Stanford may be stuck in the football doldrums—the Cardinal have gone 3-9 each of the past four years—but on Wednesday it appeared to take a mild step toward a return to prominence.
The program has received a whopping $50 million donation from former player-turned-investment banker Bradford Freeman, it announced Wednesday morning.
“This is a game-changing gift for Stanford,” university president Jonathan Levin said in a release. “It will help us to recruit top talent and compete at the highest level. Brad’s generosity and commitment to football will benefit our entire athletics department, as excellence in football will support success across all 36 varsity sports.”
Andrew Luck, the GM of Stanford's football program, was fired up about the donation.
“With Brad’s incredible gift, we are positioned to win on the field and build a bridge to a sustainable future for Stanford football,” Luck said. “The ability to support our players through new scholarships and institutional NIL will reinforce Stanford as the preeminent place in the country to be a football scholar-athlete.”
Freeman graduated from the school in 1964, going on to Harvard Business School. He later became a wealthy banker and prominent donor to President George W. Bush.
“I remain grateful for the opportunities that my Stanford football scholarship gave me, and for all the ways that the university impacted the trajectory of my life,” Freeman said in the university's release. “I hope my gift will herald a new era of excellence for Stanford football and help the university address the new financial demands of competitive college athletics.”
The Cardinal, previously members of the Pac-12 and its predecessor leagues for over a century, jumped ship to the ACC before the 2024 season. A perennial national contender for much of the 2010s, Stanford has not reached a bowl game since winning the Sun Bowl in 2018.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Former Stanford Football Player Makes Massive $50 Million Donation to Program.
