correct on all. You have to announce the extension, but I don’t think it’s any surprise he’d sign an extension or that we’d want to. We also know it’s extremely unlikely he’d jump to another FCS school. It’s maybe likely he’d jump to the right FBS program with the right offer. We can say he likes Davis etc. etc. etc. but truth is there are tons of great colleges and towns across the country that could set him and his children up for life with a nice few years away from here with the massive increase compare to the money we could offer as FCS. This is a no-brainer.

It’s also a no-brainer to want to win. Find me an announcement for a new/extended coach that says anything different, that he’s not a role model for the players, doesn’t represent the values of the school, so on and so on. Heck, even dismissals/firings can be complimentary to the outgoing coach.

The missing piece in this to me is talking about tangibles…what are doing or have done. That we are 25% or 65% towards our fundraising goals for stadium expansion, we actually have increased NIL/House $, we continue to explore new funding/marketing opps to achieve our goals.

What I read is we are simply staying the course, just extending Coach but no vision of how the CAMPUS will work towards revenue development. They have to work on that too and not just hope we donate. Instead of self fulfilling, it’s self staying. I see nothing to be excited about from the statement itself, which I believe is a missed opportunity because I don’t doubt there is much more that is going on that’s not being provided.

This is a problem if correct, as the streaming revenue was supposed to go to the schools?

So what is UCD doing to maximize revenue????

https://youtu.be/zEvXGZgNcL8?si=kleAPrygqVRtyD6G

(Link to Big Mountain Podcast explaining MW media deal)

I think it's pretty standard fare to be tight-lipped with these types of things. NDSU's AD was never publicly open (just alot of external speculation) about their MWC ambitions until **boom** it happened. Keeping cards close to chest also invites interest from other conferences. You better believe the PAC will come sniffing around if their biggest competitor on the West Coast expresses interest. If Rocko said "all in on MWC" it closes doors to potential opportunities for when the timing is right, is all I'm saying

The subscription model is based on participating in football. Even football streaming of the MWC network, which was free, was not a significant number. And that was with Boise, Fresno and SDSU in the league.

Again, who are these people? They didn’t show in Seattle last season. Didn’t show up at Cal in 24. Really limited support at Corvallis and Fresno pre-Plough. Even in 18 the Ags beat SJSU week 1 with no support (for either team) and played at a ranked Stanford team two weeks later in front of a friends and family crowd.

I don't see a mention of FBS as a goal; it is more of a statement of fact:

"In today's evolving college football landscape, opportunities at the Football Bowl Subdivision level continue to grow. With this extension, DeLuca, the athletic department and Plough have reaffirmed their shared commitment to the long-term success of Aggie football on the national stage."

I am fired-up that Plough was extended and it's positive news coming out of Davis during the doldrums of pre-Spring Football. I share RollOn's perspective though that the statement was a hype piece; a combination of hyperbole and vision casting without much meat on the bone aside from the fact that Plough will be driving the ship as long as he wants to, which I think we are all behind in support.

It seems Bay Area alums will come out if its a "once-in-a-lifetime" thing like Stanford 2005 or Cal 2010. Other than that.....crickets. The good news is: there were ~5,000 alums interested enough to show up for those 2 events. The pride exists, at least.
The Bay Area folks seem to be most likely to show up, and only to show we "belong" with Cal/Stanford. SJSU doesn't seem to stir anything.

I think being in a more seemingly important/visual conference might help......in 20 years...

Fans are over the novelty of playing major schools in games that are mostly non competitive. I wonder how many Davis fans who attended the recennt Washington game or the Oregon State game want to repeat that experience. The NCAA and the courts have made football much more costly which makes those games necessary, whereas we should be scheduling Mountain West schools, which would really provide a measuring stick of “readiness” to move up.

Oregon in 2016 another example of a good away turnout

Lots of Aggie alums there?

I agree. There is fatigue, since fans have been body-bagged over the past 5-10 years now. Our fan base did prove itself under more enjoyable circumstances though.

I think Davis has shown the potential to show up to Cal/Stanford/SJSU if we are in the MWC and playing on a more level playing field.

I'm more worried about the Yolo / Solano community for home games, to be honest.

I can’t believe that the fan base is so narrow that they can’t draw fom the large city 21 miles away, a city in which they are the second largest employer. If they have to draw just from Solano and Yolo, they aren’t going to succeed.

That could be the case. Oregon game was during the band-uh era. There was a good crowd at Nevada the year prior. Always drew well at SLO when the band would travel since you get 150 kids plus all of the parents and friends.

Idk why everyone is questioning attendance when Davis broke their attendance last season with 17k fans in attendance… In a 10k seat stadium… playing a FCS team. Attendance will be fine when the move up happens in a couple years. As long as the on field product is good, people will be interested. The admins still have work to do to make the game day experience and advertising up to par.

Anyone responding please add what needs to be done to make it work, not why it won’t work. We should always try to add what needs to be improved instead of why it won’t work. It’s fine to be realistic about things not being great now but the school is moving in the right direction.

probably 10000 of that record crowd didn’t pay a dime to get in. Great to get a big student crowd but we need paying customers. Sac game was the largest gate ever

Its because we've historically drawn around 4,000-6,000 non-students/band/player family for a majority of games since 2006.

Some on here might argue that number is lower.

Attendance has been increasing steadily since 2003 though, which is great. Program improvements can be attributed to this, for sure. Things are headed in the right direction.

