Stanford football general manager Andrew Luck has landed his most lucrative donation in his short time managing his alma mater.
Luck and the Cardinal announced on Wednesday, Oct. 8 that the football program has received a $50 million gift from philanthropist and former trustee Bradford M. Freeman, himself a former player. It is the biggest individual gift in the program’s history, according to ESPN.
‘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 in a statement. ‘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. I believe that Stanford has the opportunity to be a leading program in college football, and we are entirely motivated to field championship-caliber teams.’
As noted by Stanford’s news release, the $50 million gift from Freeman will help support the Cardinal’s NIL efforts and will create five new football scholarships for student-athletes. Stanford will ALSO rename the tunnel where players and coaches enter Stanford Stadium to the ‘Bradford M. Freeman Tunnel.’ The university and athletic department will also rename a highly trafficked entrance gate for visitors as the Bradford M. Freeman Gate.
Freeman graduated from Stanford in 1964 with an undergraduate degree in economics. In 1988, Freeman endowed the nation’s first head coaching position, the Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football, the title that is given to the head coach of Stanford.
‘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 a statement. ‘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 gift from Freeman is a significant one, especially on the NIL front, as Stanford continues to grow its efforts on that front. The Cardinal have played catch-up in the NIL front compared to other universities and colleges in the country, as it wasn’t until April of 2024 that they announced a change to their NIL collective, Lifetime Cardinal. This change preluded Luck’s hiring as the Cardinal’s general manager in November 2024.
‘We are deeply grateful to Brad for this extraordinary commitment to Stanford football. His generosity comes at a pivotal time and puts us in position to build a championship-caliber program,’ Stanford athletic director John Donahoe said in a statement. ‘Brad’s belief in the future of our program strengthens not only football but the foundation of excellence that defines Stanford Athletics.’
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