Also I won’t be surprised if in 15+ years Davis tried to move to P4. I’d like to remind everyone UC Davis is an affiliate member of the Big 12 in some sports (that aren’t included in the MW)

All Davis to FBS deniers, please answer the following questions with sources.
1. What is our current FOOTBALL media rights distribution vs what we can expect from the mountain west.

2. Please explain how moving football, which is the biggest revenue producer in college sports (Football and men’s basketball subsidize the other sports with their revenue), to a higher division, which would then increase our media payout, increase the level of competition and brand name competition (which would increase ticket sales and tv viewership) would hurt the school. KNOWING that increased media payout from football would boost the athletic budget.

Also knowing that being in FBS would boost the brand recognition and get more out of state tuition, again, making more money. Here is an interview with AD DeLuca speaking on this. https://youtu.be/t3fbSpb_WJc?is=Hq78LWbgQhsRb4Kg

3. Please explain why we would pay and exit fee from the mountain west to join the PAC 12 when we JUST joined the mountain west. That literally does not make sense. REMINDER, Davis is a NON FOOTBALL member of the mountain west. Meaning we are already a member of the conference, just not for football. We CANNOT join the pac 12 for football and remain in the mountain west for all other sports.

4. Please show what 20 year football revenue projections would be for moving to FBS vs staying in FCS. I find is EXTREMELY unlikely staying in FCS will provide a better economic outlook than moving to the FBS

long term wise, yes, getting into the FBS before major conference realignment is worth it.

Where did you see that there is a reported negative number? Where did you see there would be no meaningful conference distribution? Please link me to reports on this.

Davis gets a 1/6 media deal payout in 2026 and is increased every year and gets a full media deal payout in 2032. https://nevadasportsnet.com/news/reporters/details-from-uc-davis-heavily-redacted-membership-agreement-to-join-the-mountain-west

The current MW media deal expires in 2032. According to our projections of joining FBS in 2029, that would leave 3 years of play until the new media deal. (And I will once again reiterate that once Davis joins the FBS, they will be a FULL Mountain West Member, not a football affiliate like NIU and NDSU).

In regards to the MW spending all its money, there is settlement between the PAC 12 and the MW regarding exit and poaching fees owed to the mountain west. https://apnews.com/article/pac-12-mountain-west-lawsuits-a06f727ea50847ec9e0dca0b6502e008

how would the boxes not have any return on investment??? That doesn’t make sense. The school is building it with donated money, meaning the school will be able to funnel the proceeds of the ticket sales directly back into the program.

They are premium box and club seats, so they will make more money than beer garden tickets. ALSO, the new club is designed to host events year round. For example, My HS prom was hosted at Cal Memorial Stadium in their club. Davis can host events year round at their club too.

I could see that for the other side.

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.