yeah idk what the basis is but $50m doesn’t sound unreasonable. What I do know is that projects like this are usually 20% more expensive than you think they will be and construction costs have tended to rise faster than overall inflation.

construction costs can be hard to say with so many variables. But here’s how I might suggest a rough order - adjusted for inflation, Aggie Stadium construction cost was about $4100 per seat in today’s dollars. If I pick a stadium built the same year, University of Central Florida built a 45,000 seat stadium for $1800 per seat in today’s dollar. Part of that is different labor market, part of it is construction method - UCF, like many in the southeast, has a steel frame like a Butler building with aluminum planking, and part of it is your cost per seat goes down the bigger you get because the cost of the field and other infrastructure doesn’t really change proportionally. If I split the difference, maybe a 10,000 seat steel frame upper level, if we said $3000 per seat, $30m? Possibly less if there’s existing design and someone is committed to value engineering, maybe a lot more you self impose rules on sustainability, minority contractors, art installations, etc - not saying those are wrong but they aren’t free. To move to the next level though, I think there would have to be an inclusion of skyboxes and a cabana section, which some Big Sky schools even have. Keep in mind it is substantially more expensive to do multistage expansions rather than doing it all at once because of the sunk costs every time you turn on a jobsite. Could be other considerations though, for example does a seat increase require more parking to be developed, or is it the expansion that “tips the scale” on campus needing a utility upgrade or the fire department needing some new piece of equipment. It’s not unusual at all in the outside world for non-revenue entities to try to pack these deals with pork for themselves.

Tube sock madness
Burrito madness
Steve’s Place Pizza madness
Aggie Pack “characters”
Integration between Aggie Pack, Band, Cheer team, Dance team and the video operator.

you might even say a “concept of a plan”? Interesting press release. Says construction will start at the end of the season (so this year?) but no budget or renderings. Having been the project manager for a couple sports venues, this is not usually how it works. Typically as part of feasibility you identify a budget and hire an architect for conceptual design to make sure it’s grounded in reality and get some renderings, then move into schematic design, often with a different architect (where you will realize everything costs more than the bean counters estimated and redesign it). It’s common to start construction like this before schematic design is complete, but it’s October. If they think they will have shovels in the ground by December they should at least have 30% drawings at this point, so to still be “weeks” away from renderings or budget numbers from the conceptual stage doesn’t make sense. This is either not real or oddly managed. That said, Hornet Stadium is a dumpster and needs replacement. A functional steel frame stadium with some decorative cladding can go up much faster and cheaper than Aggie Stadium did.

planned or not I find the current uniforms ugly and of inappropriate quality for a D1 school. But that’s just my opinion.

True, before 2019 the band’s student run status had already been substantially eroded because it didn’t fit Campus Rec’s business model. Their expertise was in intramural sports and playing guitars around campfires. It was never a good administrative fit after SPAC was consolidated.

Promise I’m not a blow hard but I enjoy research. If you ever need a good bathroom read the full report on the matter describes just what I say. If you need a longer bathroom read, check out the full document regarding the Ohio State Band… here’s what you will find— the law firm UCD hired more or less plagiarized the OSU document, with the exception the conclusion. OSU found their Student Affairs executives liable for failed leadership, fired them, and doubled down on engaging their alumni. That wouldn’t work for Davis, because the law firm they hired was personal friends of the vice chancellor for student affairs. Or shall I say “interim” VC. See, if you research her, Emily Galindo didn’t actually have the required qualifications to be named full VC, but she was an interim DEI promotion at an appropriate political moment. Her lifetime state pension is based on her highest 3 years and VC pay was like double her previous role. The band nonsense popped when she was about 2 years into VC pay. She desperately wanted to sweep it under the rug until she retired but when the Bee wouldn’t let it go, she realized she needed any scapegoat she could find to avoid a forced early retirement that would cost her potentially millions in lifetime pension benefits. She retired a few days after her 3 year mark with maximum benefits.

