California Memorial Stadium was also build directly on top of the Hayward Fault so the renovation was made as much or more for safety reasons than game related. They also did it piecemeal because of concerns it would block views from Panorama Hill (fancy homes) or Tightwad Hill where people watch for free.

in this new NIL/House Settlement world, too many college athletics programs are in deficit spending mode.

if UC Davis decides to move up to FBS (or whatever higher level it will be), what needs to happen to not be one of these deficit spending programs?

. Clearly the Cal situation was unfortunate in terms of CMS. We have literally a hole in the ground that additional seating can be built around as new structures, not additions to existing structures. That’s cheaper.

Also, everyone worried about the cost should also factor in the “give a damn” factor of FCS vs FBS. Donations will not drop with an FBS program, they’ll increase. As will tv revenue and other media/marketing deals. FBS teams travel with more fans to away games too so expect more visiting fans at our home games (in addition to more of our fans going to our games than Cal games). A review of FCS to FBS teams in the last decade does in fact show significant attendance increases.

Finally the readiness…we sound like a bunch nervous anxious indecisive tools. You wanna know how you’re ready? Test yourself. We’re UC Friggin’ Davis damnit…our academic and professional swagger has us with a mentality to go charging ahead to kick rear end. Why are we sitting around watching others?

And for watching others? The NDSU statement today states they accepted an invite from the MWC. Should MWC want ANOTHER football only school? It only stands to reason that we rejected an invite/consideration which quite frankly is not a way to get more donors on board.

“Our stadium is too small!” NDSU seats 18,000. We have had 17,000+ in attendance per Rocko. So…null and void. Or like his tweets with fancy stadium build outs is that just another false hype?

If UCD moves up, we'll also be ineligible for two years.

The ineligible period will always exist, regardless of when. If that’s an excuse to stay down, that’s not valid. Not like it’ll magically disappear for us in 2-4 years.

Besides, when bowl teams were needed to fill the schedule the “ineligible” teams suddenly were eligible for postseason play.

yeah I’m really curious what our admins response was when the conference told us NDSU wants to join and gave us the opportunity to apply. Did we do it? Is there a plan in place where we have a deal to move in 2028 or something? I feel the transition period is not really a point of contention, the FCS is great and all but losing members like NDSU doesn’t make it a stronger conference in competition, just an easier one to win a trophy from (in which no one outside of FCS niche fandom actually understands what it means). I would be a hell of a lot happier joining the MW with NDSU then staying in the Big Sky with new members SUU and Utah Tech.

+the stadium thing. Adding extra seating to a side or filling in a berm when building the new press box to meet standards of the MW doesn’t seem like the hardest thing in the world considering the stadium was built to be expanded in the first place. NDSU has a dome that can’t be expanded so meeting 18k seats could be a goal, but also we already have a nicer base stadium than some of the MW (I’m looking at Nevada having a track around the field and bleachers over it). I know people have made points of Mrak hall moving slow with these things, but it’s just weird to me to build all this momentum and STILL have this uncertainty.

I’m not even going to argue that sac moving to the MAC makes any sense, but they already left the big sky. That is our biggest FCS game off the board. Now we are going to play in a weaker FCS, with a weaker conference and expect the hype to continue building at the same rate? I totally think if we make a FCS CHAMPIONSHIP push this year that would be awesome, but I just don’t get this joining the MW thing and then seeming to be full steam ahead in another direction in the FCS.

I am so happy to be playing more recognizable teams for every other sport. Now I would like that football football too.

Be where our feet are... the allure of "FBS" and "playing more recognizable teams" is not what it's cracked up to be. A bunch of 5- and 6-win seasons (at best) and possible playing in some crap bowl game in a stadium filled 1/3 to capacity will get old in a hurry. People will blame the coach. You know where it goes from there. Then we're back on here crying for the "good old days" of losing in the Quarters with a team ranked in the Top 10 every year. Let's take care of our business, save some money, build a monster, and enjoy the ride.

Sac State was 7-5 or something this year with a much more talented roster than what they have today. Sure, we sell out the Causeway game and it's fun to whip their ass and take that ugly trophy, but they are toxic. The team to the south and the little horseshoe trophy now moves to game 12 and we'll sell that one out. We do not need Sac State.

Kinda makes the whole Aggie Ascent facility drive descend.

If FCS is where we stay, why bother donating for bigger and better things? A nicer FCS stadium will just be more “empty” than now and further amplify the “see no one cares” argument.

yeah…the Cal Poly game is a manufactured rivalry vs the regional one we had. Not sure it sells out. Great school and fun place, but rivalry it truly is not.

You can’t just make a trophy and suddenly despise the other guys. Especially Cal Poly…they’re too nice and never really competitive with us for any length of time.

Understood on Cal Poly not being Sac State, but it is one of Plough's pillar goals every year and I think the people in the building (players, coaches) look at it as a rivalry. As I stated many posts ago, I think the old trophy is buried somewhere in the depths of Cal Poly's existing, pile of crap football dumpster and someone needs to come clean and get that thing back. A BIGGER trophy may create more hatred towards them (joke).

I do disagree, however, on staying put in FCS for a little longer hurting the Aggie Ascent drive. Ascending with a plan > ascending unprepared. Plenty of improvements to be made at the stadium to bring it closer to FBS-ready, plenty of money to be spent to get to a consistent national championship contender (spend it on players, feeding them, summer housing/school, recruiting budgets, etc.). We're probably more prepared than Sac to make the jump today (minus all their newfound money), but not nearly as prepared as NDSU. That will be a decent barometer for us.

I think this hurts our readiness. Motivated backers aren’t so motivated this morning.

Let’s assume one of two things:
- we got first invite/consideration from the MWC to be an ALL SPORT member and we declined which is a little sad to not capitalize on recent energy around the program. It’s a buzzkill. Not even a statement from the AD. Poor.
- the MWC didn’t actually accept our application “first” and/or after giving us “first consideration” decided a school further away with a smaller budget and less reporters would be a better conference fit for the MWC than our full membership.

So either we think we are lame, or the MWC thinks we are lame. If the MWC thinks so, why are we wasting our time with them in other sports? If we think we are lame, what are we doing about it? Killing off ANY energy, and doing so silently, isn’t any way to build.