How do I feel? I know how I'd feel if Davis was paying $15 million to join a conference like the MAC. :death:

Sounds like the MAC Council of Presidents can vote this down (?)

MAC is an ugly conference top to bottom. Things must be pretty desperate to be begging into this. Zero regional conference matchups. That might be the worst part (along with potential Tuesday night games).
I'm not sure I'm buying the moratorium bit. Seems to be coping for Sac ending up in the worse possible FBS conference on their wish list - the last option basically.

I'm in agreement with a small capacity at Aggie Stadium. I think the planned renovations are right on target for what we need.

I've always thought our issue was getting students and alums to love football (and the gameday experience in general). UM, MSU, NDSU and the entire South love football and their gameday experience. If there is no passion for the experience itself, it really hard to show up for stuff consistently. Davis has shown the ability to show up for select major events (Stanford basketball 2005, D2 Break-the-Record Nights, Causeway football, as examples).

The potential is definitely there. And I think we will experience some really cool stuff at Davis in our lifetimes.

I think the SJSU renovation was spot-on what they needed and looks great. They adjusted to the reality of their situation.

Its telling that SJSU slashed the capacity of their stadium with the renovation they did. They essentially removed the East side of their stadium. The capacity went from 30,000 down to 18,000.
In the same region, Stanford reduced from 85,000 to 50,000. Neither school comes anywhere near filling their stadiums. Football attendance is tough in the Bay Area (and Sac region).
It remains to be seen whether replacing Northern Arizona with New Mexico will move the needle in Davis.

It appears we have bumped attendance 35% with every "move-up" or major program improvement. So the next one could get us to 13,500 average at least.

It seems the Bison don't sell out these days primarily due to severe weather and fans generally losing interest in watching non-competitive games. Blowing out teams is a great problem, uninhabitable weather not so much.

Speaking of….Pablo Tomba has started all 24 games for LSU averaging 7/7. — DrMike

Impressive!

Its because we've historically drawn around 4,000-6,000 non-students/band/player family for a majority of games since 2006.

Some on here might argue that number is lower.

Attendance has been increasing steadily since 2003 though, which is great. Program improvements can be attributed to this, for sure. Things are headed in the right direction.

D2 Toomey ~6k avg.--> D1 Great West @ Aggie Stadium ~8k avg.---> D1 Big Sky @ Aggie Stadium ~10k avg.

I agree. There is fatigue, since fans have been body-bagged over the past 5-10 years now. Our fan base did prove itself under more enjoyable circumstances though.

I think Davis has shown the potential to show up to Cal/Stanford/SJSU if we are in the MWC and playing on a more level playing field.

I'm more worried about the Yolo / Solano community for home games, to be honest.

It seems Bay Area alums will come out if its a "once-in-a-lifetime" thing like Stanford 2005 or Cal 2010. Other than that.....crickets. The good news is: there were ~5,000 alums interested enough to show up for those 2 events. The pride exists, at least.
The Bay Area folks seem to be most likely to show up, and only to show we "belong" with Cal/Stanford. SJSU doesn't seem to stir anything.

I think being in a more seemingly important/visual conference might help......in 20 years...

Personal commitment and program stability. Hard to find in college athletics these days.

To be fair though......across the entire FCS the average is 69% Revenues from Tax Payers/Student Fees. Its not 80%, but its still high.

https://knightnewhousedata.org/fcs

When you look at the averages across the board, Davis isn't that far out of whack.

This goes to show what I was saying about football meaning something completely different in North Dakota, both to the University and the community.

Insane how Sac is in worse shape than us, yet still somehow printing money to improve the program and move up. I'm still enjoying watching the two programs go about things in completely different ways.

Davis seems to love football being safe and snuggled up in whatever Division its in. It took forever to break free from D2. It will take the same to break free from the FCS.

We moved to D1 with NDSU (Great West Conference). They've blown our doors off in every way.
Football program means completely different things at each school.

While things have been done facilities-wise for football, it has been the absolute bare minimum to field a competitive Big Sky program. For example, building the smallest stadium we could, and waiting 16 years to build Edwards / Biggs so the team could work out / practice at the stadium (and not be embarrassed to bring recruits around).

Mrak has allowed us to fall behind, yet again. Remember we've been D1 for 23 years now
If football were a top priority as it is at NDSU, UC Davis is such a giant we could have this thing ramped up for FBS in a year. Its not what Mrak has ever been interested in. We moved into D1 pretty much alongside all the Dakotas and they are beginning to pass us up. Football just isn't of the same importance economically / socially in CA compared to the Dakotas. And this University does not show the passion required to grow it.

Lucky for me, I personally enjoy the FCS and the Big Sky where I see us for the next 20 years. For better or worse.

Something sounds weird. Pretty sudden move, with a questionable promotion.
I wonder if eGriz is freaking out (I bet yes)

I guess I should watch the presser, etc.....

Kollock, Herman and Sylvester jump out to me.

Are any other guys big-time steals?

Ridiculous.

He used Davis a stepping stone, and Plough can use him as an example in the recruiting game. The relationship can be mutually beneficial.

Its all good. He has friends on the team that will stay friends, I'm sure. Fans are going to fan, either way...

I'm seeing all of that and I love it all.

At the moment, its not equaling $$$$$ to the program. Its also not getting 15,000 attendance in a city of 70,000 people.

Its slowly changing.

I guess the point I'm making is, perhaps this would happen faster if the University changed the "show me you all want this stuff" strategy. Its like, they show pretty pictures and sit back and expect the money flow in (and it doesn't). I still don't know how to give $1,000 to Aggie football.