D2 Toomey ~6k avg.--> D1 Great West @ Aggie Stadium ~8k avg.---> D1 Big Sky @ Aggie Stadium ~10k avg.

it’s because there is ZERO marketing in Sac. Plenty of Sac St. stuff, but we don’t spend a dime up in Sac to market athletics across the Causeway. Seems like a little dime could go a long ways.

and played at a ranked Stanford team two weeks later in front of a friends and family crowd.

. It was a friends and family crowd for both teams in 2018. Early start time didn’t help but both Stanford and Cal have had woeful attendance in recent years. I think UCD is on a better attendance trend relatively speaking in part due to winning more games. It still not an easy task to increase attendance or donations in the regional culture of college football in Northern California compared to what North Dakota State has going for it.

NDSU has been winning for years, UCD is just now getting serious about football recently… trending upward. I’m a Cal football fan, look at what they are doing, a lot of positive momentum.

I’d probably suggest to an Asst AD a quantitative study to deep dive the ticketing data. What zip codes are credit cards from. Who purchased and then didn’t come. Who only came once. Then find people from different data groups and do some qualitative work. In most businesses, customer acquisition is way more expensive than retention so you need identity what factors impact likelihood to return or recommend to friends (there’s a reason that equation is always on surveys!). For example, in the hotel business we know that perception of cleanliness upon entry is the key driver, so we’ve scientifically tested details down to which lights are left on. Surely winning and explosive high tempo offense are fun. But it’s good to know what are the details that convert a dad and son from Sacramento from a single game ticket to a mini pack.

on this note…I bought a tickets for a Tennessee game last year from a 3rd party app a few moths before the game and early during that game week I received an email from one of Development Officers at UTK asking who/what/when/where/why I bought tickets…as below:

We’re excited to welcome you to Neyland Stadium as the Vols take on Vanderbilt!

My name is Mike Nguyen, and I serve as a Development Officer in the Tennessee Fund. I have the privilege of working with Tennessee donors and season ticket holders who are passionate about supporting the Vols.

Since you’ve secured tickets for this game, I’d love to learn about your connection to Tennessee and discuss how you can become more involved with Tennessee Athletics – whether that’s through season tickets, premium seating, or increasing your engagement through philanthropic giving in our Shareholders Society.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Go Big Orange!

Two sides to this - they have more resources to email every single game ticket purchaser to every game but they also attempt to cultivate the casual fan into a donating fan. Ive even seen this in Berkeley. I’ve not seen this when I’ve bought UCD tickets.

My point is, along with not marketing in our nearby population centers (Sac), we do not seem to be doing much to get money from anyone who isn’t already giving money. If we did, I think we’d be even more incredibly funded across ICA and maybe we’d still have an equestrian team.

Well we have coaches on the team retweeting this..

The cat is out of the bag, as they say

It seems pretty evident, seems like more of a matter of getting that stadium expansion started.

Not sure if it's been discussed but saw this on Reddit. Gaps aren't as big as I expected

Yeah I was this today too! I found it encouraging, especially considering the #'s we are getting while still being in the FCS. We averaged 12,991 fans per game last season for home. I think we could get that number up with a move to the MW at the very least to the levels around Nevada or NDSU. Adding the new premium seating that is already planned + additional bleachers or a filling in of the berm could get us there pretty easily.

I am pretty sure that with a better product people will come.

Hell, I almost drove up from LA because of the playoffs. The only thing that stopped me from doing so was a pesky cold.

Again, I hear a lot of people talking about where fans will come from, why the MW would have more fans actually show up. Look at the attendance averages for MW teams compared to Big Sky teams (across the board in sports but especially football). People care more, show up more, and invest more in programs in the MW then in the Big Sky overall. I think it would bring more energy to Aggie Stadium if we are in a conference with more engaged fan bases.

I think its a hell of a lot easier to get people to come to games to watch UNR or SJSU then to watch Utah Tech or Portland State. With Sac leaving the Big Sky, the MW has more teams within our proximity in the conference. Easier to travel to, renewed and new rivalries, and schools that actually invest in athletics. I know the MW teams are not the biggest FBS names, but obviously are way more exciting and recognizable than much of the FCS (and easier to understand what level of football they play in lol).

The MW also provides better environments for Aggie fans to travel to and watch games. The very worst stadiums and attendance #'s in the MW are better than almost every single Big Sky team.

I love playing Montana State and Montana but a good chunk of the Big Sky doesn't have the draw or name recognition, much less the larger FCS. I would rather take the risk and join the MW to position ourselves with more aligned brands then tread water and hope that we eventually get to merge or something with the g6.

I know individual experience doesn't decide moves, but I know many alum, students and family members that would be more motivated to go to games against MW schools.

I work with UCLA alums and they are already planning a trip with me for when we play them. This is what happens when we play consistently “better” programs.

Its telling that SJSU slashed the capacity of their stadium with the renovation they did. They essentially removed the East side of their stadium. The capacity went from 30,000 down to 18,000.
In the same region, Stanford reduced from 85,000 to 50,000. Neither school comes anywhere near filling their stadiums. Football attendance is tough in the Bay Area (and Sac region).
It remains to be seen whether replacing Northern Arizona with New Mexico will move the needle in Davis.

It appears we have bumped attendance 35% with every "move-up" or major program improvement. So the next one could get us to 13,500 average at least.

It seems the Bison don't sell out these days primarily due to severe weather and fans generally losing interest in watching non-competitive games. Blowing out teams is a great problem, uninhabitable weather not so much.