I’d pay more attention to their game against NDSU. The MAC is a pretty low level FBS conference for a reason… Davis is a member of the Mountain West conference as of 2026. NDSU is a football member of the Mountain West.

Two things to pay attention to.
1. Most important - TV viewership.
2. Attendance.

TV numbers is the main driver of football revenue. More viewers = bigger TV contracts.

Sac State has games against Fresno State, Hawaii, and a home game against North Dakota State. San Jose State plays. Those are the types of games that need to be on the schedule. We have SMU this year as our lone FBS game. It’s not just about filling the stadium, but TV ratings as well.

I hope that in 20 years they replace the new press box they are building now to make both sides look like Colorado states stadium. I’m optimistic about the future of Davis football.

The Sacramento metropolitan area is the 27th largest in the country. Only way we are successful is if we think of why it will work, not focusing on why it won’t. Davis just needs to 1. Field a competitive football team, advertise, and have a quality game day experience. Competing in FBS is what it takes to be a competitive football team. This isn’t Montana where they don’t have professional or D1 FBS teams. NorCal has the 49ers (plus many Raider fans) Cal, Stanford, San Jose St, and now Sac State as D1 FBS teams. Davis needs to play higher competition and big brand name schools. Not directional schools.

I’m hoping they build the other side of the stadium with expanded seating/ luxury boxes & club like Hawaii is doing.

to be fair, there may be some stuff going on behind the scenes that we don’t know about. I predict that Sac State doesn’t build a new stadium, and they become tenants and the new soccer stadium at the rail yards.

Davis admin have been smart taking their time to move up to FBS. Luckily I don’t foresee Davis having to pay anywhere near the same about of fees to the MW because moving up would just make Davis a full member, not an affiliate member like Sac State or NDSU. The game guarantees to play big programs is good. I don’t know how many of those you’d want to schedule though to make sure the team has a competitive record.

I would assume so, but I really don’t know. Davis is already a part of the mountain west and we already know that it was planned for them to move to FBS in the future. Maybe adding Davis adds enough value to the TV networks that they get some money. (Davis is inside of the #20 tv market nationally, but people need to be interested in watching games on tv. MARKETING)

UC Davis will most likely just join the mountain west, then move to P4 status if they can. Most likely the SMU route. Maybe Big 12. That’s a long ways away. Davis needs to focus on these things first.
1. Expanding the stadium. Needs to be around 30-40k seats. Needs good amenities too. Updated food, luxury seats (on both sides). Probably around 25k seats after first remodel (first phase new press/ luxury seats that have already been announced + expanding seats on other sides have not been announced)
2. A vast improvement on Marketing and fundraising. (My big gripe of this message board are too many posters are scared to grow and are complacent with remaining stagnant) Davis is not a small time school. They can budget for more advertising. They can do a better job at fundraising. Look at Cal and Stanford. Cal is pushing hard with donors. Stanford just had KPop concerts at their stadium. They are pushing to make money. Yes, they are bigger brand names, but Davis can push hard as well. You have to start to make momentum. They can pay for coaching salaries and pay revenue shares to players. Davis isn’t a broke school. If they were, we wouldn’t see so much construction and new buildings. They also wouldn’t have announced $250mm+ in sport facilities renovations. ( Side note, the renovations are going to put Davis at the top of G6 facilities. Wouldn’t be surprised if P4 was the end goal in around 15 years.)
3. Davis has to get into FBS. This should be the number one goal. Football is BY FAR the number one revenue driver in college sports. Being a competitive football team will boost the UNIVERSITY’S brand by a long shot. Not just in athletics. Sports are advertising for universities. And while many universities are struggling with enrollment (the major colleges in CA are not…for now, not worried about Davis as it’s a top public school in the country) it will be wise to get ahead of the curve. Davis is on the rise and the accession must continue…

The current MW media package (just announced this year) was negotiated with the TV networks without UC Davis (or NDSU) included in the conference as a football member. The other schools are not going to reduce their share to add Davis in. Davis gets a share of other sports media distributions. It is better to be in FBS than not. Have to think long term.

