Well, it looks like the first big push and financial increase will be in Men's Basketball. I would think that, in this new era of college sports, we'll need to have a good deal NIL money available to be able to compete well with teams in the MWC.

Agreed that we need to be ready to answer the call when it comes and I think it's going to come sooner rather than later. I still think that our move to the MW in all other sports is a clear indicator that football will follow given appropriate facilities and financial upgrades. Hopefully we will get an announcement about CONCRETE developments from Rocko. That seems to largely be how he operates outside of his stadium rendering tweet.

curious about the new d1 reclassification rules that d1 members transitioning from fcs to fbs only have a 1 year transition period of ineligibility for playoffs/bowl games if they meet certain standards (which davis would). Seems timely during all this conference realignment stuff..

You can scroll to the 7:41 mark in the video to listen to what he has to say about UC Davis football and two more FCS schools he thinks the MWC might consider.

I thought so, since I read the brief as well.

thanks for catching this! You guys rock!

Will be interesting seeing what pac12 alignment looks like in the new few weeks. Leaks coming out makes it seem like their media deal may not be as great as expected, keeping the MW that we are joining in the form we expected it to...

There are rumors that UNLV and Texas State are in negotiations with PAC12. For selfish reasons, I hope UNLV stays in the MWC.

it sounds like UNLV may not be swayed with the media eval.. hoopefully!

If UNLV leaves, does that mean AF goes also?

This is one person's perspective:

SMC in Pac-12? Basketball speaks.

It means Davis is basically joining the WAC. Which was predictable from the outset.

Does anyone know if the Big West has any media deal? If so, how much does each member get?

I have no idea, but I'd guess SIGNIFICANTLY less.

we have a deal with ESPN+ for both Big Sky and Big West, and one with Spectra for football. I haven't been able to find the actual amount of either of those two. As you said, I'm sure its peanuts compared to the MWC contract (hell, we might have to PAY for the PRIVILEGE of having the Montana folk televise our games!)

I don't remember where I saw it, but the Big Sky/ESPN+ rights are in the $100ks per school in total per year for football. The deal was just extended through 2030.

I just read that the new contract calls for 4 ESPN/ESPN2 games each season, with 2 on Friday nights.

What's everybody's honest take on what year UC Davis Football first plays a FBS level schedule?

I really am hoping at the latest 2028, but would love a 26-27 addition.

I tend to be a little more conservative on this stuff......2035. I would love to be pleasantly surprised.
Growth seems considerably harder/slower in the UC.

I understand this isn't a requirement to move up, but I would like to see the football program consistently at the big boy table, like Montana/NDSU. Big Sky championship contender every year, and more consistent attendance at the FCS level first. Building a strong foundation is important for longevity.
We forget sometimes we've only been in the Big Sky since 2012. We also lost considerable momentum (2013-2016, 12-33 record) in those hard years.

If we can do relatively close to what Montana is doing here in CA, the sky is the limit. Big IF though.

I’d guess we stay FCS. I hope I’m wrong too.

If they wait until they have built the following that Montana and North Dakota State have they will wait forever. FCS foootball is the biggest thing in those states, no major college football or NFL.
Hypothetical scenario is Sac moves up and plays a weak FBS conference with no shot at a bowl game anyone has heard of, would they get more coverage than a top 10 FCS UC Davis? Unfortunately I suspect they would.
Last year Sagarin rankings had UC Davis ranked 91, better than any team continuing in that conference other than UNLV. They’ll move up if the money makes sense.

Seems like we are quietly raising our funds with a plan to go up to FBS within 3- 4 years. Supposedly we have an unspoken deal that we will eventually move up but are not rushing. Even in our current state we made a small profit which most schools cannot say. We aren’t desperate like sac state who see the writing on the wall that their athletic dept is hemorrhaging money and their university is also in a huge deficit (many CSUs in same boat). They know they must push to PAC to make some money and increase awareness with hopes of driving up the “out of state” and overall admissions for the school, thus helping the school as a whole. Sac state has a better PR team who hype up every little thing with overblown promises where non northern CA fans eat up not knowing the actual truth, while UCD works in the background quietly. Which is frustrating sometimes, I wish we had a larger PR team and social media presence for our athletic dept.
But when many ADs/commissioners looked at the actual “money”-books/facilities/history they see us as the better option. This is how we got the MWC in the first place. They see our potential as representing the sac/northern CA region. Being a more prestigious university, one of the largest and top ranked health system and hospital in sac area, and our med school/other campuses in sac, and not being a “commuter” school.

Our facilities are far better, not even close.

PR? We couldn't even get the word out for 1,000 Free student tickets for an NCAA playoff game. Plenty of bodies to do that simple task.

That is sad we couldn’t round up people for that. We gotta start using more social media and AI to grab locals in the Davis/woodland/dixon/sac region, we need to advertise more in the Dorms and DCs and have groups rounding up students and matching from each dorm area to the stadium and do more give aways.
I think each home game we should bring 1-2 local high school football team and their family from the region and bus them to games to increase awareness and build more fans for individuals who aren't students/alumni (ex: one week bring woodland high, Davis high, Dixon, Elk Grove, sac, etc)
We need to increase our presence in the region and build our brand more from the bottom up.

I’m a bit worried that we were also talking to the WCC. That might give us some clues about the future of FBS football.