I heard that Mariota thanked Phil Knight

Tequilla said:

Mosster47 said:

We have the best owner in college sports!!!

You have to thank Phil. The equipment, training facilities, locker room, academic center, indoor practice facility, weight room, football complex, uniforms, and stadium are all there because of Phil Knight. Oregon spend a couple million on Autzen way back when and hasn't spent a fucking dime since.

Phil is the reason why Oregon has the best of the best and the reason why the AD can pour money into being great at sports no one cares about. Without Phil Knight Oregon would be Oregon State. He's the reason why UW is never coming back.

So what happens when Uncle Phil kicks the bucket? Sure, the endowment probably exists to spend money into the program. But does Nike hit the crapper? Does new management cut some of the ties to the University of Oregon that they currently have (i.e. they start hiring more qualified employees other than those that just played at Oregon and other Nike schools)? Does the money come with strings that the new individuals get power hungry with their access? There are a lot of unknowns there.

As for why Washington "isn't coming back," that's a rich statement. There are built in advantages for the University of Washington that Oregon will never have. The one advantage Oregon has that Washington doesn't have at the moment is their own version of a Phil Knight, T Boone, etc. But our downturn has been as much about the coaches and leadership of the program than it has been anything that we have necessarily lost.

In the PAC North going forward, taking out of the equation, I'd buy Washington stock on a go-forward basis before I bought Stanford, Cal, Oregon State, or the Cuogs.

Sure, those are risks. If you had your way, you'd be more diversified, though I think Phil's largess tends to blind us to the fact that Oregon does, in fact, have many other friends, like, for example, Steve Ballmer and his wife who just gave them $50 million.

Like AZ Duck said, the official cutting of the ties from the state vis a vis the independent board was a huge hurdle for that school. The state of Oregon has been as anemic as the state of Washington in funding higher ed. Washington learned from the Michigan example years ago that they had behave somewhat like a private school and fend for themselves and raise money. Hence the original "Campaign for Washington" back in the day with a goal of $200 million. I was there when that was a lofty goal. Now it's nothing (even Oregon's campaign is $2 billion). The UCs are learning this now too as state funding had finally really dried up for them too.

I think Washington does have advantages, but I tend not to think of them in the FS Iron Laws sense.

Phil's mark on UofO is going to be somewhat indelible. At a minimum, it will last through our life time. And one thing that the Oregon example has helped with is give people another example to cite that funding sports is not necessarily a detraction from academics. They can be complimentary in many ways.

Even Harvard throws serious $$ at its sports facilities. My daughter was on the Charles earlier this fall and told me that Harvard has two separate boat house complexes: one for the men and a separate one for the women. Each one is huge and loaded with all the best of best and would be more than adequate for both teams. Abundance. They also recruit all over the planet for rowers. This is just one (albeit important) sport. They care.

RaceBannon said:

I support Knight exploiting third world labor I just don't like where the profits go

I was the first one in the gym to wear Nike shoes because Downtown Freddy Brown was a Nike guy in the 70s. He had to be one of the first

And I support your support of third world exploitation. Capitalizum bitches. Where Damone at?