BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — California is taking the tarps off the seats in the south end zone of Memorial Stadium and is trending toward having its biggest home crowd in nearly a decade for its season opener against UCLA.
First-year coach Tosh Lupoi personally removed the tarps in a social media video released by the school Tuesday, and the school plans to keep them off all season. Tickets are already being sold for those sections for the entire home schedule, and Cal is expecting a sellout for the first game against the Bruins on Sept. 5.
“We’ve done some really good things with our ticket sales that most certainly are up,” general manager Ron Rivera said Wednesday. “This also shows the interest. One of the things that has been really good for us is to have a marquee game. Marquee games at home mean an awful lot. It means the attendance most certainly will be up and also good for television for us. These are part of the metrics that we’re being measured on, is the butts in the seats, and how the eyeballs are on the television sets when we play.”
The tarps have been up for several seasons as Cal has struggled to fill its home stadium, averaging less than 35,000 fans per home game last season under coach Justin Wilcox. That was down from more than 39,000 fans per game in 2024, when the home schedule featured premium games against Miami and Stanford that drew sellouts of 52,428.
Removing the tarps would add a few thousand seats for the opener. There's a chance that more seats could be available later in the season. Cal has topped 60,000 fans just four times since the remodeled stadium reopened in 2012. The high in that time was 63,186 for the first game in 2012 against Nevada. Cal also topped the 60,000 mark for the Big Game against Stanford that season, a 2013 game against Ohio State and a 2015 game against Grambling when the famed marching band was the biggest draw.
But excitement is high this season for a program that has won more than seven games just once in the past 10 seasons and hasn’t had a winning record in conference play since 2009.
Rivera has done a good job engaging alumni and raising money in his two years as general manager and Lupoi has energized the fan base with his string recruiting since being hired in December. Quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele is back after a strong freshman season and provides hope that the Bears can be a contender again soon.
Cal has a higher-profile home schedule this season, with the opener against UCLA being the first meeting between the longtime Pac-12 rivals since the two schools left that conference following the 2023 season. The Bears also host traditional power Clemson on Sept. 25 and Stanford on Nov. 21.
Rivera said it's important to win games, which would help increase both attendance and television viewership to help put Cal in a better position for either the next wave of realignment or for the Atlantic Coast Conference's next media rights deal.
“The West Coast viewers are very valuable. This is the sixth-largest TV market in America. There is value to who Cal and Stanford are,” Rivera said. “That to me is one of the things that we have to sell. But we can only sell it if the numbers continue to rise. If we continue to get fan engagement on television, continue to get fan engagement in our stadiums. That’s what’s important. That’s what we need and we need it now.”
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FILE - Ron Rivera speaks during a news conference at an event for the Hispanic Football Hall of Fame, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Henderson, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher,File)
FILE - California and Stanford players take the field for of an NCAA college football game at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP,File)
The Big 12 Conference on Wednesday followed the Southeastern and Big Ten conferences in banning players who were on NFL rosters from returning to college.
The decision by the Big 12 came a day after rulings by the SEC and Big Ten. Earlier Wednesday, the NFL made it clear that players who leave the NFL to return to college won’t be allowed to come back to the league this season.
NFL executive Troy Vincent reiterated the longstanding policy at the league’s meetings Wednesday, saying any player who returns to college would not be eligible to play in the NFL until 2027.
Atlantic Coast Conference leaders were also discussing the topic this week.
The rule unanimously adopted by the Big 12 bars its schools from adding professional athletes in football or any other conference-sponsored sport. The league said its rule would apply independently of the status of NCAA eligibility determinations.
According to the Big 12 decision, athletes would be ineligible if they declared for the draft or supplemental draft of any professional sports league and did not timely withdraw before the draft, have been listed on a professional roster or signed a contract to provide athletic services with any sports league.
The SEC’s rule approved Tuesday banned players who have been drafted by NFL, NBA or WNBA teams or listed on rosters in those leagues. The Big Ten only included football in its decision and is expected to later address other sports.
At least two players who signed with NFL teams as undrafted free agents this offseason were hoping to return to college and play at No. 11 LSU.
Tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive lineman Zxavian Harris signed with NFL teams as undrafted free agents after playing last season at Mississippi for Lane Kiffin, now the coach at LSU.
Wright initially signed with Philadelphia, but was waived Aug. 10 and claimed by Cleveland, which waived him Monday. Harris signed with the New Orleans Saints in May, went through their offseason program and was let go Aug. 8 after being on the non-football injury list.
Both players entered the NFL draft because they had used up their four years of eligibility. The NCAA announced a rule change in June allowing players who began college in 2023 or later to have five years to play five years of sports in college.
That rule didn’t apply to Wright and Harris, who entered college in 2022 but they are among the players who have sued the NCAA, arguing they’re being deprived of education and potential name, image and likeness benefits by being excluded from the rule.
Cal football general manager Ron Rivera said Wednesday he hopes the ACC joins the Big Ten and SEC in turning away former pros.
“I think when somebody makes a decision, goes in a certain direction, I think they’ve made their decision,” said Rivera, a former NFL player and coach. “I’m disappointed that people are looking for ways to cheat the system or beat the system.”
Meanwhile, in Tennessee, the state’s Court of Appeals put on hold an order that would have given former Vanderbilt player Jalen Washington and 18 other basketball players a fifth year of eligibility.
The ruling gives the NCAA a win in ongoing litigation across the nation in federal and state courts involving college athletes who contend they should get a fifth year of competition under revised NCAA eligibility rules adopted in June.
Washington, who transferred to Tennessee, and the other plaintiffs are now ineligible, pending resolution of the NCAA’s appeal of the lower court’s ruling.
Washington was the lead plaintiff in a complaint filed July 6 by the Texas Trial Group seeking the injunction. Others included Chendall Weaver, last at Texas; A.J. Storr of Mississippi; Jason Edwards of Providence; and Daniel Egbuniwe of St. Bonaventure.
The NCAA also has won stays of injunctions in Ohio and New Jersey state courts and in a federal court in Colorado.
The Big 12 decision Wednesday came shortly after quarterback Tommy Castellanos said he has committed to Texas Tech for this season. The 12th-ranked Red Raiders are the defending Big 12 champions and among the favorites again this season.
Castellanos, a freshman at UCF in 2022, went undrafted by the NFL four months ago before a tryout as a receiver with the Miami Dolphins during their rookie minicamp. He never made an NFL roster, but he also never withdrew from the draft, making it unclear if he will be able to play for the Red Raiders.
Castellanos, who played last season at Florida State, last Friday was among 10 athletes granted a temporary restraining order by a Kentucky judge to get a fifth season of college football.
AP Sports Writers Josh Dubow, Charles Odum and Eric Olson contributed to this report.
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Troy Vincent speaks during a news conference at an NFL football owners meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Cleveland Browns tight end Dae'Quan Wright warms up before a preseason NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
