Big Game to Stay in Berkeley Next Year (Not Going to Santa Clara)

The 2014 Big Game between UC Berkeley and Stanford will be held in Berkeley, Cal's athletic director announced after reviewing a proposal to hold it at the new Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.


Location of the big rivalry football match alternates each year between Cal and Stanford, and next year is Berkeley's turn to hold it at Memorial Stadium. 

The proposal to play the game at the San Francisco 49ers new home in Santa Clara came from the 49ers and the Santa Clara Stadium Authority, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Aug. 23.

An open letter on Thursday to Friends of Cal Athletics from UC Berkeley athletics director Sandy Barbour said that the campus concluded after careful review that "it is not in Cal’s best interest to move forward with the offer."

Here's the full letter:

Dear Friend of Cal Athletics:

After carefully analyzing a proposal to play the 2014 Big Game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, we have concluded that the 2014 game will remain at California Memorial Stadium as scheduled.

In arriving at this decision, we studied a wide range of factors, including the competitive balance of our home schedule, the student-athlete experience and the game-day environment for our fans, as well as short- and long-term financial implications. We reached out to a number of our alumni, students, donors and ticket holders, and we received valuable feedback from them. In addition, many other fans expressed their views, and we listened to — and are grateful for — what they told us. We also consulted frequently with campus leadership. Only then, after considering each of these factors, did we arrive at the conclusion that it is not in Cal’s best interest to move forward with the offer. I would like to thank the Stanford and San Francisco 49er leadership teams for their time and diligence working through this process.

Ultimately, our guiding principle within Cal Athletics is to provide our student-athletes with a world-class collegiate experience, delivering the resources and conditions that enable them to excel both in the classroom and on the field of play. That principle can take many forms — improved or new facilities, academic encouragement and reinforcement, outstanding coaches and support staff, innovative high-performance programs, and much more. In a similar manner, we also deeply respect and value our community of loyal supporters and always consider their interests when analyzing any endeavor. We are convinced that if we maintain a clear focus on student-athletes and our community, we will achieve our goal: an athletic department that is regarded as a national leader.

In order to support our 29-sport program, we will continue to be entrepreneurial and explore new opportunities as well new sources of revenue to best position our teams for success. Within our football program, we still have a desire to create a more balanced schedule with a consistent mix of traditional rivals and recent marquee opponents at home. Although we are passing on this particular opportunity, we remain open to looking at the right set of circumstances in the future — as long as they are consistent with the values and principles that informed this specific decision.

While we continue to consider opportunities to strengthen our financial position, we will not sacrifice our core values to achieve our primary objectives. We remain committed to our student-athletes, our campus community and the ever-strong Cal supporters who prove time and again that they are unquestionably passionate about this University and the Golden Bears.

Thank you for your support, and Go Bears,

Sandy Barbour
Director of Athletics