Try and follow that math, lol.

Haha you beat me to it. I know that the admin units and services of some of the CSU campuses in the bay have been combining to save money and resources. I could imagine seeing moves like Cal Maritime becoming part of Cal Poly continuing. There is a part of me that feels like a merger of CSU East Bay or SFSU with SJSU in some form could happen. Sonoma State is possible too but its a bit of an outlier with its liberal arts programs (despite them being cut).

Its pretty telling of the times financially when SFSU, the school that founded the first ever ethnic studies major and courses (with spurred a ton of anthropological and sociological research programs) is cutting its program (even the online degree). The school has proudly noted that they founded the program for years and now its gonna be gone. I know quite a few people personally (and have seen some posts form admin) that this move was a shocker considering how much the school leaned on the notability of SFSU founding the program.

I wonder if at some point we would see consolidation in the CSU system? Granted we'd probably see if at a directional school in a rural state first.

They were robbed of a Rose Bowl that year and were also #2 with a chance to be #1 in 2007 except they lost in a strange fashion at the end.

Well, one thing UC Davis taught me was how to learn...and learn quickly, or be left behind, so hopefully our Administration is getting their act together and improving their game. Now's the time to step it up.

I agree that Cal and Stanford haven’t been particularly revant lately.

What is spectacular athletically, especially about Stanford is the donor support. For example, the head women’s basketball coach, as well as 4 of the 5 assistant coach positions are endowed positions, which means that position is funded in perpetuity. Costs the university/athletic department nothing. The head FB coach and 2 assistants as well. More in other sports. And few of those funding the various endowments have names that I associate with Stanford athletics.

That’s financial resources on a scale far beyond anything UCD can hope to compete with now, or in any foreseeable future. Not even the TOP Big10 or SEC schools have that. I don’t think Stanford has scratched the surface of what they could do. I expect that Andrew Luck will be a far more active and effective presence than Shaq has been. So I’d hesitate to be dismissive of the potential there.

I agree the market can probably support about 40 national caliber teams and that the blue blood conferences have some historical members that wouldn’t belong in a super conference. Not sure if we are headed toward a recession or just a new (worse) normal thanks to crypto and private equity. Those top teams don’t have a revenue issue, though they do have a spending issue. And for any getting ready to tango with PE, get ready for the cost buzzsaw. Everyone else will get squeezed on what’s left. At our level, any prospective suggesting G6 football will be a cash cow and drive nearly a billion dollars of regional economic impact is nonsense. At best, one could argue FBS football helps build national name recognition for a fee.

I really wanted to get over this afternoon to watch the Ags, but it didn't work out!

I have no knowledge specific to this project, but it is common to have a quiet period where big dollars from donors, sponsors, and politicians are put together to create critical momentum before they ask you and I to buy an engraved paver. Speed of construction is often based on financial strategy because the full cost of construction typically isn’t just sitting ready in checking. Sure, performance and schedule bonuses can speed up a contractor if the owner wants to pay (like Stanford rebuilding their stadium in 9 months). But other times donors may be splitting contributions over multiple tax years and bonds or loans may be issued on a quarterly schedule. It can slow projects dramatically if the schedule of when you need to buy materials doesn’t quite match what quarter the money is available. Happens in both public and investor projects.

“ I don’t understand why they don’t have a page for direct donations for the stadium.”
Maybe they’re lining up bigger deals before they go for crowd funding. Cache Creek has always been hands off for development for the various schools except the chancellors office. I’ve always thought they would be a natural to support athletics, especially since campus has supported their needs on an advisory level.

the wild card is that sports media rights are overvalued. For Disney and Comcast it was palatable to overpay because the cable bundle extracted sports viewer fees from people who didn’t watch sports. At present, Disney and Comcast are still willing to overpay to drive viewers to their streaming platforms relative to Netflix and at the same time Google, Netflix, Amazon, and Apple are sitting on mountains of cash willing to bid up prices as loss leaders for their streaming businesses. The leagues would like to fragment media rights so much that you need cable-by-any-other-name like YoutubeTV to put it back together in a bundle where non-sports viewers subsidize sports once again. But if Disney exits or the tech bros decide not to overpay anymore, rights may collapse to their actual value. The networks probably still overpay in 2027, but 5 years after that who knows. All the talk of media market size is kind of irrelevant. There are smaller markets with more football interest than Sac area.

I don’t understand why they don’t have a page for direct donations for the stadium.

Aggie Ascent has a website, https://aggieascent.ucdavis.edu/vision, but i personally have not seen any solicitations for donations. Maybe they’re still in the bid mode with contractors.

are still in the fundraising stage and are working on securing funds. We will send an updated timeline once the project funding has been secured” — Jdur

This is what I was saying.....we 'ain't building nothin' yet. They've only just asked us to pay for it.

Sac and Davis are doing the same thing.....Sac is just pretending super hard.

