I’m glad to see a studious approach to this. Sometimes one architect firm will own a gig from blue sky to completion but it is also pretty common for one firm to propose a master plan and conceptual design with different firms chosen for actual schematic designs. I’m not familiar with this firm but looks like they have a portfolio of several aquatic and mixed use projects. It would seem like football and basketball venues have to be part of this conversation but I could also theoretically see something mixed use to include retail, dining, entertainment, office, hotel, or housing elements as a part of an athletic village.

if I were a big west fan in 2026, I’d hope they would skip UVU. Leave it as a 10-team SOCal league. Makes scheduling easier.

They should invite Cal State San Bernadino so people can get CSUSB and UCSB confused.

Most definitely reading into it too deeply but having multiple davis football coaches repost the Gloria Nevarez (mw commissioner) visiting davis post on their accounts commenting about how awesome davis is makes me wonder if they tell recruits the mw is in sight for fb.

Conference names used to mean something. Admitting UC Davis makes a mockery of mountains everywhere.

Mockery? Why UC Davis is less 90 minutes away from the smallest mountain range in the world.

:rofl:

I can't see why they wouldn't mention it. Even though it's unspoken, it's pretty obvious what the MWC and UCD are trying to do. It would almost be weirder if the coaches didn't say anything about it. Parents and players will want to know what the program will look like in the next 4-5 years.

The question is not whether the MWC and UCD see a football fit, it's when.

Politics

The house settlement has been approved.https://x.com/SamHerderFCS/status/1931161778693521888

I did a little reading about Grant House. Apparently the premise of what he said thought the suit was about was he and a buddy wrote a (bad) song and talked about how unfortunate it was they couldn’t monetize it if it became a next top 40 hit (it did not). A friend of a friend was a lawyer who convinced him to become the named plaintiff. He thought he was suing to allow athletes to monetize their social media accounts and maybe do a little swimsuit modeling. But he didn’t actually talk much to the lawyers or judge and really didn’t understand what the case actually was. As lead plaintiff, his payout is thought to be $125,000. Apparently he has faced threatening phone calls and bullying on the swim deck because the settlement is demolishing Olympic sport rosters. I certainly don’t condone that. But I also would never hire this guy. How irresponsible to lead the charge on something you don’t understand that appears so far to be a net negative for the majority of society. Major character flaw. So there you have it, college sports set on fire by an unreleased terrible music video.

If it wasn’t Grant House it would have been someone else.

A judge shouldn’t be making major impact decisions that “are a net negative for the majority of society”, The judge allowed a class action suit that included in the class athletes who have dramatically different interests in the outcome, a few are major beneficiaries, more will be net losers, like many of the “olympic” sports athletes. And society wasn’t a party in the suit at all.

Do we know yet if UCD "opted in" to the House settlement?

yes, we opted in

Well, this is garbage. UCD's going to have to shell out significantly larger sums (beyond scholarships + other current recruitment costs) just to bring in the same level of talent (or lower) it gets now.

I am in favor of student-athletes being paid if the university or a 3rd party is using them as a marketing tool (with written authorization of course). That's something I would expect as a private citizen if a company wanted to use me for marketing (YoloHW Pancake Mix-taste the Causeway !), but just paying them to play is stupid. I don't give a crap how far some doofus can throw a football; he doesn't deserve to be paid for it until a real pro team gives him a contract.

Yolo get some rest.

I am well-rested. Thank you for your concern.

Rocko Deluca said in his interview about two months ago on the mountain west podcast that they would opt in but not until their existing rosters attrited as they had made commitments to those athletes. I can find nothing later than that, if they signed it they haven’t published it. Perhaps the withdrawn football roster is related to the roster size, anyone notice how many athletes were on the removed roster?

At least some conferences will be all or nothing.

Is Vic baker still an Aggie

Vic is in the transfer portal as a grad transfer. She is not listed on the 2025-26 WBB roster page. She’s pictured on the WBB Instagram page at the Aggie Grad Luncheon.

Sam Herder feels like the following schools are the most ready to move to FBS football:

1. Sac State
2. North Dakota State
3. Tarleton State
4. Montana along wirth Montana State
5. South Dakota State

He feels like UC Davis would move to the top of the list when considering their current facilities and the ability to expand them, their media market size, their funding ability and their academic reputation but he says they simply are not in a rush to make the jump. He feels like they are comfortable building their football program into an FCS power and will make a decision whether or not to move up if an offer comes and they feel ready to make the move at that time unlike many programs publicly push to move up and rush into making the move as soon as possible.

You can scroll to about the 32:50 mark to hear their discussion about the Aggies.

Goes to show how those removed from the Sacramento area really have no clue how far sacst really is from making that move. Just because I "really want something" doesn't make me "ready" for it.

Sac has the HC hype, recruiting class, and no Sacramento competition.

Then what? No stadium, no suitable nearby stadium (Hughes?), no Phil Knight, no big time DI hoops facilities, lagging overall sports facilities (??), not a deal like Fresno State where they could try to draw 30K to 40K a game, and possibly most important, Sac is a government town. Not Silicon Valley. Gotta compete w Tahoe, wine country, Bay Area, etc. It's a big lift.

CSU also has immediate short term budget problems. Somehow I doubt that Sac is immune from the budget cuts that are biting Fresno State hard.

It's all vaporware so far but national media pick up the self-generated hype and run with it without learning much more about realities on the ground.

So far Sac hasn’t spent hardly anything, but they are shortly going to have to pay the million dollar Big Sky exit fee, and fund the 105 scholarships they seem to be offering, plus the matching women’s scholarships, pay visiting teams, plus upgrade their facilities. I’m anticipating a few lawsuits over NIL money promised. At some point the Music Man has to produce a band.

UC Davis News just published a very heartwarming story about one former Aggie student, Ron Austin, who is now graduating after 47 years absence from college. Those who recall Ron Austin will be showing their age probably, but will remember him as an outstanding running back for the Aggies. I would say one of the best players UC Davis ever put on the field. Ron left Davis in the seventies thinking he had a degree but he did not; having a few units short he returned to UC Davis recently to complete his degree. Which he did. And will graduate with the class of 2025 next weekend. Congratulations Ron Austin!