You'd have a Top 40-50 football program but instead of at a Cal State school, it would be at a prestigious highly ranked UC school
huge market
huge endowment
great recruiting area
AAU member
liberals would not have a problem w/ the mascot (Tritons)
no local competition b/c SDSU stupidly just sold you their team and USD is FCS

seems like a no brainer to me

in this scenario, not sure who PAC-12 team #14 would be or if they would just invite UCSD and wait

What if Superman grew up in Germany?

Wouldn't it be more realistic to just build a top 40-50 program?

(06-04-2022 12:03 AM)WAChsenburggemeinde Wrote:  seems like a no brainer to me

Not surprised

Or they could just buy Cal’s program and not even wait for the PAC 12 invite

UCSD’s profile is phenomenal. It has a huge student body…larger than most P5 schools. It has a prestigious educational reputation…with elite US N&WR ranking. It’s a world renowned research institution…an AAU member. It's in a great location…San Diego has a lot of wealthy people and no other P5 competition. Even the most elitist members of the PAC would endorse UCSD’s university profile.

But UCSD has nearly zero experience, nor passion, for high-level collegiate athletics. Who are UCSD athletics’ fans and boosters? A P5 program needs 40,000 to 50,000 fans at football games; plus 10,000 fans at basketball games. Boosters need to make donations and sponsor NIL deals. A P5 athletic department in San Diego would require a $100M per year budget. As a member of the PAC, a school gets $35M per year payout (for post-season tournaments and media)…that only funds 35% of the required budget.

SDSU may not have the ideal profile for PAC membership. Nevertheless, SDSU is much closer to having the fans, boosters and infrastructure of PAC-worthy collegiate athletics. UCSD doesn’t just have to buy a football program, they would need to merge the two massive universities into some esoteric conglomerate. They really need the SDSU student-body passion, plus the alumni who are athletic program fans and boosters. What PAC athletics needs is the antithesis of the “UC Socially Dead” vibe that too many UC campuses have gravitated towards in the past couple of generations.

The Classic Conundrum of FBS football in CA. For most states and Universities of XXX or XXX State Universities they can drum up a lot of popular support for their athletic programs because a lot of the local population has a connection to the school through friends, family, or an alum themselves.

For the PAC 12 CA schools, they are all so academically elite and draw so many students nationally and internationally it’s hard to cultivate the same local support.

Then you’ve got the Cal St system schools who have a lot of local alums, friends, and family but their athletic budgets and conference affiliation politics keep them from being elite.

(06-04-2022 09:49 AM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  UCSD’s profile is phenomenal. It has a huge student body…larger than most P5 schools. It has a prestigious educational reputation…with elite US N&WR ranking. It’s a world renowned research institution…an AAU member. It's in a great location…San Diego has a lot of wealthy people and no other P5 competition. Even the most elitist members of the PAC would endorse UCSD’s university profile.

The school is only about 60 years old and it's already one of the best research universities in the world. Yes it has location, and it's a much nicer place to live than almost every other elite research university, which helps in recruiting faculty, but becoming elite that quickly is phenomenal, as you said, and hard to explain.

Obviously the thread title question is asinine and no one with a brain would take it seriously.

UCSD wouldn't need to buy another school to advance. What they would need is to show a commitment to developing and sustaining an athletic department of their own. Their location and academic stature by themselves piques the interest of the P12 and adding a track record of commitment to athletics beyond a getting rich quick scheme of absorbing another program/school would make them a certain lock for membership.

(06-04-2022 11:03 AM)Wedge Wrote:  

(06-04-2022 09:49 AM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  UCSD’s profile is phenomenal. It has a huge student body…larger than most P5 schools. It has a prestigious educational reputation…with elite US N&WR ranking. It’s a world renowned research institution…an AAU member. It's in a great location…San Diego has a lot of wealthy people and no other P5 competition. Even the most elitist members of the PAC would endorse UCSD’s university profile.

The school is only about 60 years old and it's already one of the best research universities in the world. Yes it has location, and it's a much nicer place to live than almost every other elite research university, which helps in recruiting faculty, but becoming elite that quickly is phenomenal, as you said, and hard to explain.

Obviously the thread title question is asinine and no one with a brain would take it seriously.

