Thank you all for the warm welcome, it'll be fun to banter with you all about our beloved Aggies!

In the new world of college athletics football and TV money are king... not saying it should be that way, just a fact of American life. Just about every one of our academic peer institutions has chased that almighty dollar, and clearly the Pac-X has more to offer if the biggest schools in the MWC decided it was worth the jump. Here is the most interesting part, should Davis or Sac State come into the new Pac-X it would immediately be the largest TV market, yes, bigger than San Diego. That is incredibly enticing for TV dollars. Regardless of butts in seats, which I would argue are more likely when you're playing schools like SDSU and Fresno State, there is television revenue sharing which helps fund football and other programs.

Top 100 U.S. TV Markets here: https://www.stationindex.com/tv/tv-markets

I don't think Rocko pins that tweet if conversations are not at least being had to consider if this should happen. Something else to consider would be if UCD doesn't consider this, do other Big Sky schools make the jump to FBS and suddenly we are left in the shambles of a weaker conference.

so there IS a chance :cheer:

I appreciate those concerns. But many smaller schools have taken the chance and made the jump. As someone who attended Davis in the 2010s nobody wanted to attend football games against schools they had never heard of, with academic programs far inferior to those of Davis. As a student our peers (other than those at say Cal Poly) were attending institutions with far better reputations at schools we could all name off the top of our head. (I doubt you could find a single student on the UC Davis campus that has a friend at SUU) I think there would be considerable excitement if Davis and it's students had the opportunity to compete with it's peers -- on and off the field.

Yes, it will take resources but the school has never laid out a plan which would garner the support to recruit those resources. Institutions with enrollment less than half of Davis have figured out how to do this. There is a growing market in Sacramento that is RIPE for competitive top tier football. Let's not let Sac State take this opportunity and leave Davis behind because they were willing to take the chance.

Leaders lead, they don't make excuses for why it can't be done. That is not a dig at the hurdles you have outlined but an aspirational statement meant for the leaders of UC Davis to further enhance the reputation of our school.

Long time observer of the conversation on Aggie Sports Talk but a first time poster. As someone who lives on the East Coast where nobody is aware of UC Davis but are constantly surprised by just how big the school is and how great it's academic reputation is I think this could be a huge moment for the Aggies to enter this conversation about making a move. When you look at the demographics of the schools entering this new Pac Conference - particularly Colorado State (and Oregon State and Washington State) UC Davis mirrors these institutions more than any of the schools in the Big Sky! It's time for Davis athletics to make a name for the school that is so strong academically.

JMU in Virginia is a great example of how elevating to FBS can wholly change the reputation and national presence of a school. From no name Shenandoah Valley FCS school to hosting events like College Gameday and arguably being the elite football program in the state in under 5 years.

I realize there are folks that wouldn't love this idea but these opportunities don't come around every day. And it is reasonable to believe that if the Pac can become competitive they could easily bring Stanford and Cal back into the fold.