Pretty sloppy reporting all around by Schefter. As previously discussed, Sac is not actually currently "building" a new stadium, nor do they have the largest NIL fund in the country (obviously). It's all vaporware today.

So, it was pure fantasy (/fake it til you make it?) when announced in October. A new 25k seat stadium built in Sacramento will be incredibly expensive and Sac doesn't have random pots of nine figures worth of money sitting around waiting to be spent on a new stadium. They can't just decide to build a new stadium in an offseason like Stanford - there will have to be years of fundraising and planning before any shovels are in the ground. They don't appear to be serious about doing any of that work.

Or was that construction timeline contingent on some heretofore unknown megadonor walking in with $150 million of free money

What happened to the new stadium plan? When announced in October, they said construction would start after this season. Is that happening?

Not the full story but I'm a little surprised how close we are to the median on that list. Not great for those schools that our underachieving at a level below almost fits in fine on that list. It seems like with little other program investment, if we just moved up as is we could get a bump to get into the mid tier there based on better opponents and bigger visiting crowds.

I have to assume/hope right now the administration is spending a little money on some architectural ideas and renderings to try to grease the skids for new money to support a near future move up. Please do not bring back that 20 year old rendering.

I was also at that game, just to the right of you in the end zone. I thought I had some pictures from that day but I can't locate them at the moment. Hard to believe the school could grow by something like 10k students since that day and the student section is now a fraction of what it was. I don't understand young people these days [old man speak].

Re MWC needing the football program next year or in 2 or 5 years, having this existing relationship with the conference seems like it would increase the chances that this move up would be subsidized by the conference, making it a little more feasible than if we were just on our own, competing with all the other western FCS schools for a spot in the MWC when it becomes available.

It's possible that this really is an ideal situation for the university and the football program specifically. More prestigious, bigger budget conference with FBS peers and a ready-made destination for when the football program is ready to move up (and/or it is desperately needed to be called up by the MWC). It will hopefully help light a fire under the butts of everyone within the University and outside supporters to get the football program better situated to move up.

Cherry on top is leapfrogging Sac despite all their public posturing and lobbying.