Well the OP did say it was a NO brainer.

(06-04-2022 12:00 PM)clpp01 Wrote:  UCSD wouldn't need to buy another school to advance. What they would need is to show a commitment to developing and sustaining an athletic department of their own. Their location and academic stature by themselves piques the interest of the P12 and adding a track record of commitment to athletics beyond a getting rich quick scheme of absorbing another program/school would make them a certain lock for membership.

But - do they need football to get in?

No

(06-04-2022 01:13 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  

(06-04-2022 12:00 PM)clpp01 Wrote:  UCSD wouldn't need to buy another school to advance. What they would need is to show a commitment to developing and sustaining an athletic department of their own. Their location and academic stature by themselves piques the interest of the P12 and adding a track record of commitment to athletics beyond a getting rich quick scheme of absorbing another program/school would make them a certain lock for membership.

But - do they need football to get in?

They could be brought in as an affiliate member in some sports where the P12 needs the head count in a way similar to how San Diego St and UC Davis just joined the conference for Lacrosse.

As for all in (non football) it would take them becoming a Gonzaga like power in basketball to make a move worthwhile.

Why would UCSD do such a stupid thing like that? And why would SDSU even think it up? Let alone give even the slightest consideration to it?

(06-04-2022 04:05 PM)Rube Dali Wrote:  Why would UCSD do such a stupid thing like that? And why would SDSU even think it up? Let alone give even the slightest consideration to it?

It’s come down to money

SDSU could sell the team for a couple hundred million

UCSD could get the team moved from the MWC to PAC-12 in a year or two
It would then be worth $500M+

Much cheaper than starting UCSD football from scratch and floundering around FCS, FBS independent, and maybe C-USA affiliate for 10 years

I’m not saying SDSU should do it, but if they hired the wrong president that prioritized academics over football, I would try to take advantage of him if I’m UCSD

(06-04-2022 05:14 PM)WAChsenburggemeinde Wrote:  I’m not saying SDSU should do it, but if they hired the wrong president that prioritized academics over football, I would try to take advantage of him if I’m UCSD

The wrong president would prioritize academics over football.

(06-04-2022 05:22 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(06-04-2022 05:14 PM)WAChsenburggemeinde Wrote:  I’m not saying SDSU should do it, but if they hired the wrong president that prioritized academics over football, I would try to take advantage of him if I’m UCSD

The wrong president would prioritize academics over football.

Exactly

(06-04-2022 05:25 PM)WAChsenburggemeinde Wrote:  

(06-04-2022 05:22 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(06-04-2022 05:14 PM)WAChsenburggemeinde Wrote:  I’m not saying SDSU should do it, but if they hired the wrong president that prioritized academics over football, I would try to take advantage of him if I’m UCSD

The wrong president would prioritize academics over football.

Exactly

Thank you for the laugh.

(06-04-2022 05:14 PM)WAChsenburggemeinde Wrote:  

(06-04-2022 04:05 PM)Rube Dali Wrote:  Why would UCSD do such a stupid thing like that? And why would SDSU even think it up? Let alone give even the slightest consideration to it?

It’s come down to money

SDSU could sell the team for a couple hundred million

UCSD could get the team moved from the MWC to PAC-12 in a year or two
It would then be worth $500M+

Much cheaper than starting UCSD football from scratch and floundering around FCS, FBS independent, and maybe C-USA affiliate for 10 years

I’m not saying SDSU should do it, but if they hired the wrong president that prioritized academics over football, I would try to take advantage of him if I’m UCSD

This is not what universities do. For one, SDSU's donors and fanbase would revolt. It's their connection to SDSU. It cannot be transferred to UCSD.

Likewise, UCSD's constituents aren't going to want something that previously belonged to SDSU.

As discussed upthread, there is a disconnect between the UC schools and the general public. Most high school students cannot get into a UC school. On the other hand, the Cal State schools are designed to be geared toward the general public.

Plus, especially with SDSU's new stadium, they're not going to turn around and sell their athletic department to UCSD.

These aren't pro sports franchises.

How exactly would one university sell their athletic department to another university?

Threads like this keeps David St. from posting the dumbest stuff on the boards.