Cal and Stanford are considering moving the site of the 2014 Big Game from California Memorial Stadium to Levi’s Stadium, the San Francisco 49ers’ new home, in Santa Clara.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the 49ers and the Santa Clara Stadium Authority proposed the move to Cal and Stanford to help promote the $1.2 billion stadium, which opens in 2014. If both schools agree to play in Santa Clara in 2014, Cal will host the Big Game in 2015 and all future odd-numbered years.
It wouldn’t be the first time that the two rival schools play a Big Game in a neutral field outside of Berkeley or Stanford. The first 13 Big Games, from 1892 to 1904, were played in San Francisco. With the exception of 1922, when Cal was constructing Memorial Stadium, all even-numbered years were played in Berkeley, and all odd-numbered years were played in Stanford.
Many Cal fans do not seem thrilled at the possibility of bucking the 92-year old trend by moving the Big Game into neutral ground.
“I really hope there’s a good explanation for why we would have to surrender a traditional home game that means so much to our fans, our alums and our students, especially when we’ve just finished renovating our stadium,” Nadesan Permaul, former president of the Cal Alumni Association, said to the San Francisco Chronicle.