BearTalk

Pacific coach Bob Thomason confirms that Cal will play a return game against the Tigers next season, but not in the 6,150-seat Spanos Center on-campus facility.

The game will be held at the downtown Stockton Arena, which is home to minor-league hockey and indoor football and soccer, and seats 10,000. Pacific has not played a game in the building.

“We’ve been waiting to play a game there and I think Cal will be a great attraction,” Thomason said. “We’ve been trying to get Gonzaga or Stanford. With Cal, obviously, they have a lot of boosters around this area.

“It’s really nice,” he said of the arena. “It’ll be loud.”

Cal and Pacific open their schedules in a clash Saturday at Haas Pavilion at 5 p.m. It’s the first meeting between the schools in nine seasons.