(08-10-2023, 09:12 AM)81alum Wrote: Is there a billionaire alum, similar to John Arrillaga, who could just endow athletics with enough to replace the TV revenue that we would lose by being independent or playing in a non power-4 conference? Couldn't we regularly get our old Pac 12 partners and Notre Dame on the football schedule? And if our coaching and facilities and matchups are as good as any power 4 school, what does it matter?
In short, does Stanford have the resources necessary to buy ourselves out of this mess? All the coaches and athletic scholarships are payed for out of endowments already, no? That is more than a start....
Money would help a lot with scheduling (bribing teams to play us as make no mistake that would be necessary as an independent) and travel (if additional travel to fill the schedule would be needed compared to Pac-12 days, as would be likely). It only minimally helps with recruiting (and only then if we actually invest in recruiting resources) and not even remotely close to compensating for the potentially mortal blow of losing the power conference cachet.
I think you and many are far too sanguine about being able to get our former conference brethren to play us. They don’t need us anymore. They’re in the big leagues now, and now that they are will probably be looking for cupcakes in the non/conference schedule. Even if they want to play us, the best time for them is the first three weeks of the season…. We can only play three games in that span and have to figure out what to do with the other nine. Realistically, if we go independent we will have to prioritize which of the traditions to try to save (and I assume Cal, USC, and UCLA will be the first ones we try to save) and by and large will have to scramble to fill out a dog’s breakfast of a schedule. That’s what independent life is.
As for the likelihood of getting a billionaire donor to bail us out, I question how functionally rich our football program is. Yes, the endowment is enormous. Yes, there are some very wealthy Stanford alumni. The problem is the endowment isn’t used for sports and the alumni don’t give to the program in any sort of way that stands out with who we’re trying to compete against. In terms of actual commitment Stanford has shown to major sports it’s bargain basement coaches, adequate but hardly Oregon (or any number of other programs) resources, and facility upgrades when one particular benefactor who is now gone decided to make it happen. In terms of what you’re talking about, I’m not convinced Stanford is actually more resource-rich than SMU. Our rich alums tend to focus on building family wealth, philanthropy, climate change, bankrolling Oregon sports….