Uncommon move: Rivalry matchup delayed for first time since death of JFK
Saturday’s Big Game has been postponed because of sustained unhealthy air quality in the wake of the Camp Fire in Butte County — a landmark moment in the 120-plus-year history of the rivalry.
Cal, which was to host the game at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley’s Strawberry Canyon, issued a statement Friday afternoon, about 27 hours before the football game against Stanford was scheduled to kick off.
The 121st Big Game will be played Dec. 1, with the kickoff scheduled for noon.
After offering his thoughts and prayers to those affected by the deadly Camp Fire and thanking the firefighters in his opening statement of an afternoon news conference, Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton said: “While we
would have loved to play the Big Game tomorrow, and all of our fans and alums would like to do that, once we realized the air quality would not likely return to acceptable levels, we made the decision to postpone for the health and safety of our student-athletes, students, coaches, game-day staff, fans and supporters who would have been exposed should we hold the game.
“So much of the Big Game experience includes the parties and tailgates beforehand, friends and families, and what they do after the game. To have everybody exposed for that long of time just didn’t make sense. It’s not who we are. It just wasn’t the right thing to do.”
Knowlton said his decision was made based on guidance from medical and environmental experts and in communication with the Pac-12 and Stanford. All tickets to Saturday’s game will be honored Dec. 1.
The only years since 1892 in which the traditional rivalry wasn’t played were during World War I (1915-18) and World War II (1943-45). The 1963 Big Game was postponed a week after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
“I’d like to say, ‘It was a nobrainer, and I did not get any
“To have everybody exposed for that long of time just didn’t make sense. It’s not who we are. It just wasn’t the right thing to do.” Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton
gray hair because of it.’ That is not the truth,” Knowlton said. “I think it’s the right call to make, based on all of the information we could gather, but we couldn’t have said that (Thursday). There was enough ambiguity in what was going to happen with the air that we had to wait until today.
“As you can imagine, if tomorrow was beautiful, sunny and a blue-skied day, and the new AD had made this decision, it would not have been good for the new AD.”
Knowlton, who was hired in April, said he considered moving the game to another stadium, but there weren’t local venues with markedly improved air quality.
He left a meeting about potential options for next Saturday’s game against Colorado to attend the news conference.
“We’re already working on branches, sequels and decisions,” Knowlton said. “We are absolutely hoping that we’re going to be playing a game in good air next Saturday, but we’re going to find other options should we have to make other decisions.”