<p>dobby,</p>
<p>Better sports facilities and academic spending aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, and it doesn't have to be a zero sum game as you present it (in a somewhat "strawman-like fashion, I might add...) While Berkeley in the past did hemorrhage money due to sports spending, the rise of a successful football program may help to draw better athletes and media attention.</p>
<p>I think it's hard to argue that Duke, Michigan, Stanford, UCLA, and North Carolina don't benefit a great deal from their sports programs a great deal, both in notoriety and in money. </p>
<p>Furthermore, it provides opportunities for more students to receive scholarships and want to come to Cal. As it stands, I'm sure that Cal is losing fantastic talent to Stanford, UCLA, and USC in California alone. By developing better sports programs, you keep them where (at least from your perspective) they belong-- at Cal.</p>
<p>CalX,</p>
<p>Of course, this should be carefully weighted against other possibilities. "Saving the oaks" is just reactionary rhetoric typical of undergrads, but what of the long-term contractual obligations with spending? Best I can tell, this will be a campus-wide boon, but you never know... athletics departments are pretty covetous (as they should be) of funding they receive. </p>
<p>All in all, I think it's a great plan for a great university that couldn't come at a better time. Tedford's been a true Cal hero...</p>