The delta in receipts between scheduling a hopeless game and a reasonable underdog game is apparently approximately $100,000. Rich teams don’t pay more because they’re rich, what determines a game’s value is whether the opponent offers value compared to cheaper alternatives. SEC isn’t going to pay Davis $1 million, when they could schedule a regional team like Mercer for less, and that team has fans in the region. As far as eyeballs, blowouts are detrimental to repeat viewership. It’s not only how much you make for the game, its what that game does for a reputation, and whether there is a desire to watch a similar game in the future.

If you are trying to prove that your team is similar in quality to a Mountain West team, wouldn’t it make sense to play lower tier FBS teams? Plough says there are two tiers in the new pay for play era, P4 conferences and all the rest. He maintains the Big Sky, certainly the better Big Sky teams are already comparable to Mountain West teams. Montana State and Idaho State advanced that argument this year; Davis did not have the opportunity to as they chose to play a team from that top tier. Fan demand for tickets decreases with games where that are over in the first half. I remember on the predecessor of this board an alum being enthusiastic about the 2010 Cal game, and he brought his friends and family to a game which was over before it started. He was so embarrassed he swore he would never attend another game. You may say he was just naive, but majority of fans are naive.

The downside of body bag games is not fully appreciated. They cement the fact that the loser is minor league. Losing by fifty points on TV doesn’t raise the image if a school to recruits, is not a good experience for fans and does not boost player morale. All publicity isn’t good publicity. Just because SEC teams have a lot of money doesn’t make them want to give it to Davis instead of a local FCS or HBU team, that may put some fans in the seats. If Davis plays any P4 schools it should be the ones in California which historically have paid more. Davis should target teams, preferably in the mountain west, where computer rankings suggest a competitive two score game. The ideal opponents are San Jose State and our oldest rival Nevada. Play games that have a chance of helping the team get a playoff spot, not just a game that supposedly doesn’t hurt that chance, but in fact does.

If you add revenue sharing it is double that, 40 million.

No. Athletics is considered close enough to universities core mission of education that income derived from it is not taxable.

I’m glad he got to play, but why is Incarnate Word playing a NAIA school?

According to Google’s AI, citing public record request by UCLA Wire:
“While the public records request details for the 2027 game's specific payout amount have not been explicitly published, public contract details for their upcoming two-game series show that UCLA will pay UC Davis a $575,000 guarantee for their second meeting in 2029”

Sac was arguably a top FCS program when Troy Taylor was there. Rather than rebuild a program the old fashioned way, they blew it up after an injury plagued season in 2024, with a wholesale turnover. They threw away the success they had for the previous five years

Sac is spending 23 million in fees to join the MAC, with no revenue sharing from the MAC, and must pay visiting teams travel expense. How is that sustainable? And they still need facilities. I was surprised they recruited as well as they have, once the novelty wears off recruiting is going to be harder.

The team played better in the second half a lot of fresh players on the field, getting their few minutes.

The team including but not only the QB, wilted in the heat at the end of the first half..That was the worst quarter of the game..

Here is a quote from ESPN
“The SMU sideline had eight air-conditioned benches with shade coverings, plus the shade of the press box in the second half. No such relief for UC Davis on the east sideline, where a half-dozen misting fans had to do all the work. The stands behind the UC Davis bench were virtually empty after halftime. Almost all of what was left of the crowd was in the shady west stands.”

I think the temperature got to the team in the second quarter. Not that it would have made a difference in the outcome but i think it contributed to the number of points given up in the second quarter. Temperatures like that slows people down. Cleeland played better in the first quarter, and the defense was better.
My feeling is that the only think you learn from games like this is who keeps making an effort.

Who was the QB, number 11, sacked on last play?

The no audio at start was on ESPN too

Every “body bag” game showcases the ability of the higher ranked team to get yards after contact.

Bet the over

Excellent point. Save it for important moments.. Gbatu has shown he can do it

Those are both state schools and their tuition and fees bracket Davis’. Stony Brooks tuition and fees is around 11,000 William and Mary’s is about 25,000,

ESPN had a documentary of NIL a couple of seasons ago, and SMU was the example of the big spending school for NIL, which had been run by a collective of boosters. Now with revenue sharing the money flows through the school. So they’ve been spending big for a while.

When Sac was a member of Big Sky and Davis was D2, 1996-2024 inclusive. Davis beat Sac every year except two.

Beat UoP in 1978 with Moroski and in 1982 with O’Brien.