I agree with your attendance point, I think it’s telling that Davis is getting similar numbers to them (and would imagine could be slightly better with an FBS move). I think us being in SJSU’s conference could be really good for both schools in forming a rivalry. I don’t necessarily see the smaller capacity as the worst thing ever (considering it’s similar to NDSU now). Getting a stadium similarly sized to SJSU and we could probably hover similarly or higher. Even with that attendance SJSU has been a pretty good competitor in the MW too and been able to recruit well. I think it speaks to the playing level and quality of facility no matter the size. That new addition you can say what you want about but seems to mirror the Davis move with building our new athletic training center next to the stadium.

I think adding Davis for football could be one of the most positive additions for Reno and SJSU

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

The UCLA game, assuming it holds, is going to be mighty interesting. Lots of Ags in the area. I know a lot who'd go.

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.

agreed! I think an Aggie stadium with 17k-20k capacity should be the target, at least to initially join the MW and expand the stadium.

So…with Sac St going to the MAC how do we feel?

https://x.com/rossdellenger/status/2022379289820147998?s=46

we will be in the MW by 2028-2030 once we start or finish stadium expansion. If coaches on the team are retweeting things about Davis being in the MW for football, the team is talking about that as the goal, and plans to expand the stadium are already mapped out, I’d imagine sac moving is a bit of a motivator but not majorly. We will be there, just taking a smarter approach than throwing 15 million to join ANY conference. We are in a good spot. I think the sooner the better honestly.

One coach.

And a few years lead time for Sac St. to have the Sac market to itself.

I have lots of thoughts on this and did a real deep dive on Sac leadership and financial condition. They seem to think they can attract out of state tuition payers with this move. Not a snowball's chance in hell that brand awareness pays off the costs to the school of moving to the MAC.. Wouldn't be surprised if we see SacSt relegated back to the FCS as a cost saving measure in 5-10 years. Also, I was under the impression their new stadium/FBS entry funding was contingent on a PAC12 invite?? Did that change under the radar? Lots of things not adding up. Don't be surprised if SacSt is asking tax payers to foot the bill here soon. Doesn't seem to be popular amongst the student base who care at all about academics either.

The MAC would not/isn’t the same draw as the MW. Also, I’m sure people said the same stuff when sac went to d1 first before Davis but it ended up okay. I think sac has the space for 2 markets. + Davis has a large alumni base.

As long as we join the MW soon, I wouldn’t be worried. 5-10 more years of FCS and we might have more of an issue if sac is successful.

We are probably the only school looking to move up that’s giving all the reasons we can’t instead of providing and creating the why we can and will be successful.

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

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

Before you go crazy with the MW talk, just keep in mind the conference might not even exist as it does now when the next TV deals are negotiated. The conference realignment isn't close to being done. There are real geographical and financial problems out there in college football that need to be fixed. All I'm saying is be patient. Who knows maybe in 2030...Stanford, Cal, UCLA....all are looking for a new home...and they might be looking for a high academic school in a growing TV market is all I'm saying.

I feel good about where we are, and the direction we're headed.

When the news broke about UCD joining the MW in all sports but football (except those the MW doesn't sponsor) and with an option to join the MW in football, my memory is that most of the contributors to this site were positive, regardless of what Sac State was doing, or attempting to do at the time..

That was followed by a facilities plan designed to benefit several sports in addition to football. Again, my memory is that most everyone here on AST were pretty pleased. Critiques were mostly quibbles about things in the concept drawings that posters felt could be improved.

Rocko DeLucca and Gary May were pretty universally lauded for moving in the right direction and in a well thought out manner to elevate the whole athletic program.

What's changed? Sac State moving to the MAC? NDSU moving to the MW?

Sac State seems that maybe, after shooting themselves in the foot for several months, they MIGHT actually get to FBS. Which is no more than they said they wanted from the get go. Few of us here at AST thought the Hornets going FBS was a bad thing for them or us. We mostly questioned their approach, as contrasted with ours. Additionally, Sac State is paying a lot more for a whole lot less, all things considered. Few of us here seem to think the MAC is on a level with the MW or PAC 2.0, which were Sac's original "sure things". For another, UCD will be receiving media money for a few years while Sac won't. And, if the MAC doesn't work, they'll probably have a hefty exit fee to move somewhere else. Finally, Sac will have the same problem with the Big West that UCD had. DeLucca talked about it at one point and a couple of people here have mentioned it. Except for Cal Poly, Sac will be the only BW school that has to support a football program. And an FBS program eats even more resources than an FCS program. At all the other schools, resources that Sac devotes to football can support basketball, soccer, baseball, etc. Worse, the other schools AND the conference don't consider football and its need in their decision making. Are we really envious?

NDSU going FBS is a shoe that has been waiting to drop for a long time. In addition to winning 10 of the last 15 FCS championships, the Bison have 5 D2 championships and 3 "small college" national titles. NDSU has been a big dog forever; the surprise is that it's taken them so long to go FBS. Doing so, as many here have noted helps our chances for a national championship in the short term. Longterm, it likely improves the MW as a football conference, which may make the conference more viable, and more desirable, if and when UCD goes FBS.

As Sailorgabe keeps pointing out, the world of college athletics isn't done changing. There's obviously plan in place, one that probably was well considered, and which I assume will be under continual review as the changes keep taking place.

So, yeah, I still feel good.

It would have been awesome if the old Pac12 would have stayed and we would have eventually gotten an invite.

+1

in what world though do Stanford and cal invite Davis? Athletics wise we are much more similar to the mountain west members than p5 programs like cal and Stanford. I would love to be in a conference but don’t see that happening with them realistically (especially if we stay an FCS program). Getting on a national stage with the MW seems important.

