Keep talking without walking.

Some quotes rom The Athletic article:

“This was unquestionably the hardest thing I’ve ever been part of,” Wood told The Athletic. “Because everybody was rooting against this, rather than rooting for us.

“Let me be real: It is an investment, and it is a lot of money. I also think that in five years, people are going to say, ‘Wow, that was a sweetheart deal.’ Because I think the price of doing business is only going up. The value of being at FBS is only going up.”

For MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher, the deal offered little risk and plenty of reward.

“It ended up being a very strong business deal for our conference,” Steinbrecher said. “Which was certainly attractive.”

“It’s a status,” Orr said. “We can legitimately tell our student-athletes, our recruits, and our community, this is the highest level of Division I football.

“Sacramento State now has a pathway, not only to a bowl game, but to play for a national championship. As crazy as that sounds. A week ago, there was no pathway.”

“We’re going to be on ESPN and CBS Sports on a regular basis,” Wood said. “That’s the win. We won right before we’ve even played a game, we won. … Nothing brings in donors, alumni, enrollment, or community engagement like athletics.”

“Our marker of success really is, can we use football and sports to generate revenue in a way that most campuses can’t because of this unique situation of not having an impacted media market?” Wood said. “Then, second, does it raise the visibility of the university?”

Wood said. “We didn’t do it the way other campuses have done. We didn’t win 10 national championships to become FBS. Instead, we were a case study in intentional disruptive marketing to get where we needed to be, and we were able to do in two and a half years what takes other campuses a lot longer.”

“I never once changed (my determination) even despite all the pot shots people were taking at us. At the same time, it’s hard for people to see a place they’ve never been yet,” Wood said.

“We were fortunate to basically have executed on a playbook that hasn’t been used, and to do it well. I would say to give it some time.”“I never once changed (my determination) even despite all the pot shots people were taking at us. At the same time, it’s hard for people to see a place they’ve never been yet,” Wood said.

“We were fortunate to basically have executed on a playbook that hasn’t been used, and to do it well. I would say to give it some time.”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7109995/2026/03/13/sacramento-state-football-mac-president/

Let's all check in 5 years from now and see how it went. Legitimately, I want to see where it all ends up for Sac.

I guess I just don’t see how playing on ESPN and CBSSN has raised Akron’s and Kent’s status in the country’s opinion. But, that’s just me

Complaining about "pot shots" is comical. The victim mentality doesn't work when you come out swinging at the FCS, lying, embellishing, and the sh*tshow concerts, publicity stunts, etc. He put a target on his school's back with his behavior. He made his own battle tougher.
North Dakota State had ZERO push back from their conference mates or the country for that matter. Nobody was making fun of them. Their program was respected, and that wasn't just because of the winning. Big difference between the way the two schools went about things.

Hopefully Sac is successful. Failing and folding the program would not be good for CFB in CA.

we were a case study in intentional disruptive marketing

I thought this was an "interesting" comment...

I don't think CA CFB would miss 'em much

That would be a huge loss, that's 110 spots in a state with greatly diminished CF options. DII has crumbled on the west coast.

Fair point, but I thought this whole thing was to increase out of state tuition payers? Wouldn't that also apply to out of state fb recruiting? The way I see it, If they want to "go national" with their brand and put the health of the program at risk, they don't care about the well being of CA FB.

From the University standpoint, yes more tuition revenue from out of state students, but I believe the football program has to pick up the tab, or a portion of it?

Tim says each out of state recruit costs him 2 scholarships. So it needs to be an impact player like Lan or Rex :).

I thought at the fundraiser he said some about the chancellor agreeing to allowing some number of out of states (10, maybe?) to be charged for cost of attendance - basically the same as an in-state recruit. That’s a big deal. I have to assume basketball has had such an agreement since Les came in.

At one point the story was that big time football was going to be such a draw that non-athletes from out of state were going to line up to pay full retail prices and this whole endeavor was going to subsidize the average in-state student.

“ I thought at the fundraiser he said some about the chancellor agreeing to allowing some number of out of states (10, maybe?) to be charged for cost of attendance”
If he did i missed it. But at the last lunch he was reiterating the 2 scholly cost. Maybe past tense?

Time will tell. D2 was destroyed in California by the California State University system with a Title IX guise to cover their budget shortfalls and typical mismanagement, giant pension challenges, etc. Sac State fits right in, and their end is nigh, especially with current leadership.