Cal Bears Football

The California Golden Bears, or the Cal Bears for short, have been the University of California, Berkeley’s team for over 130 years, playing in their current home ground, California Memorial Stadium, since 1923. The Bears were very successful in their early years, claiming four consecutive national titles in the 1920s and a fifth in 1937 as well as 14 conference titles (the most recent coming in 2006). The team has also been fairly competitive in Bowl games with a record of 12-12-1, though a string of three consecutive Rose Bowl losses in the late 1940s and another in 1958 was a big disappointment. All in all, the Bears have struggled in the decades since, aside from a brief flurry in the early 2000s, but it retains a loyal fanbase of alumni, faculty, current students, and local community members (as well as fans who travel in from further afield). Amusingly, the Bears were also responsible for two of the best-known plays in all of college football: one incredibly embarrassing and one just plain incredible. The first came in the 1929 Rose Bowl when Cal center Roy Riegels got turned around after picking up a loose ball from a fumble and ran the wrong way down the field, leading his team to concede a game-altering safety (poor Riegels was forever known as Roy "Wrong Way" Riegels, though he was actually quite a good player and even did quite well in the second half of the game). The second event occurred in the 1982 edition of the Big Game (as all matchups against arch-rivals Stanford University are known), when the Bears, down 20-19 with only a kickoff remaining, returned the kick, lateraling the ball numerous times and dodging Stanford substitute players, cheerleaders, and other individuals who had wandered onto the field thinking the game was over and won. To this day, it is known as The Play, and is remembered fondly by many older Bears fans.

Cal Bears Rivalries

As alluded to above, the Cal Bears have a long-standing and intense (if rather good-natured) rivalry with the Stanford Cardinal. The rivalry involves all kinds of traditions, including pep rallies where Cal students create a massive bonfire (sometimes canceled in recent years when fires are too dangerous in California) and put on a theater production of “The Gaieties” that pokes fun at the rivalry. Their meetings are known as the Big Game, with the current record standing at 66-53-11 in favor of Stanford. The Big Game is often held alongside other sports (and fake sports) played between the two universities, including the Big Splash (water polo), Big Freeze (ice hockey), and the Big Sweep (um, Quidditch…). The two student newspapers also contest a touch football game dubbed the Ink Bowl. The Bears also have long-standing California state rivalries with USC Trojans and the UCLA Bruins.

Finding Cal Bears Football Tickets

Despite their questionable form on the field in recent years (or decades), the California Golden Bears are still a huge draw for football fans from around the Bay Area and the state as a whole. Fans come for the atmosphere and fun as much as the football, often making a whole day or even a weekend out of the experience. This can mean that tickets are not always easy to find, especially for Bowl games, championship deciders (if that ever happens), or matches against their closest rivals (especially in the Big Game against Stanford). To find the most affordable tickets to every Cal Bears football game, get onto TicketX and use our helpful stadium seating chart to start comparing different seating options in terms of your price range and preferences.