Montana is just a different dynamic. Demand from paying customers well exceeds supply. Then factor in weather and the lack of competition for sports entertainment and you have a recipe for success with premium seating. Davis has more supply than demand and as Fugawe astutely points out, the capex associated with traditional suites does not present a compelling economic opportunity. What a lot of schools are doing now is building a club experience in one of the end zones. This provides a differentiated experience (aka an expensive bar) that generally pencils from year 1.

I agree. The Dakota schools bring a ton for their suites also, but I just don’t see that many corps/donors willing to pay $10k or so for 5 home games in the Davis metroplex. We’d have definitely less suites, also, if the first phase is west side only. If you could generate $200-300k (big if) that would be a significant boast in ticket revenue. That would be, rough estimate, like selling 2000 more seats per game.

There is a press release on the ucdavisaggies site that Davis will have three games broadcast on “linear” networks, in other words non streaming. Mercer game on ESPN, Washington on the Big10 network and Montana State, undetermined. Last year I was pleasantly surprised that the Montana game, was available on both ESPN2 and ESPN+, something that wasn’t the case in prior instances of games on ESPN2.

UC Davis @ Washington will kickoff at 8 pm on the BIG10 Network. Ugh.

Can we ask Stanford FB for another scrimmage?

A year before our historic upset, we scrimmaged them and it reportedly allowed us to realize a) they're human, and b) we can play w them.

Hero Sports is previewimg the top teams in the media poll, UC Davis is #11 ranked team in the media poll. and Hero Sports has previewed the top 3 so far, NDSU, Montana State and South Dakota State.
One element of the preview is listing the guys that had all conference recognition, including guys transferring in from other conferences.
NDSU and MSU have five, SDSU has 3 returning all conference players
Davis compares favorably with nine.
This is my list for Davis, any error is mine,

Defense five
Derrell Porter. DL Dartmouth. honorable mention
Jacob Psyk DL Harvard. 1st team
Khalani Riddick DB SEMO 1st team
Porter Connors LB. Davis. 2nd team
Rex Connors S. Davis. 1st team

Offense three
Winston Williams. TE. Davis 1st team
Eli Simonson OT Davis. 2nd team
Ernesto Nava OT Davis. honorable mention

Specialist one
Hunter Ridley. K. Davis. 2nd team

In this tweet about the Big Sky Kickoff attendees, Rex Connors is listed as a LB. We do have a huge influx of DBs, but it'd be strange to change the position of our star safety.

Maybe whoever made the graphic confused him with Porter (?)

That was my thought as well... that there was a typo somewhere, but I figured that the names and positions were submitted by the team.

The official press release has him listed as a DB
https://bigskyconf.com/news/2025/6/4/attendees-announced-for-2025-big-sky-football-kickoff-weekend.aspx

The Athletics Department just released a series of short videos highlighting each of the Assistant Football Coaches:

Sports Illustrated Big Sky prediction.

1. Montana State
T2. Montana
T2. Northern Arizona
4. Sacramento State
5. UC Davis
6. Idaho
7. Weber State
8. Eastern Washington
9. Idaho State
10. Cal Poly
11. Portland State
12. Northern Colorado

* Sacramento State will be removed if the Hornets receive approval to transition to the FBS level later this month

https://www.si.com/college/fcs/big-sky/2025-big-sky-football-preview-fcs

Comment: Davis weakens it case by not posting a roster, they return more contributors than listed if we believe what we have heard ( five starters on the O-line for example, not the four SI lists)

I believe we're the only Big Sky program to not have a 2025 roster posted. When the Northern Colorado athletic department is more on top of it than you, you're not doing great.

It strikes me as though UCD is withholding the roster for some strategic reason, granted it was suspiciously posted and taken down so swiftly. That reason, no idea.

My concern is that they took the roster down because some players listed won’t be with the team
Since they said they aren’t going to do revenue sharing until 2026-27 year, i don’t think they signed onto the house settlement yet and therefore the 105 man roster limit doesn’t apply as yet, maybe it doesn’t in summer anyway.

I don't know. Everyone else has seemed to figure it out. It's not the end of the world or anything, but makes us look like amateur hour.

hey maybe we will magically announce a move to the fbs... kidding

and a stadium that seats 100k and floats in the air

why not 200k at that point? and put it on wheels while were at it

$55billion secured

Davis has two of the top 25 FCS football tight ends, according to Hero Sports. Former Davis tight end Gale is also on the list, at 21.Gale graduated from Davis in the fall before transferring.

24. Ian Simpson, UC Davis
2. Winston Williams, UC Davis

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-top-returning-2025-tight-ends-bzbz/

At least 3 FCS conferences, the CAA, Southland, and OVC-Big South have elected to not have conference rules limiting scholarships, meaning that schools opting into the House settlement can offer as many as 105 scholarships.
“The CAA and OVC-Big South also did not set a cap. The Big Sky and SoCon kept the football equivalency scholarship cap at 63 for 2025. The MVFC is deciding next week.”

https://herosports.com/fcs-southland-football-scholarship-cap-house-settlement-bzbz/

NAU 2nd?, jeez

NAU returns a QB, whereas most Big Sky teams don’t, They made the playoffs.
Not following them but NAU seems to have lost more than they gained via transfer. I think Davis is one of the few that gained more than lost.

if I remember correctly, they had brought in a ton of transfer the year before. Something like 25

I read your post too fast, and given the new landscape, I read that as "bought a ton of transfer the year before."

They have put the 2025 Roster back up on the web site.

I don’t see what has changed since it was there last.
Good news is that Davis’ entire starting OL for games 6-12 returns. This includes tackles All Big Sky second team Eli Simonson, and honorable mention Ernesto Nava. Good depth too, including RS Freshman transfer Hasson. None of the FCS previews considered that the entire line returns, Sports Illustrated said Davis returned 4 “contributors” which means players that played 180 plays or so.

The roster inexplicably doesn’t list the year players graduated from high school, which makes their eligibility hard to decipher. In most but not all cases, players who came to Davis as freshmen are listed according to their academic class, not their eligibility. Players who started elsewhere are mostly listed by eligibility. But they are inconsistent even in that,

This is what I would sound like if I did a 2025 Preview and Schedule Prediction for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns or (any other team I know nothing about)......

No lie though.....7-5 isn't crazy.

most of these prediction involve over valuing the loss of Miles Hastings