The Bay Area schools’ struggles on the field and court in recent years have contributed to mounting losses on the bottom line. A review of financial documents by the Hotline revealed the Cal and Stanford athletic departments produced a $37.6 million (combined) operating shortfall in the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years — a precarious existence as they prepare for life in the ACC under an agreement that initially assigns them partial shares of the conference’s revenue. However, that $37.6 million shortfall included direct university support that was booked as revenue under the NCAA’s financial report ..read more

BERKELEY — The Cal football spring showcase turned out to be a showcase for the Bears’ top two quarterbacks and a handful of starters mixed in with lesser-known players. Cal held out 25 players, including star running back Jadyn Ott, from its spring game on a sunny Saturday afternoon in front of an estimated crowd of 2,500 fans at Memorial Stadium. Others kept on the sidelines for cautionary reasons included defensive starters Cade Uluave, Craig Woodson, Marcus Harris, David Reese and Xavier Carlton. The two-hour event, televised by Pac-12 Network, was a fan experience as much as anything. Cal ..read more

The Cal women’s gymnastics team capped the best season in program history with a runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. Second-ranked LSU edged the No. 3 Bears 198.225-197.8500. Top-ranked and two-time defending champion Oklahoma was eliminated in the semifinals on Thursday. Utah was third with a 197.800 and Florida was fourth at 197.4375. “Our expectation now is to certainly compete with the very best on the final night of the national championships,” co-head coach Justin Howell said. “This experience will be invaluable to everyone returning on the team ..read more

Cal is headed to the finals of the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships for the first time in school history after finishing second in the semifinals 1 session on Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas. Stanford finished third, 0.6375 points behind Cal. Only the top two teams from each semifinal advance to the Four on the Floor national championship round on Saturday. “This is such a historic accomplishment for us,” Cal’s Mya Lauzon said. “We just performed with joy and freedom. That’s all we needed to do to make it to (Saturday), and that’s exactly what we did today. It’s such an amazing feeling to m ..read more

Third-ranked Cal and No. 19 Stanford are on a collision course at the women’s gymnastics NCAA championships, making up half of the Semifinal I field on Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas. The Bears and Cardinal, along with No 2 LSU and No. 12 Arkansas, are vying for two spots in Saturday’s championship final. Top-seeded Oklahoma, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Utah and No. 8 Alabama will claim two championship spots from Semifinal II, which also is Thursday in Fort Worth. Oklahoma is the two-time defending champion and has won five of the past seven national titles, but the Bay Area teams enter the champions ..read more

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Scottie Scheffler had no doubts about this Masters, and neither did anyone watching. He pulled ahead with magnificent shots Sunday around the turn and poured it on along the back nine at Augusta National for a 4-under 68 to claim his second green jacket in three years. Scheffler is simply unstoppable at the moment, and he had help from a faltering cast of contenders to make it look easier than it was. Much like Tiger Woods he made the outcome look inevitable with sublime control, the difference being a peach shirt instead of Sunday red, and no fist pumps until it was over. After ..read more

The Hotline mailbag publishes weekly. Send questions to pac12hotline@bayareanewsgroup.com and include ‘mailbag’ in the subject line. Or hit me on Twitter/X: @WilnerHotline. Please note: Some questions have been edited for clarity and brevity. Which of the former Pac-12 schools entering the Big Ten would you expect to have the most football wins over the next five or 10 years? — @CreedThoughts24 It’s a fascinating topic that is more easily addressed if we work in reverse order. Of the four, UCLA has the most challenging road and, in our view, will win the fewest games — whether t ..read more

The Cal and Stanford men’s basketball programs received good news on Friday. Mark Madsen reaffirmed his commitment to Cal as speculation swirled that he would be a top candidate to take over at BYU from Mark Pope, who left to replace John Calipari at Kentucky. And Stanford’s 7-foot-1 center Maxime Raynaud withdrew his name from the transfer portal, giving the Cardinal a huge piece as new coach Kyle Smith aims to rebuild the program. In a post on X/Twitter, Madsen said he and his wife, Hannah, “want to thank every single member of the Cal community for your unconditional love and support this y ..read more

MORAGA – Built to accommodate supporters of Saint Mary’s now-defunct football program, the stands on this day were populated with fans of the ancient sport America’s Game is based upon. Two factions, one decked out in red and blue, the other blue and gold, streamed into repurposed bleachers.  The 4,000-plus onlookers were there to watch the college rugby regular-season match of the year. The match that would decide Bay Area bragging rights. The match that has years of history behind it.  Cal versus Saint Mary’s.  “It means everything,” Saint Mary’s sophomore star Dom Besag said ..read more

Back when he was a senior at Folsom High School, Mason Forbes narrowed his college choices to two schools. One of them was Saint Mary’s, and during a campus visit Forbes met with coach Randy Bennett, who laid out all the talking points that favored the Gaels. “The only other school that you’re looking at that I think could beat us out would be Harvard because we can’t offer that same level of academics,” Forbes recalled Bennett telling him. The 6-foot-9 forward opted for the Ivy League and earned his Harvard degree in psychology. But he never got the chance he has this weekend — to play in the ..read more