Syracuse football: What to think of the game day experience at Cal

What’s a game day in Berkeley like

On a sunny day in beautiful Berkeley, California, at California Memorial Stadium, the Syracuse Orange handled its business against a scrappy California Golden Bears team.

But, how did the West Coast football atmosphere stack up against the gritty, cold, and gray that is Syracuse, New York, and the JMA Wireless Dome? And, because our ‘TNIAAM’ team is a driven group of investigative and unbiased journalists. I was dedicated to getting to the bottom of it.

And, from what I gathered, I wouldn’t say it’s Cal’s fault, but the answer is Syracuse by a million. I’ll explain:

Despite the favorable Noon, pacific standard, start time, and weather, Cal fans piled in late, and Memorial Stadium was maybe at half capacity – the official attendance: 33,493 of a max capacity of 63,000..

Carson Fowler

A Syracuse alumna and events management coordinator at Cal Athletics, who requested that his thoughts remain anonymous, said a typical Saturday at Memorial Stadium is ‘kinda dead’.

“The average attendance at most Cal football games is around 50,000+, and the environment is still nowhere near what Orange Fans experience inside the Dome,” our source said.

He added, that the competition from professional sports in the Bay Area doesn’t help the Golden Bears game-day experience either.

I spoke with several Syracuse fans at Saturday’s game, including Griffin Stark, a senior studying Sports Management and Finance at SU, he said what Cal lacked in stadium entertainment, it more than up for it in its tailgating environment.

“I didn’t think it [Cal] was a school that had a great tailgate environment, but I was wrong,” Stark added. “The student energy in the morning was buzzing leading up to kickoff.”

Berkley definitely lived up to its reputation as a premiere college town, named one of the top 25 college towns in the U.S. by Travel + Leisure earlier this year. Located just north of Oakland, Berkeley offered a mix of big-city and small-town culture that blended favorably for a positive pre-game-day experience – between its Greek life and bar scene.

And, it’s important to add, there were quite a few Orange fans at Memorial Stadium, more than you’d think. The Syracuse faithful showed out in SU’s first trip to the West Coast, post-conference re-alignment. SU’s alumni association even put on an official ‘Syracuse Football at Cal Tailgate’ at the International House at UC Berkley three hours before kickoff with more than 200 RSVPs from what I was told.

“Everywhere you walked, the Orange presence was felt,” Stark said.

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Were any of you in attendance on Saturday? What did you think of the Cal experience?