@LeFan
But setting aside anything band specific, it is an overall tenor at UCD to always deflect fault, obscure incompetence, and only wishing to engage the community in a curated way. I’ve been involved with other universities and companies that when there is a screw up, there is an apology, engagement, transparency, and then there is an executive held accountable. For all the talk of character and principles of community, the university lacked the moral fiber to even ever fully own the Katehi saga. Marketing research notes that people most loyal to a brand often mention the word “love” and that it’s easier to feel love toward brands that seem personal and human. And I think that reflects in the lack of energy at games… I would venture that most of the people who would use the word love will say they love the nostalgia of what UCD was 20-50 years ago. But I think the modern university is comparatively cold and mechanical… and that’s much harder to get people to fall in love with.

yeah maybe journalism, media production and sports marketing majors would attract relevant talent but those industries don’t have much market in Sac metro. Compared to other universities I’ve followed, UCD spends more effort trying to control or even obscure the narrative than genuinely engaging students, fans, and alumni. It’s like that super religious relative who you know is into weird crap but tries to be uncomfortably normal at thanksgiving.

what we think of as the classic Band-uh uniforms were purchased in the early 80s with a donation from Warren Mooney. They were heavily influenced by the Cal uniforms but were all Aggies—prior to that CAMB had only acquired retired uniforms from Cal. Those uniforms lasted until 2010, well beyond their service life. The 2010 uniforms had student input. The university wanted something as different as possible from the Cal blue front/gold back look and demanded to have the C-Horse logo. The band wanted the block CA and colors that would “flash” front to back with about faces. The compromise was blue back with CA, white front with C-Horse. Operationally, it was overalls and jacket so simpler to maintain than the the old jacket, pants, overlay… and easier to fit individuals of girth. At the time, the university said they were assigning a lifetime of 10 years and decided to basically eliminate travel to fund asset replacement cycles, stating the age and state of uniforms and instruments was unsustainable. We were all surprised that they actually replaced the uniforms again in 2020 as promised but I don’t think had much student involvement. A very Midwest look that I think they were trying to break visual association from the Band-uh heritage. No idea why they picked the wrong color blue. My guess it was a stock fabric color that looked ok in a catalog and less expensive than custom matching the color.

I was in the Band-UH during the transition from Toomey to Aggie Stadium. Something was definitely lost moving the Aggie Pack from the north end zone to the 50 yard line. From a band perspective the Stud and AP leaders were at a right angle to each other at Toomey and could communicate timing visually. It’s hard to see what each other is doing now. Added in, from the beginning athletics wanted Aggie Stadium to be “big time” with canned music, video board clips, etc. but it was hard to get timing right between groups on headsets and it seems 17 years in, the production quality is still not great with the ref mic not even working consistently.

One of the stated goals of the UCD(u)MB is to “limit” the amount of time band members spend together so that it is an organized activity but resists becoming a community or extended family, as a strategy to manage conflict. Whether good or bad strategy I think it’s why you see the flat energy. The university has been showering money on the new band for uniforms, instruments, and staff but some things can’t be bought and from what I hear, interest has waned. They haven’t been able to cobble together the minimum number of members to play Aggie Fight in some cases and, while Band-UH alumni are officially not welcome, they have quietly hand picked alums friendly to the current regime as “university volunteers”, having them throw on uniforms to fill the holes.

At first I thought this was satire piece from The Onion. Sac State Fight Club… isn’t that basically the Hornet Stadium parking lot after about half a keg of warm Natural Ice?

Glad we got 7 on the second possession but anybody for the address for the new team center? I was going to send a donation of clean sheets after someone pooped the bed on the opening play. Can’t do that against good teams.

Sigh, another one slips away against Eastern. Lots of reasons. I don’t know that any injuries were intentional but I do think that Aaron Best would probably kneecap his own mother with an iron pipe if it meant 6 points.

Aggie Stadium official capacity is 10,743 but has been oversold on at least one occasion north of 14,000.

After the game got less interesting, I noticed a sign for Tokyo Express just outside the stadium. Apparently 4.5 stars on Google with reviews saying it competes with any big city sushi joint. So the question, is a small town in BFE Texas hiding a cultural gem or is the average reviewer just happy to have something other than another bbq brisket joint?

I doubt Sudwerk is totally parting ways because they don’t really compete with Coors. Perhaps they are considering domestic and craft as separate categories. Kind of interesting this is on the athletics side because on the academic side Anheuser Busch sponsored a building. Everyone’s money is green.

Hawkins said they focused on fundamentals

If I had nickel for every post game interview in the history of sports that mentioned “fundamentals” or “execution.”

