During the playoffs - we had a nice little general spot on the south end of Biggs Field. Everybody could park where they were parking, and you could mobilize your tables and covers and kegs and food and grills right there...all were welcome. Let's keep that tradition going I think. Loved that. Bring some consumables for the cause if you show too.

The tailgate scene at Biggs is probably the best option to expand and develop the community and scene. I agree with about the feel of being in a paved parking lot, but Biggs is super convenient for merriment to the last possible minute. It isn't the easiest spot to shlep all your stuff to-and-from your truck (unlike a parking lot), but it seemed to work well the times I stopped by.

I’m with Dr. Mike on moving the Champion Aggie tailgate hospitality over by Biggs field. Bring everybody in close proximity. We can all enjoy the band and cheerleaders pregame entertainment.

I believe that as of this weekend the Big West days are behind us, with the possible exception of an associate membership in a sport or two. Women’s water polo may still be a member.

During the last alumni Zoom, someone asked about the future move to the Mountain West. Plough is cautious -> doesn't want to jump ahead if we don't have the resources to compete long-term. There was money issues that I hadn't fully appreciated. Beside the $5M entry fee (FCS->FBS), the MWC required a minimum staff payroll of $3.5M (about $2.5M more than our current), and NIL commitment of something like $2.5M ($2M or so more than our current). So, we either have to boast revenue SIGNIFICANTLY, or get a big financial commitment from central campus.

Looks like we’ll have to wait to see how much 1. MW revenue share would look like (I’m guessing this would be the biggest part of the budget)
2. How much they can make from new stadium renovations.

I’m not too worried about $5mm a year bc if they can’t figure out a way to do that, they were never serious about competing in FBS in the first place. UC Davis isn’t some of these small universities. If there is a will there is a way.

Makes you wonder how sacst is paying for all of this.. not like they're rolling in it. or anything other than a pile of dung for that matter

Also, requiring NIL commitment seems suspect. I'd bet this comes down with the higher rev generating programs leaving the MWC like Boise, SDSU etc.

It seems to me the 2.5 million requirement would be revenue sharing rather than NIL. Name, image and likeness payments have to have a reasonable correlation with the market value of an athletes association with the product. It’s now not run by consortiums but by the school, and auditable by the NCAA, steps motivated to avoid it being used to evade the revenue sharing limit. Revenue sharing is going to be the standard way to pay players, can be distributed any way they want, but the program has to have revenue.

you are right. It seems like the terms NIL and revenue sharing get interchanged quite a bit.

The distinction is meaningful. An established player may have endorsement value, may be able to sell his name to youth sport camps, or to a car dealership. If so the school doesn’t even have to be involved. With rare exceptions that are unlikely to be found in the Mountain West incoming freshmen endorsement value is near zero.

The house settlement sets a cap of rev share at $20mm per school. This is not NIL funds. I’m sure Davis can figure out how to boost staff payroll and the house settlement. I understand why they want to expand the stadium, as they need a way to capitalize and offset the cost of paying coaches and players. But better competition (and committing to being competitive) will bring more fans and donors.

Another note is NDSU isn’t getting any media share from the MW for the fist six years. Idk how much Davis would get as they are a member in all sports except for football, so adding football to the MW would make them a full member. I EXTREMELY doubt Davis would get a full member distribution. Most likely a reduced share like they are already getting.

I have to wonder the benefit of becoming a "full member" if you don't earn "full member" distributions.. I'd rather stay FCS than pay other MWC teams to grow their resource divide. One day these conference will learn they exist to serve the teams in the conference, not the other way around.

The current MW media package (just announced this year) was negotiated with the TV networks without UC Davis (or NDSU) included in the conference as a football member. The other schools are not going to reduce their share to add Davis in. Davis gets a share of other sports media distributions. It is better to be in FBS than not. Have to think long term.

