[OutsiderFan]

There is no federal statute that requires Stanford and Cal to get $50M as new members. New members can accept deals to take less in order to stay alive in the big time level. And frankly, Stanford can easily afford taking less money to maintain its place in big league college sports given its massive wealth. Cal has no such wealth or near the donor culture Stanford does.

Perhaps Stanford could take less money. Do you think for a moment all the big egos involved would agree to that and agree that this fact be made public? I really doubt any school would agree to be a "second class citizen" in a conference. The optics are horrible. I can imagine a conference split where the conference champions in each sport get an appropriate "bonus" or something like that, but an "N tiered" membership IMHO strains credulity.

Compromises are made all the time to ensure survival. No Hatfield is going to starve to death because only McCoy's can provide food they are willing to provide. Agreements can always be changed. I think it's more than fair that schools get shares based on their enrollment. Stanford would be way down the list if that metric were used.

When there is a will, there is always a way. The question is whether enough will exists to keep Stanford and Cal in big league college sports. I honestly don't know, but I lean towards that will not existing. The only thing that gives me pause is that Oregon and Washington make sports an even higher priority than Stanford and they are seemingly in the wilderness now too, and I wouldn't have guessed that would be the case.

[OutsiderFan]

There is no federal statute that requires Stanford and Cal to get $50M as new members. New members can accept deals to take less in order to stay alive in the big time level. And frankly, Stanford can easily afford taking less money to maintain its place in big league college sports given its massive wealth. Cal has no such wealth or near the donor culture Stanford does.

Perhaps Stanford could take less money. Do you think for a moment all the big egos involved would agree to that and agree that this fact be made public? I really doubt any school would agree to be a "second class citizen" in a conference. The optics are horrible. I can imagine a conference split where the conference champions in each sport get an appropriate "bonus" or something like that, but an "N tiered" membership IMHO strains credulity.

Compromises are made all the time to ensure survival. No Hatfield is going to starve to death because only McCoy's can provide food they are willing to provide. Agreements can always be changed. I think it's more than fair that schools get shares based on their enrollment. Stanford would be way down the list if that metric were used.

When there is a will, there is always a way. The question is whether enough will exists to keep Stanford and Cal in big league college sports. I honestly don't know, but I lean towards that will not existing. The only thing that gives me pause is that Oregon and Washington make sports an even higher priority than Stanford and they are seemingly in the wilderness now too, and I wouldn't have guessed that would be the case.