1. UC Davis is not moving up to P4 status like Cal and UCLA, so their budgets are not comparable. UC Davis would be moving to G6 football. The average HC salary in the mountain west is under 2 million dollars. We aren’t talking about basketball cost as all other sports other than football are already in the mountain west. Davis is a non football member. https://nevadasportsnet.com/news/reporters/how-much-every-head-football-coach-in-the-mountain-west-and-pac-12-will-make-in-2026

Davis does not have the facility debt UCLA or CAL has, and will be using donations to fund the football renovations. Again, the cost of G6 football is extremely lower than P4. It’s slightly a step about FCS.

I will also like to point out while yes, Cal and UCLA are in the bay and LA, UC Davis is in the #20 tv market in the country. Far better than most schools. So it’s not like Davis is in an unfavorable location.


Now onto the point of resources, this is something I agree on and have been harping about. Davis has been doing a bad job with this, but we are slowly seeing improvements. I don’t even understand how the coach had to fight to make sure players had a place to stay for the FBS semifinals. Absurd. Even the game day experience sucks. But I’ll let the admin take care of that, and I may make a few suggestions to that.

where did you get that number

https://herosports.com/fbs-mountain-west-football-budgets-look-like-ksks/
Actual operating expenses. Less than what you quoted. Again, most schools subsidize their football program, just like every other sport.

If we’re worried about turning a profit let’s cut all Olympic sports and most women’s sports. The fact of the matter is college sports cost money, but they don’t cripple the university. Again, someone please show how staying in the FCS would be a better long term economic decision than moving to FBS. WITH EVIDENCE.

From the conference. And that does not consider the cost of a UC scholarship relative to the rest of the conference or the NIL budget. 25 is actually a better bare bones number to be marginally competitive at the sub power league level for Davis.

Again, please provide sources. Davis tuition is only $6k more than SJ State, a mountain west school? So how would that blow up the budget. There is also no minimum for the amount of scholarships, but there are 85 (full) max scholarships allowed, up from 63 from FCS. So they CAN, but not required to, offer 22 more scholarships. 85 x $48k (I’m rounding up on tuition and board) is 4.08 million. San Jose state would be 85 X $37.5 = 3.1875 million. So let’s say a difference in scholarship cost of about a million dollars.

San Jose Stats football expenses were about $16 million according to . So let’s assume Davis would have about $17 million in expenses. NO WHERE NEAR the $25 million amount you threw out there.

Where are you getting your numbers from? You keep throwing it numbers with no evidence, no links, just saying stuff. I’m not engaging you on this anymore.

The point I was making today is most people against the move are not pushing any reasons backed by fact. All I’m asking for is just to provide sources. It not hard to add a link to your post.

There are 105 scholarships allowed in the Mountain West, as there are in FCS unless limited by the conference. The NCAA has discarded the distinction between full and partial scholarships, now that they allow revenue sharing they just limit the roster size. Distinguishing between a scholarship and revenue sharing was a distinction without a difference. Scholarships can be full or partial.
When comparing tuition you might factor in that many of the schools recruit heavily out of state, more so than California schools, due to distribution of high school prospects.

I looked that up, that is true. 105 total scholarships. Still no minimum.

You seem to want the whole athletic department to focus on big-time football, while our tradition and purpose has been nurturing academically sound student athletes.

I'm not against FBS, but you're throwing out a million here and a million there as no big deal. Both UCLA and Cal have extensive financial problems. And what does Cal do? Add a "me too" Football GM at over $1 Million per year, to match Stanford. Stanford cut 30 ICA staff last year, and only averaged 28,000 in home attendance. That average was boosted by a Big Game sellout. They hosted no-9 Notre Dame at the end of the season and only drew 27,000.

Yes, I want Davis to be a big time football school. I’m a think big type of person. I also know it takes money to grow, not just in sports but in all facets of like. Can’t really get places with a something for nothing mindset.

Let’s see how Cal does with attendance this year. Stanford was bad, and bad teams usually have bad attendance. Based of my knowledge of the situation, Cal is expecting to have the tarps removed this season due to great ticket sales.

You're on to something here. Keep WINNING and filling out the stadium, and anything is possible in the next 3+ yrs. Winning cures all. It seems to me the donor base lies dormant, but a few FCS championship runs could wake it up..

bad teams usually have bad attendance

To avoid being bad at the Mountain West level Davis needs to have sources of funding to fund 50% more scholarships (from 63 to at least mid 90s), $2 million to $3 million budget for revenue sharing for football to match the average in the mountain west, some NIL arrangements to market players, whatever is required in increased coaches and salaries, plus the FBS conversion fees. Staying where they are and implementing the parts of that list that improve the quality of the team will enable them to win at the FCS level and build the fan base and grow revenue better than prematurely moving up to be a cellar dweller.

ding ding ding!!

Also I’d like to be clear, I’m not advocating for Davis to move up to FBS next year. We’re about 3 seasons away from the reported timeline (2029 move up). In no way should Davis move up without stadium renovations and improvements to the fan experience (to get more people to games).

I’m a think big type of person. I also know it takes money to grow, not just in sports but in all facets of like. Can’t really get places with a something for nothing mindset. — Akiltopmack99

Davis athletics has trouble getting places in any sort of acceptable timespan. Davis athletics has had to operate with a something-for-nothing mindset for many decades. It arguably took us 30 years to move from D2. Hawkins was able to kickstart things (more than a decade late from the FCS move) from a facilities standpoint.

Things are getting better. We need to continue employing motivated, passionate folks or things get stagnant fast in Davis.

I haven't been to many campuses, but we have to be a top-15 FCS stadium, and top-5 athletic performance facility.

I’m happy Coach Plough gave the admin a bit of a push last season in the playoffs. The more successful Davis is, the more it pushes the admin to get their stuff together.

They definitely need to improve on their marketing and game day experience.

We have nice and adequate facilities now. There are a lot of really nice FCS stadiums / facilities all over the country.

this is a really interesting clip. Again, it really does seem like a matter of when not if. I like our position. We play in the FCS, continue to have a great chance to win a national title, don’t rush joining, working up our facilities and funding and then approach our already committed conference and say “hey! We’re ready!” I know she says the MW is not required to choose Davis (but they must talk to Davis before adding any other FCS team), but the comments about having a good faith, serious conversation when they feel Davis is “ready” as she puts it mixed with her stuff about the sac market, etc seemed notable.

She commented also that they chose Davis because of its resources, size and academic background. I have heard the conference repeat again and again how Davis is committed to meeting the MW when it comes to funding support.

Very impressive that an FCS school moving up to FBS makes their new FBS conference better

https://herosports.com/fbs-college-football-realignment-ranking-top-mountain-west-expansion-targets-cpcp/

I would have a hard time seeing them not adding a team playing in the #20 tv market in the nation. Best believe that played a part in them wanting to add Davis to the MW.

It appears that many FBS athletic departments accrue annual deficits. Google says 80-90% of public universities whose books need to be “open”. NC State projects an $18M deficit. INC chapel hill had a $15M deficit in FY25. I'm not saying this is good but departments are scrambling to cover these with state and other university funds. Depending on the state some revenue may come from sports gambling revenue. Also concerts. And of course added student fees. It just seems like a keep up with the Jones’ situation and scrambling fiscally on the back end to try to meet expenses.

Well, that's how long they waited - and to NDSU's credit they jumped at a very good time amid all these conference shake ups.

Exactly.

Nice to see they have redone the training facilities for basketball a bit. Like the updated logos, text and mention of new conference.

Cal just removed the tarps from their stadium.

If teams play competitive football vs brand name teams, fans will come to games.