I would also like to note with the new MW app, schools get revenue based on subscriptions. So if you subscribe for UC Davis sports, Davis gets paid off that.

I haven’t heard anyone say Davis would forgo media rights. Where did you see that?

Davis is already a member of mountain west and getting media rights, just not for football at the moment as they are not a member.

I mean at this point we all should know by now that Davis is going to move football up to D1. Of course they aren’t going to announce they plan on doing it until they do it.

My conclusion is this is more of a financial thing. As AD DeLuca has already stated, the university wants to be able to capitalize on the revenue from moving up to the D1 level. Hence why they are building premium seating an a club. I wouldn’t be surprised if they also built premium seating on the opposite sideline as well.

As usual we don’t know. Davis admin hasn’t been announcing anything prematurely, unlike our Sacramento counterpart.

I wonder if we don’t have renderings for the football renovation because they are actively designing it, and it will be the first renovation. I wonder if they will update the facade of the building.

I did the mini plan. My games are Montana and Cal Poly. I wanted to go to Eastern Washington, but I have an event to go to that ends right before the game starts. Luckily that game will be nationally televised.

And also having things in place to be competitive when they move up.

An elevated beer garden in one of these two areas would be smart as they will still be empty according to the current plans. This would leave the rest of the stadium available for regular seating.

I’m not advocating for a beer garden, as I don’t advocate for alcohol consumption (it’s terrible for people’s health, literal poison) but I understand people like to drink and it’s a potential revenue stream for the team.

Also, I would like to say I’m against teams not having enough affordable seats and pushing more premium options. This is just sports in general. It seems like people don’t care about working class people anymore. Everything is getting too expensive.

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.