Good points. Not sure I see a world where Northwestern or the Gophers are kicked out of the Big10, for example, but you raise some very interesting questions. What Tim said is true about Stanford and Cal being highly competitive recently, and Rutgers has had some admirable seasons as well. Rice would finish middle of the pack in the Big Sky and I forgot UConn had a football team (kidding). It will be very interesting to see what college football does with those programs that traditionally struggle but are affiliated with power conferences for the dough

Be lucky to see Club boxes by 2028 season...

Got answers back from campus design and construction as well as the athletic department. Basically summarized as this “thanks for reaching out, the stadium upgrades at UCDHS are still in the fundraising stage and are working on securing funds. We will send an updated timeline once the project funding has been secured”.

Perhaps someone will shock the world at the wine fundraiser but it sounds like donations are still needed.

he was at first two games this season - he lives in Virginia so planned a trip out here to deal with estate issues around those games. He’s coming for wine event.

Agreed - contact Josh, he'll pick up the phone or at least get back to you quickly and make sure you're squared away.

Thanks for the history lesson on the Aggie-Pack rivalry, I love that stuff! 12k+ in the Toom must have been magical.

I appreciate rivalries so I vote 'no' on the Sac rivalry going away. When it comes back, the landscape of college football will be different and the playing field should be comparable unless they find a way to continue to print money to fund their program.

The Sac market component is overstated in my opinion. A team's success, the opponent, and the promotion of the game will continue to drive attendance, and there are alums from both schools in the market. So will geographic proximity for an opponent, and that is what is going to suck for Sac playing in the MAC. MAC attendance is mostly awful, and MAC @ Sac games will draw poorly unless they're able to promote the heck out of it and maybe schedule Lil' Yachty 2 some Saturday night against Kent State. They jumped to the MAC to save face and as a place holder. Probably won't be there in 2028.

Moving to the Mountain West might bump UC Davis attendance some (with stadium expansion, "better competition", new/renewed regional opponents, etc.), but the average MWC attendance minus the new Pac 12 programs was 19,969. The Ags averaged 12,991 (questionable accounting) in 2025, while Sparta and Hawaii averaged just south of 14k per game. Sac lists an average of 15k and some change. I think the weekly 13-15,000 average attendance is about where we'll land once we move to FBS and make the stadium upgrades.

There is still room for Causeway, even with the Hornets in FBS. UCD should be going there next anyway since we hosted in '25, and Sac should pay the same guarantee they pay the other FCS opponents they're hosting when it happens. The next game in Davis will take some negotiating as FBS teams typically don't travel to an FCS host, but there can always be an exception, especially when playing for a chunk of concrete with Tim Plough's lips smeared on it after grinding out another dub. I would much rather see the Ags playing Sac than Stetson or USD.

he’s at UCSB. Started at St Mary’s, then UCONN, now a Gaucho.

there is no seating chart, but there is a discount for a couple. Contact Josh Flushman (contact email online).

I don’t think any long time rivalries like James Madison - William and Mary have survived one school moving up. I’m guessing NDSU-SDSU is no longer and that’s bigger than the causeway.

If Oklahoma-Nebraska can die, surely the world will remain on axis if the causeway dies (or goes on hiatus).

I really wouldn't say too many people are mad at Sac State for moving up, both here on this forum and on social media as a whole. I would say the emotion for most people from what I've seen, myself included, is an extreme level of confusion. I can't fathom how anyone looks at the details of the deal to the MAC and Wood's comments and say "this makes perfect sense for the Hornets". There's no anger there though. I think this play from a financial perspective makes the odds that Sac State football folds in the next several years higher than them getting an invite from the Pac 12 which I believe is their ultimate goal from this MAC deal.

For what it's worth, I think the rivalry with Sac State has been an integral part of the football season for as long as it's been in existence. Always looked forward to showing the Hornets who is little brother.

NDSU at the Toom was special, 1982 semis? Great defensive stands up against the North End zone, O'Brien hurt, Slater & Fricker causing havoc.

Todd was a teammate in 80-81. Still friends. He came out to two games last season.

Todd was a senior when I was a freshman. Totally great guy.

The Aggie-Pack Battle

UC Davis and Nevada have not played each other since 2013, but have a historical rivalry dating back to the first match up in 1915 when the University Farm School Aggies beat the Nevada Sagebrushers 14–0 in Carson City, Nevada. They have played each other 54 times since.[70] The "Aggie-Pack" battle would regularly have old-fashioned rooters buses travel 146 miles (2.5 hours) down I-80 for this rivalry that was regularly "a battle for West Coast small-college supremacy ... in fact, the mid-November 1977 Nevada-UCD matchup drew 12,800 fans to Toomey Field, which still stands as a home attendance record ... and yes, the crowd-pleasing Aggies prevailed, 37-21 ..."[71] Nevada leads the series 30-21-3 as of 2024.

We need to stop being affiliated with them at all.