Sac State offering $10m to the MAC and MWC to "pretty pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease" let them into an FBS conference for 2026. And they won't even take a dime of your TV revenue for the season. Several questions:

1. Where are they getting the money? Perhaps they raised enough from the lil' Yachty concert or from savings from a failed stadium project.
2. If that happens, what happens to Mississippi Valley State (Jerry Rice's alma mater), Youngstown, Rio Grande Valley, North Alabama, Maine, Tarleton, and Southern Utah games already scheduled? I'm sure the Stingers don't get out of those games for free. Where's that money coming from? Probably their guarantee money from Fresno State :rofl:

The ineptitude and decision making by the circus clowns running Sac State is truly unlike anything I've witnessed in college athletics. Keep it rolling!

It's crazy to me that you have 10m laying around (allegedly?) and your first thought is "yeah lets use that to bribe an FBS conference to let us in" versus, you know, investing in infrastructure to make Sac State FB a program worthy of an FBS invite.

I wonder how they can recruit as well as they have with no affiliation and an incomplete schedule.

At this point, I'm not entirely convinced they're recruiting better than any other Big Sky program. They had a highly touted recruiting class last year too, right? Not sure how many more off-seasons I'll buy it..

If Sac State is desperate enough to make an offer of $10 million plus no media revenue for a year up front, I bet there’s a counter offer from any conference that’s actually considering letting them in. The conference has all the leverage, which I’m sure the realize. This like a mark going looking for a conman.

I don’t see how they recruit at all they have zero chance of making playoffs or being relevant in any way until or unless they have a full schedule. The schedule they have is a long way from proving they deserve to be an FBS

This is very interesting. Makes me think about what our admin said/is saying to the MW if this happens. NDSU doesn’t exactly have that big of a stadium and it needs renovations. Would imagine that would have to come with an invite…. Very interesting times. Considering Davis would have the opportunity to apply first to join the mountain west before any other members I wonder if we said no?

I can see NDSU joining in 2027 and us joining in 2029 or 2030.

I continue to think our PR moves around conferences is not great. I am stoked we are moving to the MW but it was already going to be confusing having our sports in an FBS conference except for football... and even weirder when I have to explain they added another FCS school before us?

my question is: does this boost donors to donate showing that we CAN move up, or does this deflate them making them think what the hell are we doing joining the conference and letting them add another school before us?

ALSO we are supposed to play NDSU for football the next few years?!

Could we be moving up as a pair

Late breaking word on the street is that the NDSU to MWC deal for 2026 us done…

IF that is true, along with Bobby H. retiring and the changes at MSU Boze-Angeles are opening the door for the Aggies to be a very serious title contender next season. Money talks, suckers walk.

As far as the future NDSU-UC Davis football contracts, tear em up with the move. Maybe a small buyout at best.

How are we ready to move to FBS? Please, think rationally.

Cal has a yearly $30 million deficit and $400 million in debt. UCLA is bleeding hundreds of millions, and is tied to the Rose Bowl for decades. Sac State is scrambling. Even powerful no-competition NDSU has empty seats as fans stay away for multiple reasons.

You want to toss all that to play UNLV and some magical hope that 10,000 people will cross the Causeway to watch the Hornets rival? So we get plastered in FBS and told we have to raise hundreds of millions more to compete?

Why the rush? We can have continued success and stability in the FCS while FBS rents players by the year. Things will be tumultuous for probably five years or more. We'll lose a marquee player or two every other year. We can graduate players, compete for championships, add an ocassional new opponent pre-season and build our new expansion.

I don't think we are, especially without doing stadium renovations. I do think we would get more people watching a uc davis vs nevada or unlv game than vs a southern utah or northern colorado. What I am saying is its just interesting pr. I stand by my opinion we should move to the mw for football once we renovate, but I do think that's more of a move by 2028-2030. The MW for every other sport I think is a good move already. My posts are more just pointing out the complicated pr of our annoying split conference affiliations (even more as we move to an FBS conference for everything but an FBS sports) and the watering down of the big sky. I agree with what others have said that moving by say 2030 gives us a window for a FCS championship (even more without NDSU lol) and allows for renovations to happen.

repeat of info above so deleted

I would rather dominate the FCS then move to the FBS right now. We are not ready to move to the FBS. Just my opinion.

As much as it feels so, I don't think this signals the closing of an FBS window for Davis. If I were the MW or the future Pac12, I'd be much more interested in financially stable programs that have shown the ability to grow organically - not forcibly, like you know who. What I'm most curious about now is the home-home series with NDSU we inked somewhat recently...

NDSU drops out, we could add Sac?

I don't see that happening.

When interviewed after the 2025 Causeway Classic. DeLucca seemed very clear that until Sac State was stable, we wouldn't be scheduling them. At this point, our games with an FBS opponent is a big payday for the athletic program. Somehow I don't see Sac State being willing to give UCD that kind of money in the near future, if ever. Davis isn't where they will need to spend their money to make this move - if/when it happens - work.

Plus, due to Big Sky roster limits, Davis is going to have fewer bodies that FBS teams, which is a disadvantage - or at least that's how DeLucca framed it. He, and probably Plough, want to limit those situations.

Finally, for purposes of ranking, our non-conference dates - again limited by Big Sky requiring more conference games - will need to thread the needle: be challenging but reasonably winnable.

This is what people said about basketball with the move up to play peer institutions. Notice the crowd for Santa Barbara on Thursday. If anything, support is worse than 30 years ago for basketball.

How is marketing for basketball?

Has there been any reporting on this situation vis-a-vis us? Is it generally understood that we declined this time?

I think it’s prudent to wait before making any decisions right now. I get the feeling that the super league the powers that be have wanted might be established at the next tv negotiations. If that happens all conferences will be remade and there will be a ton of opportunities.

If NDSU is indeed paying $17 million on top of all the investment needed to upgrade the program to compete, I assume it wasn’t really a live question for us. We can’t do that now.

neither can Sac.