The house settlement sets a cap of rev share at $20mm per school. This is not NIL funds. I’m sure Davis can figure out how to boost staff payroll and the house settlement. I understand why they want to expand the stadium, as they need a way to capitalize and offset the cost of paying coaches and players. But better competition (and committing to being competitive) will bring more fans and donors.

Another note is NDSU isn’t getting any media share from the MW for the fist six years. Idk how much Davis would get as they are a member in all sports except for football, so adding football to the MW would make them a full member. I EXTREMELY doubt Davis would get a full member distribution. Most likely a reduced share like they are already getting.

Looks like we’ll have to wait to see how much 1. MW revenue share would look like (I’m guessing this would be the biggest part of the budget)
2. How much they can make from new stadium renovations.

I’m not too worried about $5mm a year bc if they can’t figure out a way to do that, they were never serious about competing in FBS in the first place. UC Davis isn’t some of these small universities. If there is a will there is a way.

I like parking lot tailgating… reminds me of Raiders tailgates I grew up going to… but to each his own…

The one thing I will say about football attendance is that at the end of the day, football is entertainment. Davis needs to do a better job at 1. Marketing the team, and 2. Making the game day experience fun. Davis lacks in both of those areas. The proactive approach would be to market from Vallejo up to Roseville and try to get families to come. Get some pyrotechnics when the team enters. Stop being scared to spend money. Get some good food options, get better music played at the games. I went to a lot of Cal and Raiders games growing up, Davis game day atmosphere is pretty boring in comparison.

Also, I will add that I would expect another boost in attendance when Davis moves up to D1 FBS. The competition will be more marketable than playing directional schools in FBS. Davis has already set school records in attendance the last couple of years.

Lastly, the reason Stanford and CAL haven’t had great attendance or football success lately has more to do with the administration not valuing football and in turn the on the field product got bad and attendance dropped. When the couldn’t get into the BIG10 (where the schools in the BIG10 wanted to add them along with USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon, mbut Fox did not want to pay to add 2 additional schools schools to the TV contract) that woke up the admins and they started making sweeping changes to elevate the program. CAL already sold out of their premium seat season tickets (first time since the stadium renovation). I would expect attendance to rise significantly for CAL and Stanford.

In conclusion, the only way for Davis to continue to elevate the program is to take proactive approach. Instead of worrying about if people will come out based on the past, the school needs to market the team to get people aware of the games, improve the game day experience so people will want to keep coming back, and work donors to increase donations. Reactivity will not breed success.

Just as the goal 25 years ago was to move up to FBS from D2, the next goal after moving up to FBS is to get into a P4 conference. Most likely Big 12. Davis can do it. The school is in one of the top TV markets and has a rich alumni base. Just need success on the football field and fan turnout/ tv numbers.

I hope that Davis can get their house settlement up to the allotted $20mm. That would make the football team competitive in the FBS. I see why they want to be able to capitalize on the revenue of movie up to FBS by upgrading the stadium.

It’s no different than Davis getting large donations to fund the athletic facilities renovations. Large usually unannounced donations.

to be fair to UCLA they also have to give CAL 10 million a year because their move to the BIG10 monetarily hurt CAL. Most schools are ok with running a small deficit for sports because at the end of the day, college sports is just advertising for the university. Many schools are fighting for out of state enrollment. People can hate on SAC state all they want, but right now they have national media attention. I doubt they build a stadium with their own money. I predict they become tenants of the new soccer stadium being built. Teams aren’t funding the majority of NIL from everyday give day donations, they get them from Whales. And the amount of NIL needed to compete in the MAC, the lowest of the G6 conferences, is nowhere near the amount needed to compete in the BIG10 or ACC.

First link posted in the thread.

thanks for update.