the three choices listed above. Clearly Stanford could continue to play football but at a "lower level" conference, at least today. I am not advocating it, but it is a possibility. It is unclear to me that Stanford has to "join in full the New World order" for several reasons. The most important reason is that it is unclear exactly what that "New Order" is. It certainly seems probable NIL is going to be part of the new order going forward. The House settlement may or may not, whatever it turns out to be. There are going to be many lawsuits and legal challenges to whatever is true at any given moment. So what exactly are we joining?  Even if we could agree on what that was it seems that it will change continuously for at least the next few years. Do we embrace all the changes? It is going to be difficult to track.

While I don't at all like the professionalization of college sports, I can not categorically say exactly where my "red line" is. I can say that athletes not being students is something I don't think Stanford or college football can accept.  At that point the football program no longer belongs as part of an academic institution.  Short of that, I think there is room for maneuver. There may be parts of the "new order" that are fine, other parts that I think are inappropriate. It is IMO possible to pick and chose, at least in some cases. That may make it more difficult to have a good football team at Stanford than at e.g. Notre Dame. However, that was true 10 years ago and we were fine with it. The question is where is that balance today. It may be possible to not be "all in".