[jacket3ree]

Yvonne,

I'm not sure it is OK to describe the year you came to campus (obviously 1986 based on "Zippergate") and call yourself old, when I arrived a year earlier than that as a graduate student. Not OK at all. But I go by "Grandy" now, so there's that.

You ask the salient questions, though, particularly about keeping sports sans football.  Gonzaga, Villanova, and a host of others manage. Villanova plays football and it is probably a revenue sink.

If I'm Stanford, I first figure out what I want from athletics; then I figure out the best way to do it. Be proactive, not reactive. Things are shifting so quickly, there is no point in catching the first train outta here. I'm always doing flow charts. Figuring out the diamonds (decisions) will be the hardest part.

1.  Big time prestige. (Accept NIL, pay for play, portal transfers, and all that goes with that.)
a.  Join Big Integer  (Stanford is not coming anywhere near the SEC)
b.  PACC - national bi-coastal conference and help conference mates make it prestigious.   
c.  [better thought here. English Premier League?]

2.  A well-rounded athletic program that includes football. Yesteryear. Competitive and fun. And maybe off the national radar, at least in football.
a.  Join a western-based mid-major conference with decent to good basketball. WAC/Mtn. West. Replace USC with Fresno St. and UCLA with SDSU.
b.  Even those are getting crazier, so join the Big Sky. FCS football and at least there is March Madness every couple of years/decades.
c.  Go independent in football, and would universal religion/spirituality/agnosticism/atheism count in the WCC? We have a nice church on campus.

3.  Dump football, keep everything else.
a.  Will NIL/portal, etc. affect hoops too much too?
b.  How much revenue would monster truck pulls at Stanford Stadium generate?

4.  Intramurals are what is really important.

[jacket3ree]

Yvonne,

I'm not sure it is OK to describe the year you came to campus (obviously 1986 based on "Zippergate") and call yourself old, when I arrived a year earlier than that as a graduate student. Not OK at all. But I go by "Grandy" now, so there's that.

You ask the salient questions, though, particularly about keeping sports sans football.  Gonzaga, Villanova, and a host of others manage. Villanova plays football and it is probably a revenue sink.

If I'm Stanford, I first figure out what I want from athletics; then I figure out the best way to do it. Be proactive, not reactive. Things are shifting so quickly, there is no point in catching the first train outta here. I'm always doing flow charts. Figuring out the diamonds (decisions) will be the hardest part.

1.  Big time prestige. (Accept NIL, pay for play, portal transfers, and all that goes with that.)
a.  Join Big Integer  (Stanford is not coming anywhere near the SEC)
b.  PACC - national bi-coastal conference and help conference mates make it prestigious.   
c.  [better thought here. English Premier League?]

2.  A well-rounded athletic program that includes football. Yesteryear. Competitive and fun. And maybe off the national radar, at least in football.
a.  Join a western-based mid-major conference with decent to good basketball. WAC/Mtn. West. Replace USC with Fresno St. and UCLA with SDSU.
b.  Even those are getting crazier, so join the Big Sky. FCS football and at least there is March Madness every couple of years/decades.
c.  Go independent in football, and would universal religion/spirituality/agnosticism/atheism count in the WCC? We have a nice church on campus.

3.  Dump football, keep everything else.
a.  Will NIL/portal, etc. affect hoops too much too?
b.  How much revenue would monster truck pulls at Stanford Stadium generate?

4.  Intramurals are what is really important.