The public reveal was stocked with lofty goals and grand phrases. Earlier this spring, Cal athletics announced the formation of a new content unit that was “groundbreaking and innovative” and would use “cutting-edge collaboration” and a “new approach to external engagement,” combined with “a fully integrated studio model,” in order to meet the demands of a “rapidly evolving landscape.”

That sounds great, but what does it mean?

What’s the purpose of Strawberry Creek Studios? And why isn’t it called Strawberry Canyon Studios?

Also, how does it differ from the previous structure within athletics?

And most importantly, how will Strawberry Creek Studios help the Bears build a roster capable of winning the ACC football championship in the era of NIL and the transfer portal?

Allow us to explain.

What’s the purpose?

Strawberry Creek Studios is the brainchild of Cal’s co-athletic directors, Jay Larson and Jenny Simon-O’Neill. Appointed last summer to one-year terms by chancellor Rich Lyons, they immediately began examining ways to increase revenue for an athletic department that typically needs more than $30 million from central campus to balance the books.

“We created what we called The Playbook, which was our one-year strategic plan,” Larson said last week. “We knew we needed to enhance revenue. Also, we knew we had to create a sustainable financial model for Cal athletics.

“To do that, we needed to invest in football and basketball. We needed to invest in our revenue-generating machines, philanthropy, traditional revenue sources, new revenue sources. And as the overriding theme, we needed to enhance the Cal athletics brand, the Cal football brand.”

Strawberry Creek Studios is designed to provide the content for those branding efforts by connecting Cal athletes with fans, donors and potential sponsors for the NIL deals that drive recruiting and retention efforts.

In the current era of college sports, athlete compensation comes in two forms: revenue-sharing agreements between players and schools; and NIL deals in which athletes are compensated by businesses for endorsement and marketing endeavors.

The former has a cap of roughly $20.5 million per school per year — it’s expected to increase annually as revenues grow — but the latter has no ceiling.

By generating content, Strawberry Creek Studios will create marketing opportunities for high school recruits, potential transfers and Cal athletes who are mulling whether to re-sign with the Bears.

“Cal attracts a really amazing student, and we haven’t always been able to capture that in our storytelling,” Simon-O’Neill said. “That’s one of the things we’re most excited about, not only being able to build content with their stories but also help them build their own personal brand.

“Recruits are now asking to speak to our chief marketing officer.”

What’s different?

From an organizational standpoint, Strawberry Creek Studios will strengthen the alignment between three important units within athletics: strategic communications, marketing and creative services.

Under the structure in place for decades, collaboration was suboptimal.

“They all had their own goals and kind of all their own verticals,” Simon-O’Neill said. “We realized we needed to bring everybody together to focus on revenue generation and authentic storytelling. To do that, everyone has to have the same North Star.”

Beth Tafolla-Voetsch, executive senior associate athletic director for external relations, will oversee Strawberry Creek Studios. Jason Hobar, a senior associate athletic director and the Bears’ chief marketing officer, will be heavily involved.

Athletic department employees in the communications, marketing and creative services units were allowed to apply for the new positions within Strawberry Creek Studios. Some could be retained, albeit with responsibilities tweaked for the new endeavor. The Bears are hiring from outside the university, as well. A litany of jobs have been posted.

Eventually, the unit will have 25 to 28 employees, with staff expected to be in place this summer.

Asked for an example of the intra-department alignment they hope to create, Larson offered the following:

“Before Strawberry Creek Studios, we had ticket sellers and a separate development operation. On Tuesday, the ticket people would be calling donors, and on Thursday, the development people would be calling donors. There was no combined system to know if one had spoken with the other. It was frustrating for our donors and season-ticket holders. ‘Who’s my lead at Cal?’”

Strawberry Creek Studios, he added, “has already created synergy where the units are talking to each other.”

What’s with the name?

Strawberry Canyon, just east of campus, is synonymous with Cal football: Memorial Stadium and Tightwad Hill are located on the canyon’s western edge.

Strawberry Creek is exactly that — a creek that snakes through campus.

“We named it Strawberry Creek Studios on purpose to signal the storytelling behind it,” Hobar said. “The creek connects our athletic department from Memorial Stadium down to Haas Pavilion and connects athletics to the campus.”

Although football and men’s and women’s basketball are its primary focus, the new unit will support Cal’s other 27 sports with content generation and branding.

“The coaches in our Olympic sports need more content for recruiting and retention,” Simon-O’Neill said. “We have a way, in this new structure, to give them more content.

“The way we present on social media is what allows students to know they want to come here and visit. That’s authentic storytelling on social platforms. We just didn’t have the structure (previously) to do that in a way that was enough.”

How will it help football?

This is the $40 million question.

College sports is hurtling toward a rupture in the early 2030s, when a series of media rights contracts holding the enterprise together, including the College Football Playoff and NCAA Tournament, expire within a four-year window.

Whatever comes next could feature a football super league of the top 30 or 40 programs.

Or perhaps the SEC and Big Ten will expand again.

What’s more, the ACC could collapse at the turn of the decade when the cost to exit the conference plunges to manageable levels.

Football will be the prime mover in the formation of a new structure.

The future of Cal athletics — whether the Bears have a seat at the main table or are relegated to second class — depends on coach Tosh Lupoi’s ability to field a roster that contends in the ACC over the next four or five years.

His success will hinge on funding.

Currently, most schools in the ACC spend roughly $14 million on revenue sharing, which is capped, and provide anywhere from $10 million to $25 million in NIL through endorsement opportunities, which are uncapped.

Strawberry Creek Studios was built with NIL in mind.

“We communicate a lot about football in the fall, for 120 days,” Larson said. “But we wanted to make that a 365-day thing where we’re churning out content and filling airwaves with Cal football.

“There’s a recruiting aspect to it: to talk about their brand, how we’re going to build their brand in this major metro market, how we’re going to connect them with (sponsors) with above-the-cap NIL opportunities. We haven’t had a robust infrastructure to be able to do that.”

According to NCAA financial reports, the Bears spent $8.8 million on fundraising, marketing and promotion (for all sports) in the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Strawberry Creek Studios will create four positions devoted exclusively to football: an assistant athletic director for gameday entertainment, as well as directors of technical production, design and creative video. Additionally, three new positions, while not exclusive to football, will prioritize Lupoi’s program: director of outreach and community, and assistant athletic directors for digital ecosystems and content studio.

In theory, Strawberry Creek Studios will be the response when interested recruits and potential transfers ask Lupoi about NIL opportunities.

In theory, it will create connections, both on game day and through social media, between the players and fans.

In theory, it will provide a mechanism for quarterback Jaron Keawe-Sagapolutele to tell his story in a manner that attracts enough endorsement opportunities to keep him in Berkeley beyond next season.

“It will help us recruit better,” Larson said. “It will help us tell our stories better, enhance our brand. It will result in greater viewership, more followers on social media, more engagement with Cal football.

“That all leads to greater revenue, which you can pour back into the program.”

That sounds great. Now, the Bears have to execute.