We could rent UC Davis Health Stadium to them for 1-2 years, and pocket all concessions, parking, etc.

Funding is secured for Sac's new stadium, or UCDHS expansion?

a ucd website indicated some came from added students fees the students voted for. That likely was just used to service whatever debt was borrowed as the student fee income stream would be over several/many years.

Since I live near the Palouse, UI has played a few games at Martin Stadium (WSU). Once season in the 70s because their stadium had arson, again the next year when WSUs stadium was also burned in a half destroyed stadium, and most notably at the end of the 90's when UI moved up to FBS. They played a season at Martin Stadium which featured a home game against the Cougs. WSU decked everything out in UI apperal like what they did at Giants Stadium for Jets games. UI beat WSU and they still talk about in Moscow (Cougs fans grimace),

Been to Hughes a few times for Causeway games. Such a nice neighborhood for a night game.

Is it nice or the opposite? I am familiar with Downtown Sac, the eastern suburbs, Sac State area, West Sac/Old Town, and SMF/old arena but not family with Sac City or South Sac.

well at least 20 years ago the adjacent park was sketchy at night. But the parking lot at Hornet Stadium wasn’t great at night either.

Sounds like somebody has done some sales in his day their APP!

Meanwhile we are over here picking our noses gloating about 14,000 at the football game knowing it will be lucky to break 9,000 come November.

Just kidding, it was late September against the number 4 team in the nation.

I posted this earlier in the Idaho game topic but maybe it's more appropriate here in this discussion.

The attendance was a big disappointment. Seriously...nearly 6,000 less than last week in a game against the #4 team in the country...WTF!

I swear, most of our fans who do attend our games just don't know how to be great, supportive fans either. This game was a nail biter and the majority of them sit there quietly for 98% of the game and many leave early even when the game is on the line. It's disheartening to see the players turning around and waving their towels and imploring the fans to stand up and get loud on critical third and 4th down plays. The 100 or so Idaho fans were actually louder than the Aggie Pack except when pizzas or something was being given away. Whenever I jump up and cheer I can almost feel the eyeballs on my back from the fans around me who just want me to sit down, be quiet and not block their view.

Over 13,000 Aggie fans packed into The Toom for the game against #1 Nevada back in 1977 and the place was electric. I've never seen a game atmosphere anywhere close to that in our new stadium even though the population of the community and the university have increased immensely and we're playing at a high talent level in a higher division in a great facility in the toughest football conference in the FCS.

I know there's been a lot of scuttlebutt and excitement here lately about the remote possibility of us moving to the FBS level at some point but the low attendance in a game like this makes me wonder if Davis community and the students would ever come together and participate in a great collegiate, game day atmosphere. The students as a whole simply don't seem to care much about athletics and the community at large seems to be more comfortable at the Mondavi Center listening to a lecture or a chamber orchestra. Going to a football game and really getting behind the team vocally is just too boorish for many of them and most of those who do come to the games are too inhibited to actually loosen up a bit, get on their feet, cheer and have a lot of fun.

Oops...wrong thread...

Yep, that's why I don't fully buy the "build it and they will come" argument in terms of stadium expansion and moving up to FBS. The stadium would end up being full... full of fans from the opposing team who would certainly know how to make bring the noise. I brought this up earlier that I'm not really sure you can really change the culture that much in a short amount of time.

I want to hope so but....

The current students and alumni are not interested in FCS football, so last night's low attendance was not surprising.

But if we build it, students will start attending UC Davis for the education AND athletics. It will take time, but the fan base will grow, and some alumni will start showing interest.

Attendance will not change until we change.

That's a good point, PA. Trying to build an FCS following like the Dakotas and the Montanas have is probably an effort in futility in Davis. FBS may be the only way capture the interest of the students, alums and the Davis community at large.

Folks have been crazy about college football in other parts of the country for a looong time. Folks are not crazy about college football in California (especially in the Bay Area/Sac Area).

the elephant in the room - football isn’t broadly popular with Asian American females. Football, and the game day alumni experience, historically appeal to what are shrinking demographics at UCD.

I really hope you guys move with us.

https://x.com/achristovichh/status/1840775619216351306?s=46

I think you guys have the inside lane on this. Literally the only thing we have is like 1 tweet from our AD saying "wouldn't a stadium expansion be neat?" There's nothing concrete on our end.

Sac has a group of people doing something.

It appears Davis does not have a group of people doing something.

college kids get high and go to the football game (staring at tiktok) all over the country.....they just do it less in CA.

