BY steven dunst
Like many past years, the success of the Cal football team depends largely on its ability to take down a tree. But this year, the opponent isn’t Stanford. While it would be nice if everyone were talking about the chances of the Bears knocking off Texas A&M in the Holiday Bowl and breaking down the Aggies’ stingy defense, the focus of the past few weeks has been on the oak trees in front of Memorial Stadium. As reported in The Daily Californian on Wednesday, the UC Regents finally certified the environmental impact report for the proposed stadium renovations and athletic center after dragging their heels for a month amidst community protests. But alas, the saga is far from over. The Berkeley City Council announced it would sue the campus over the proposal and still has 30 days to do so. This action would muddle the plans that desperately need to go into place and delay renovations that have been talked about for years. The condition of Memorial Stadium right now is entirely unacceptable. As most know, the stadium lies on a fault line, putting athletes and patrons of the facility in jeopardy should a sizable earthquake hit. Every day that the plan is delayed, athletes are put at risk. Current athletic facilities are sub-standard compared to other Pac-10 schools. Oregon’s and UCLA’s, to name a few, are in another stratosphere altogether. For an athletic program that ranks among the top-10 in the nation consistently and hopes to field a perpetually dominating football team to not have at least average facilities puts it at a grave disadvantage when it comes to wooing recruits and generating alumni donations.
Just as importantly, Bears coach Jeff Tedford signed his contract extension with the promise that these renovations will move ahead at a swift pace. Cal has three losses on the season and message boards are still flooded with rumors that Tedford will leave for a gig at Oregon and Alabama, where he will have an easier time recruiting due to the tradition and superior facilities. Don’t expect Tedford to withstand bureaucratic red tape forever. And having a winning football program actually helps the entire school, not just the football team. According to an NCAA study in 1999 before the lucrative BCS system really even kicked into gear, the average football team made over a $6 million profit. More than anything else, even more than a few Noble Prizes, a winning football team generates excitement for the school, involves the alumni, and ultimately leads to a marked increase in donations. The donations used to complete the project are coming from funds earmarked specifically for athletics, so no other departments are hurt by it. A refurbished stadium will put more fans in the seats and make Tedford’s recruiting job a whole lot easier. As Tedford said, many top recruits who visit Cal expecting top-10 facilities to go along with a top-10 football team are shocked by what they see. All of these improvements will be made with the creation of the athletic facility and renovation of the stadium. On top of that, the university is doing everything it can to be accommodating to environmental concerns. For all of its environmental injustice, the university has done more than its fair share, promising to plant three trees for every one that is cut down. So signs put up by the tree-sitters outside the stadium like “Mommy, what were trees like?” don’t apply here. Regardless, all but four of the oaks currently outside the stadium were planted and cared for by the university. It is UC Berkeley’s jurisdiction, not the city of Berkeley’s. The overall cost to the environment and aesthetic appeal is minimal. The cost of failing to push through with the renovations is sky-high.
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