+1

Agreed, but I get this weird sense, and I think the staff does too, that a couple more conference shake ups are on the horizon. In which case, PAC12 moonshot lets do it

UC Davis will most likely just join the mountain west, then move to P4 status if they can. Most likely the SMU route. Maybe Big 12. That’s a long ways away. Davis needs to focus on these things first.
1. Expanding the stadium. Needs to be around 30-40k seats. Needs good amenities too. Updated food, luxury seats (on both sides). Probably around 25k seats after first remodel (first phase new press/ luxury seats that have already been announced + expanding seats on other sides have not been announced)
2. A vast improvement on Marketing and fundraising. (My big gripe of this message board are too many posters are scared to grow and are complacent with remaining stagnant) Davis is not a small time school. They can budget for more advertising. They can do a better job at fundraising. Look at Cal and Stanford. Cal is pushing hard with donors. Stanford just had KPop concerts at their stadium. They are pushing to make money. Yes, they are bigger brand names, but Davis can push hard as well. You have to start to make momentum. They can pay for coaching salaries and pay revenue shares to players. Davis isn’t a broke school. If they were, we wouldn’t see so much construction and new buildings. They also wouldn’t have announced $250mm+ in sport facilities renovations. ( Side note, the renovations are going to put Davis at the top of G6 facilities. Wouldn’t be surprised if P4 was the end goal in around 15 years.)
3. Davis has to get into FBS. This should be the number one goal. Football is BY FAR the number one revenue driver in college sports. Being a competitive football team will boost the UNIVERSITY’S brand by a long shot. Not just in athletics. Sports are advertising for universities. And while many universities are struggling with enrollment (the major colleges in CA are not…for now, not worried about Davis as it’s a top public school in the country) it will be wise to get ahead of the curve. Davis is on the rise and the accession must continue…

sounds like a big part of Davis moving to FBS is having the money to bridge over the years they will not receive media rights money. the current media rights deal for MWC expires 2031-2032.

I would assume so, but I really don’t know. Davis is already a part of the mountain west and we already know that it was planned for them to move to FBS in the future. Maybe adding Davis adds enough value to the TV networks that they get some money. (Davis is inside of the #20 tv market nationally, but people need to be interested in watching games on tv. MARKETING)

Who will fund ICA massive yearly losses? Cal losses $24M per year and is subsidized by $64M annually by the campus ($88M total), and this is all after increased fundraising. UCLA runs a $51M annual deficit.

UNR gets $10M from the campus, UNLV lost $24M two years ago, but then rebounded to a $2M surplus.

I don't know if the 3.5 million for "staff" is an average of their members or a requirement. I looked at the Nevada coaches and they have perhaps 18 to Davis' 12, it's hard to compare because of different roles. While it makes sense to expand the staff, and increase pay, more than tripling Davis' coaching expenditure seem like it would not be necessary to put a good product on the field.

that’s the minimum. The average head coach salary is something like $1,3M, with UNLV’s Dan Mullen topping the list at $3.5M.

https://nevadasportsnet.com/news/reporters/how-much-every-head-football-coach-in-the-mountain-west-and-pac-12-will-make-in-2026

Program needs a huge amount of money to come in. We aren't going to wing it like our neighbors.
My timeline for anything to happen with football is probably farther out than many here. Which is not bad IMO.

at the sac airport:

we should put a lot more ads at SMF and show everyone that the sac region only has one true university

[quote]Mountain West Football Budgets

FY25 Football Expenses

University of Nevada, Las Vegas: $21,767,260
San Jose State University: $16,017,209
University of New Mexico: $15,386,871
University of Nevada, Reno: $14,787,520
University of Hawaii: $13,943,117
Northern Illinois University: $13,269,400
University of Wyoming: $13,091,900
University of Texas at El Paso: $12,717,061
U.S. Air Force Academy: $12,007,431
North Dakota State University: $8,353,482

Average: $14,134,125 per school[/quote]

https://herosports.com/fbs-mountain-west-football-budgets-look-like-ksks/

That is some great information on where UC Davis football stands, moving in the right direction with respect to FCS. Finally having the funds to compete. Doing more with more (not just more with less).

However, it does show where we need to go in the event we want to move to the Mountain West for football.

Side note. For the 2024 season, Sac State had the second highest football expenditures at the FCS level (for reporting schools). Their record for the 2024 season . . . 3-9. This is what "bust" looks like.