To be honest, if we did want that to happen eventually moving up to an FBS level program in the MW before this implosion of conference stuff seems like a no brainer. Close that gap between the programs while we can. I appreciate your perspective but don’t see how staying in the FCS makes us more marketable to a potential conference with Stanford and Cal in it.

Speaking of academics, the MW aligns more with Davis academics wise too than the Big Sky. Flagship universities in the states they are in vs directional, regional schools. That’s not a knock on those schools, but just the reality size, endowment and student-body wise.

☝️ ditto x3

Ah yes, the classic “in what world?” question — probably the same world where conference realignment makes sense and geography still matters. So… clearly we’re already in a fantasy novel.

Look, I’m not saying Stanford and Cal are about to hand-deliver an invite wrapped in a bow and an NIL collective, but college athletics has been operating on pure chaos lately. Ten years ago if you told me teams would be flying across three time zones for a “regional” conference game, I would’ve asked what you were drinking and if you brought enough for the class.

You’re not wrong that the Mountain West feels like the more logical fit today. But logic hasn’t exactly been driving this bus — it’s more like money grabbed the wheel while tradition was shoved into the trunk.

And the whole “move up to FBS ASAP” idea sounds great until you remember it costs roughly the GDP of a small island nation. You don’t just wake up one morning and decide, “You know what? Let’s double the athletic budget and see what happens.” That’s how universities end up hosting emergency bake sales outside the stadium or the university drops the program.

As for academics, I get the flagship comparison — but let’s not pretend conference invites are based on who has the prettiest research labs. If that were true, half these leagues would look like a TED Talk instead of a football schedule. UC Davis can compete with anything Cal or Stanford can do in the classroom --->you are just in love with silly narrative that both programs are elite.

Honestly, the real move is winning. Win a lot. Pack the stadium. Become annoying to ignore. Conferences don’t chase you because you fit neatly into a spreadsheet — they chase you when you start messing with their TV numbers.

So yeah, Mountain West might be the practical path… but in this era? Think bigger. Just be patient.

Actually, no, there are 12-15 programs in similar situations and everyone has decided that jumping right now makes little sense. NDSU and Sac had different reasons to move.

Now I’ve heard it all. Academic alignment with unlv, Wyoming, New Mexico and utep.

12-15? That’s not the national consensus.

We talk about wanting to increase attendance, interest, and support yet let those who are ready to get a little excited and maybe start to support be letdown as others that we all view as “less than” ourselves run by us.

My biggest concern is we are going to suffer from missed opportunity. FBS will get more expensive. Conferences may not need us. CSUS gets a head start on cultivating the Sac market and CORPORATE DOLLAR. When the supposed super conference realignment occurs we are left out of even the G5-6 if we aren’t in it.

But hey, you’ll still get your cooked offsite and delivered in bulk pizza slices at the game….

I appreciate your take. Well informed and logical. I agree with much of it too. I am happy staying in the FCS and trying to win a championship in the next few years, growing the national profile of the school and also building momentum. I also just think we realistically will probably need to move to the Mountain West in between moving to play a Cal or Stanford. I know they are not “elite” but whether I personally think they are ridiculous for thinking they are or not, they spend a heck of a lot more money on sports than the mountain west, and a ton more than big sky schools. I don’t want to just spend a billion dollars on football or sports in general, but I think that by 2030 by ramping up fan support, donations, budget, etc and trying to reach the mountain west for football after hopefully some success in the FCS playoffs (past the cursed quarterfinals) is a good move for the future of the program.

It’s also really hard to mess with the tv numbers when almost all your games are on espn+ and the national outlets don’t say a peep about your level of football most of the year. Heck, last year they were STILL screwing up the names and logos of FCS teams on graphics and posts. I 100% agree with you that we could become way more relevant if we can compete year in and year out in the FCS championships, but I also think looking forward needs to (and the timeframe I am more flexible) include that step to the mountain west to prepare us to be in the strongest position when realignment comes again.

I agree with much of what you say about the illogical reality of modern college football, it’s absolutely ridiculous, but I also still see being in the mountain west for ALL sports as aligning our athletics department.

Thank you for being so awesome to talk football about btw Gabe :)

you know that’s not what I’m saying lol, I’m saying that budget wise, student body wise and yes, research is way more in line with Davis when you look at MW schools than most of the FCS. Obviously the big west academically or the Ivy League lines up with us, but we’re already moving to the mountain west for other sports so I’m just saying the mountain west compared to the big sky.

OH AND I WANT TO SPECIFICALLY SAY SOMETHING: I would not want to do what sac is doing. Forcing FBS by any means necessary as fast as possible not caring about money, facilities, fans or much more is not a good idea. Maybe it will work out for them, but I think it’s a very very risky thing to be doing, especially with all the budget issues the CSU is facing.

Davis is making the right move of securing funds before moving to FBS. Idk what Sac State is doing… their new basketball “arena” is just retractable seats inside their student rec center… I wouldn’t have have high hopes for a stadium that could generate revenue

Here’s the “arena with bleachers not retracted

to be fair, they’ve been drawing about 3000 a game to that arena; we are far below that

We can say Sac isn’t ready all we want and we shouldn’t do what they are doing, but let’s consider:
- they generated (allegedly) a bunch of funding through exciting existing and NEW donors and sources (aka “development”)
- they’ve convinced the Sac market they are in it and we aren’t
- we are also actually much better positioned than they are, and way more than we give ourselves credit for
- we are scared which is not the Aggie Way