I knew Crookston sounded familiar… former vice chancellor of student affairs Fred Wood went there as their chancellor some years ago.

hello and welcome! I believe in the 15+ year history of this (and the predecessor) board, you are the first staff person identify yourself, though I’m sure there have been plenty of lurkers. Nice to have you here! My connection to athletics, I’ve been going to Aggie football games since before I could talk, spent four years in the Aggie Band-uh back when we travelled to every single away game (the real band, not this new (sorry) Midwest high school knockoff band), and now I’m a fan from the eastern time zone.

The culture at UC Davis has historically been kind of simple and folksy but aged just to a fine maturity. Back along about 2007, Athletics and the university as a whole decided they were going to go with this “we’re big time now” persona—and it never really worked in the “is that your father’s suit jacket?” kind of way. And while they were busy doing whatever “big time things” they were doing, were sort of late to the party on social media (or even keeping the website up to date). To me the “voice” on social media has been like following IBM or Pfizer—not super timely, odd forced jokes, the appearance that every photo of students is staged and perfectly balanced with one of every race and gender and posts tend to just be announcements, not interactions (and comments get censored). There’s something to be said for the way Wendy’s and Universal Studios engage with people online.

When I think about the ESPN+ coverage, it’s weird they there’s no pregame/postgame show. We just jump in (if we’re lucky, sometimes due to technical issues we kiss a minute of the game. We can also sometimes hear the talent when they they think they are off the air and aren’t). And at the end they rush off the air like the sopranos are coming on… but it’s a stream, there is no other show starting. Back in the days when it was radio only—KHTK and KDVS, there was meaningful pre and post commentary.

As far as student interest and engagement, there’s the elephant in the room—as the university population has become more female and more Asian/Asian American, interest in athletics has dropped. I guess nobody has figured out how to make it relevant to some groups. That said, back in the 90s and 2000s there was more spirit. For example the Aggie Pack didn’t just have an emcee, there were “characters” that were part of an ongoing skit all season long and sometimes they would get together with the band and kind of push the envelope and really get the crowd going. If you were a student, you got an Aggie Pack card and non-students could get an Aggie Fanatics card. At every athletics event, you would get Aggie Bucks for signing in with one of those cards. Most games also had a giveaway item, candy, water bottle, etc usually a sponsored item. They would also hand out Aggie Bucks during the game—popular was tube sock madness where they would use a potato gun to launch tube socks full of Aggie Bucks and coupons. Sometimes they would hand them out at the exit gate too (helped people want to stay 4 quarters!). You could use the Aggie Bucks to buy merch, so fundamentally everyone in the stadium could get an Aggie Pack or Aggie Fanatics shirt free. And then whoever was working on “big time ideas” nixed all of that and decided it would actually be better to have no giveaways and just the bookstore selling $35 adidas T-shirts.

the Patel family. Different sons own properties under different company names but they are all related. The fact that rooms in Davis are more than a comparable room at Disneyland shows a supply imbalance. They stay full during the week with conferences and university business. A well run hotel with proximity to two freeways shouldn’t have any issues with revenue per available room night.

I think here’s the number problem—at every renovation the pavilion capacity goes down due to more handicapped spaces, wider fire escapes etc. Max capacity is down from 8000+ in the 80s to 5900. The graduation configuration seats 3500 spectators. At 6 tickets, that’s 580 graduates, at 4 it’s 875. If there are 7000 grads total, that’s the difference between 12 and 8 ceremonies. Most families are probably fine with the idea of 12 ceremonies spread over a several days, because who wants to listen to more than 500 names in ones sitting anyhow. It spreads the demand for parking, hotels, etc. However, the the chancellor has publicly stated he wants to dramatically cut the number of commencements for two reasons—he doesn’t want to sit through 8 or 12 ceremonies and they could afford a bigger name speaker if they are filling fewer speaker spots. I think the speaker bit is dumb because who remembers or cares who the speaker was… but he seems committed to the idea.

I’m pretty sure the university had already made their mind to go to Golden 1 before this survey. Is it good or bad? I’m not sure. But I will say, I don’t feel bad for the Davis hotels for one hot second. Almost all the hotels in town are owned by one extended family. They have used litigation and city council buddies to prevent anyone else from opening hotels to keep supply tight. $300+ per night w/ 2 night minimum stay for crap rooms during university events? No thanks, sorry I don’t have sympathy.

I’m hiring for janitors. $17/hr health/pension/union. If anybody wants to repost on the sac forum. Good role for a “general studies” major.