Could Cal, Stanford ever rejoin Pac-12? ADs and commissioner Gould weigh in
Soon after the Pac-12 Conference announced its expansion last week, abruptly morphing from sad afterthought to resolute underdog springing back to life, Commissioner Teresa Gould's phone began buzzing non-stop.
Gould received a flood of texts, emails and calls. She heard from a former Arizona State wrestler and a onetime Oregon track athlete, among other alumni of since-departed Pac-12 schools. They thanked her for resuscitating the conference. They told her it made them feel good.
"I knew I'd hear from a lot of people, because I've been in the industry a long time," Gould said. "But maybe I underestimated how much the league meant to former student athletes and alums."
And, yes, Cal and Stanford acquaintances were among the people who reached out to Gould. But, no, they didn't ask if she now planned to lure those schools back to their traditional home.
Still, the rebirth of the Pac-12 – adding Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State to holdovers Oregon State and Washington State – created lively chatter on social media. Does this mean the Bay Area schools might find a way to return? Would Cal and Stanford prefer the geographic logic of this reimagined league to the distant glamour of the Atlantic Coast Conference?
The short answer: Not anytime soon.
Most significantly, Cal and Stanford both signed grant-of-rights agreements binding them to the ACC until 2036. Barring the conference's complete collapse – unlikely but possible with Florida State and Clemson legally fighting to depart, and North Carolina also reportedly ready to bolt – Cal and Stanford are going nowhere for now.
On the brink of their schools' ACC football debuts, in separate Chronicle interviews, athletic directors Jim Knowlton (Cal) and Bernard Muir (Stanford) stressed their commitment to their new conference. Knowlton and Muir both highlighted the benefits of competing in the ACC – namely, the elite competition and academic prestige of many conference peers.
The Pac-12's rebuilding effort has no impact on Cal and Stanford, the ADs agreed.
"Here's what I would say: I'm really proud of Teresa Gould for working hard to rebuild the Pac-12," Knowlton said. "And then I'd say we are absolutely, 1,000 percent committed to the ACC. We're excited about it, and it's a great fit for Cal."
Muir similarly said, "We're proud members of the ACC and looking forward to enhancing this relationship. I'm happy for my former Pac-12 brethren, Oregon State and Washington State, to rebuild if you will. Our concentration is solely on the ACC and trying to compete in a very challenging conference. ... We want to compete at the highest level, and this affords us that opportunity."
The ACC became a lifeline for the Bay Area schools last summer, when the Pac-12 imploded. First, Colorado fled for the Big 12. Then Oregon and Washington joined USC and UCLA in the Big Ten. Then Utah, Arizona and Arizona State scurried to the Big 12.
Cal and Stanford suddenly found themselves adrift, their conference of more than 100 years broken up and scattered by the almighty television dollar. The Bay Area schools had no leverage after the Pac-12 disintegrated, forcing them to accept about 33% of a full share of ACC media (television) rights revenue for the next seven years.
That equates to between $10 million and $11 million annually per school, a steep drop from the more than $25 million per year they received in the old Pac-12.
But the ACC revenue still counts as substantially more than the new Pac-12 figures to attract in its next television deal, with media markets mostly plucked from the Mountain West. And the ACC share of College Football Playoff revenue, estimated at $13 million to $14 million per school per year, also dwarfs what Group of Five conference schools will get (less than $2 million annually).
That helps explain the incentive for Cal and Stanford to happily stay in the ACC. But that doesn't mean the Pac-12 might not pursue them as it seeks to expand again.
The conference now has six members (starting in 2026), and it must reach at least eight by July 1, 2026, to officially earn NCAA recognition as an FBS league. Put another way: Gould is not done.
"We have more institutions to add, and we don't know how many we're adding," she said when asked about Cal and Stanford as possible targets. "We're not at a place where we're going to comment publicly on any specific institutions or potential new members. ...
"I would say the inbound interest from prospective members and media partners has been overwhelming. That was our strategy. We knew this would create some interest, and sort of put the country on notice: The Pac-12 is here and rebuilding. We're willing to talk to anyone and everyone."
As this latest round of realignment unfolds behind the scenes, Cal and Stanford prepare to step onto a fresh stage. Both programs play their first ACC games this week – Stanford at Syracuse on Friday and Cal at Florida State on Saturday.
Worth noting here: The Cardinal's trip to upstate New York covers more than 2,400 miles, and the Bears' journey to Tallahassee, Fla., stretches about 2,200 miles.
This serves as a tidy synopsis of the cross-country journeys ahead. Stanford will travel to the Eastern time zone three times in the next four weeks, including back-to-back visits to Syracuse and Clemson, S.C.
The school has established a faculty task force, according to Muir, to help mitigate the demands on athletes. Stanford will charter a larger-than-usual plane for football, so the athletes can spread out, and hopes to provide more charter flights for its basketball teams.
But not even Stanford can change the geography of the United States. And the long trips will present an even bigger challenge for sports such as baseball and volleyball, with more games on the schedule.
"We understand being in a Power Four conference probably means you're going to have to travel," Muir said. "Besides the SEC, everywhere else you're going coast-to-coast. That's the new reality of college sports, and we're working through it."
One down-the-road scenario often floated is football eventually breaking apart as its own entity. That could allow the so-called Olympic sports to return to regional competition in some form.
Gould acknowledged this possibility "makes a lot of sense," mostly because it would help the "wellness" of student athletes who now face heavy travel. Knowlton agreed, provided the structure works for conference television partners.
"If everyone can get in alignment, there's a way to have a national footprint and also be regional," he said.
But that's a conversation for another day. For now, as the Pac-12 reinvents itself and other Group of Five conferences jostle for position in the ongoing realignment game, Cal and Stanford mostly are relieved to have spots in a Power Four conference.
One Bears player, tight end Jack Endries, still prefers to watch "old" Pac-12 teams such as UCLA and Oregon, not ACC teams, in his free time. He grew up in Danville and called himself a longtime Pac-12 fan.
Endries also prefers playing in the ACC, he said, because of the tougher competition.
That counts as one compelling argument against Cal and Stanford eyeing an eventual return to the Pac-12. Kevin Kennedy, president of California Legends Collective, the fund-raising group supporting Cal athletes, said losing power-conference status would "completely change the dynamics" for donors and the school.
One donor echoed the point. Steve Hart, CEO of Advantage Microsystems, an IT security services company based in Berkeley, has contributed to his alma mater's football program for 13 years. He was happy to see the Pac-12 rebuild, because he wants Oregon State and Washington State to succeed.
At the same time, Hart isn't interested in Cal returning to join them.
"I think the breakup of the Pac-12 was upsetting, and I'll mourn the loss of that tradition for a long time," he said. "... But the Pac-12 of old is gone. Too much of it has been lost for it to seem relevant going forward."
Another Pac-12 alum keeps tradition alive in a small way. Ron Gould, husband of the conference commissioner, played at Oregon and spent 24 years as an assistant coach in the league, including 16 at Cal and six at Stanford. Gould now is running backs coach for the Los Angeles Rams.
Before every game, he takes the field for warmups wearing a Pac-12 T-shirt. NFL opponents who played in the conference inevitably see the shirt and say hello, as Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Michael Wilson (a Stanford alum) did last Sunday.
The sight warms the heart of Teresa Gould, who worked in Cal's athletic department for 13 years and is still processing her emotions about the Pac-12's wild ride.
"I have a long, deep history in this league," she said. "Everything that transpired was heartbreaking, devastating and exhausting at times. That's why the opportunity for the Pac-12 to continue, and write that next story, is overwhelmingly joyful."