I wish we'd just hear something definitive from the AD. The stadium tweet and then nothing.

If there was something definitive, I'm sure we'd have heard all about it by now.

Right, I'm not so much saying specifics. Like Sac hasn't made specific claims about what conference they may be trying to move up to, but they've made it pretty damn clear they're trying to move up.

If we're trying it'd be nice to know. Go public and try to get investments going otherwise don't tease us with ambiguous tweets.

Sac is moving full speed ahead on their desire to build a new football stadium and try to get an invite to the PAC12 or the MWC or both. I'm not surprised by this at all. By comparison, we've heard nothing official other than a couple of teaser tweets about a second level at our stadium. So all we can do at this point is to assume that the university is not seriously entertaining thoughts of moving up to the FBS level.

Here are some thoughts comparing Sac and Davis in regard to possibly moving up to FBS at this point:

1. Sac has the geographic advantage of being located in the center of the greater Sacramento area which continues to expand and grow in population. The greater Sacramento area is hungry for major sports and is a large media area. I think that Sac would have an easier time attracting fans to an FBS program than Davis initially due to their geographic advantage. However, fans at schools like Oregon State, which is located in the small community of Corvallis, drive much, much further than 20 miles to attend OSU games. Advantage Sac.

2. Davis does have a large number of alums living in the greater Sacramento area and is also a important and prominent employer in Sacramento with the UC Davis Medical Center including the UC Davis Medical School, the Tschannen Eye Institute, the MIND Institute, the Firefighters Burn Institute and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. The Aggie Square in Sacramento is currently under construction and will be a major expansion of UC Davis in Sacramento and is being built in the same neighborhood as the Medical Center. Bottom line: the presence and importance of UC Davis in Sacramento is growing rapidly. Advantage Davis.

3. UC Davis is by far a more prestigious and prominently recognized university than Sac. This is not a dig at Sac, it's just a fact of Davis being a part of the highly regarded UC system nationwide. UCD has the #1 ranked School of Veterinary Medicine in the nation and are the #2 ranked agriculture school in the nation among other rankings. This gives Davis a more widely recognized presence nationally than Sac. Advantage Davis.

4. Facilities: the Aggie football stadium and the basketball arena are far better currently than the facilities at Sac. The Aggie football stadium was originally built with plans that it could be expanded to 30,000 at some point. The Aggie basketball arena is far superior than Sac's tiny, outdated, "high school like" Hornet's Nest. Sac has plans for a new stadium and a better basketball facility but Davis has the current advantage in facilities and offers more sports for both men and women. Advantage Davis.

5. Sac has had more recent success in FCS football than Davis in the past few years. However, Davis has a longer and more storied football history. It is yet to be seen if Sac can continue the success built under Troy Taylor in the past few years now that he left to be the HC at Stanford. Davis currently has a wave of new energy under their new HC Tim Plough. The jury is still out as to how well either program will do for this year. Currently no overall advantage - draw.

6. Size: UC Davis 41,000 students, Sac 31,000 and enrollment continues to grow at both schools. Advantage Davis.

7. Endowments: UC Davis $2.2 billion in 2023, Sac $66.3 million in 2022. Advantage Davis.

8. Total revenues: UC Davis $7.1 billion in 2023-24, Sac $100 million in 2023. Advantage Davis.

9. Potential funding sources for athletics: UC Davis has a lot of deep pocketed alums who have been very successful in the fields of science, agriculture, viticulture and the arts and more. Would they step up and contribute to a higher level of athletics...? I'm sure that Sac has deep pocketed alums from their business school who live in the Sacramento area and would probably support Sac's move to FBS. No advantage - the jury is out for both schools- draw.

I was and still remain pretty skeptical of either schools getting a PAC12 invite but, after reading a lot of comments in this thread, I'm beginning to think that FCS football in California, or even the west coast for that matter, may not be viable in the long run. As Portland Aggie mentioned previously. FBS might be the only solution to keep football alive and growing at some point in the future and it seems like there is a possible opportunity now as PAC12 tries to revive itself and the MWC tries to survive.

There are a lot of moving parts and significant financial hurdles for both schools but Sac is making no bones about their desire to get the ball rolling and try and make the move. I'm not sure it would bode well for the future of Aggie football if Sac successfully makes the move to FBS and we don't. It might be best for both of us to move up.

https://x.com/sachornetsnat/status/1840859925385478243?s=46

Looks like good things going for Sac

come on with us

I don't want to see the history of the Causeway die, but I fear that Davis just has too much apathy regarding athletics to make a jump happen.