While they're doing ridiculous things why not just move it to Poop City Park ? They can do it when the Giants are on the road.

I'm sure lots of Aggie students are from the Bay Area. Another blow to business in town.

I think here’s the number problem—at every renovation the pavilion capacity goes down due to more handicapped spaces, wider fire escapes etc. Max capacity is down from 8000+ in the 80s to 5900. The graduation configuration seats 3500 spectators. At 6 tickets, that’s 580 graduates, at 4 it’s 875. If there are 7000 grads total, that’s the difference between 12 and 8 ceremonies. Most families are probably fine with the idea of 12 ceremonies spread over a several days, because who wants to listen to more than 500 names in ones sitting anyhow. It spreads the demand for parking, hotels, etc. However, the the chancellor has publicly stated he wants to dramatically cut the number of commencements for two reasons—he doesn’t want to sit through 8 or 12 ceremonies and they could afford a bigger name speaker if they are filling fewer speaker spots. I think the speaker bit is dumb because who remembers or cares who the speaker was… but he seems committed to the idea.

I’m pretty sure the university had already made their mind to go to Golden 1 before this survey. Is it good or bad? I’m not sure. But I will say, I don’t feel bad for the Davis hotels for one hot second. Almost all the hotels in town are owned by one extended family. They have used litigation and city council buddies to prevent anyone else from opening hotels to keep supply tight. $300+ per night w/ 2 night minimum stay for crap rooms during university events? No thanks, sorry I don’t have sympathy.

I also think May wants to make the uc davis/sacramento schism disappear or at least reduced substantially. Make it more like uc davis-sacramento. Hence, we will soon be offering undergraduate classes in sacramento at Aggie square. UC davis health will soon dominate the sacramento region in terms of healthcare. Why not dominate the region educationally? I believe student housing is planned for sacramento based uc davis students at Aggie square. So there is a trend going on for sure. I am 50-50 on the concept.

OK, who is the family? I would think a bigger problem is keeping occupancy steady all year long.

The Aggie Stadium meltdown didn't help, poor planning for summer heat.

They are trying to be UC Sacramento...good when it comes to competition between the Aggies and Sac State, but negatively that local buisinesses will be impacted by moving commencement. Also having graduation on campus is a perfect introduction to the school for family members and other kids of college age. My first impressions of certain colleges were at the graduations of relatives.

the Patel family. Different sons own properties under different company names but they are all related. The fact that rooms in Davis are more than a comparable room at Disneyland shows a supply imbalance. They stay full during the week with conferences and university business. A well run hotel with proximity to two freeways shouldn’t have any issues with revenue per available room night.

I really don’t think moving commencement to the Golden 1 will hurt Davis businesses. The students are still living in and around Davis. Mom and dad will arrive a few days before graduation, take their kids shopping, and enjoy Davis restaurants. Davis restaurants are packed during graduation. I expect them to remain that way with a Golden 1 ceremony, as well as the hotels.