Thank you Gabe! Have a great time. Any items you are planning on bidding on in particular?

$23M while already in a $30M+ hole.
FBS or Bust could very easily become FBS and Bust.
This seems to be more about Wood’s ego than it is common sense.

thanks for the information - I think we agree there’s a lot to learn from our competitors about how to improve the experience.

that looks very doable

Also that’s why we need someone who is going to the wine tasting event to ask the questions and share with others.

If Davis could have a direct link to fundraising for the football stadium, that would go a long way.

It will be interesting to see if SAC being FBS actually will result in “corporate money” and increased attendance. It sure increases costs.
I wonder how many people in Sacramento could match the MAC schools with their state, or know anyone who ever went to one of these schools. Long time Davis fans know a couple of them from D2 days. Sac will have trouble selling itself as the attraction after last seasons hype turned out not to be fulfilled.
I think Sac may win a few games because the lower half of the MAC conference is not tougher than FCS competition.

First step in the $50mm for the upgraded club and suites… one step at a time.

Your average person doesn't say, "Oh, it's FBS, Akron is coming to town, let's go to the game."

Is there a personal connection, is the team winning, fun team, relateable players, enjoyable experience, reasonable cost, food options, related events (kids, after game downtown stroll), atmopshere, safe, etc.

This is also affected bc we apparently don't market well on campus, or off campus, which isn't solved by adding more administrative bodies.

This is not entirely unrelated to football. The programs that are having success at the gate and with Gameday revenues are those that have figured out how to broaden participation in a premium experience beyond suites. Look at what Cal and UW have done converting stadium areas to bigger club areas with TVs, different food options and pricey drinks. UCU has the bootleg version of this under the basket. Irvine and SLO have pregame hoops club events where they feed the donors, fill them up with drinks and the staff comes in and breaks down the other team ahead of the game. This sort of offering appeals to a different segment of the market. At Davis, UCUC shows that simply having more seats does not translate to attendance. Same with football. Even the games with attendance listed over capacity had plenty of open seating. The addition of suites is only beneficial to the extent that Mrak wants to push some of the university partnerships more heavily into athletics. But suites are expensive and don’t generate a ton of cash if you only have 5 to sell (subtracting UC Health, Credit Union, Chancellor). A much greater ROI opportunity is a wine garden one side and a bbq/brew seating section in one of the end zones. Add TVs to appeal to non UCD die hards and the average spend will increase 4x. SLO and Montana State opened up these sections over the past couple seasons and are doing well with them.

great post. Two things can be true at once. It really will be an interesting experiment to see how the 2 strategies for the schools (Davis and Sac) look in 5 years time.

I mentioned above, the trainer was trying to wrap an ace bandage around his hip and groin in one side over a very impressive pair of compression shorts. So, it seems like something there that’s really effecting his quickness. Feel for him

thank you for this! Really wanted to chat it up with some MW folks so this is super helpful :)

I'm assuming that they will have to buy out many of the games they have already scheduled. So, as you said, the cost of joining the MAC will go even higher than the predicted $20-$23 million. They must have some big donor or donors behind them that they are keeping under largely wraps because, if they don't, I think Wood may have created a fire storm of criticism from the Sac State students who feel like academics and the welfare of the students takes the back seat to his obsession with moving football to the FBS at any cost.

Sacramento is spending 17 million dollars just in fees to join a conference largely streamed on ESPN+ with teams all in the Eastern or Central time zones that on average are little more than a field goal better than Big Sky teams.
On the plus side they get rid of the FCS label. That middle initial is costly.

how can I not see? Nobody from over there in the past 16 months pushed the MAC, and nobody ever suggested paying over $20M for the pleasure.

Imagine I’m an investor in November 2024 and you are trying to raise millions for SAC12. Sell me on spending $20M to play the likes of directional-Michigan, Akron or UMASS….and agreeing to NOT taking TV money initially. Sell me that ‘vision of the future’. The hope, I guess, is that things go crazy in 5 years, moratorium on FBS entry, and a desparare PAC12 rolls out the red carpet? At what additional cost?

BTW, as current members of the MWC, we won’t have to pay a crazy entry fee just the (current) $5M FBS fee. Seems like that may have been a wise fiscal decision

I was surprised that the Titans were as good as they were in Davis since they’ve been down the past few seasons.

I’ve been meaning to look at our record on Thursday night road games vs Saturday (limited sample size). I assume, we bus to Sac, fly down, kill time somewhere and then play - I can’t imagine we fly and stay Wednesday. Of course, SOCal teams have that same issue coming up here on Thursday (they must stay Friday before a Saturday afternoon gsme).

Cooper was in tears going into the locker room after the game - my wife says he got a huge hug from one of the coaches before entering the locker room. He certainly didn’t look like a happy person toward the end of the game both with body language and facial expression. I thought he played a good first half.

It was a very physical game with almost anything goes officiating - at least that’s how it seemed from my viewpoint.

Concessions have been better. They have 2 lines now and both seem to move along at a reasonable pace.

I have teaching classes at night most days right now and won’t be able to make a game for a bit. Hoping to make it the 26th vs Hawaii as a late B-day gift.

have a great time! It’s worth checking out the new arboretum work.

Not to derail this into a basketball discussion but here’s big west attendance for this season. We’re down about 300/game from last year (we got a big ESPN bump). Hawaii is the outlier. What are SB, SD and Irvine doing to get 600-1000 more per game? Irvine has been a perennial power, but lots of LA completion. How is Poly, who’s been terrible in recent past and decent now, outdrawing us? Be good to have someone research their approach and see what applies to us.

Also going to this game! Haven’t been back on campus since graduating several years ago. Campus looks relatively the same, so it still feels like home :)

I’m taking my wife to Raising Canes after the game. Pretty close

seems like with a little marketing and a down Kings team there could be a push for UCD BB but gotta actually market it AND put some money into the gameday experience. With the Kings having one of the best entertainment products in the NBA it’s a lot to contend even when their basketball is comical, but I’d rather go watch my Aggies than Kings, especially if the experience was elevated a bit. I think the eventual arena upgrades get us there, but we need some in game experience aside from the basketball too.

It’s free tickets and toomey level attendance accuracy. There are less than 2,500 seats in that thing.

I appreciate your take. Well informed and logical. I agree with much of it too. I am happy staying in the FCS and trying to win a championship in the next few years, growing the national profile of the school and also building momentum. I also just think we realistically will probably need to move to the Mountain West in between moving to play a Cal or Stanford. I know they are not “elite” but whether I personally think they are ridiculous for thinking they are or not, they spend a heck of a lot more money on sports than the mountain west, and a ton more than big sky schools. I don’t want to just spend a billion dollars on football or sports in general, but I think that by 2030 by ramping up fan support, donations, budget, etc and trying to reach the mountain west for football after hopefully some success in the FCS playoffs (past the cursed quarterfinals) is a good move for the future of the program.

It’s also really hard to mess with the tv numbers when almost all your games are on espn+ and the national outlets don’t say a peep about your level of football most of the year. Heck, last year they were STILL screwing up the names and logos of FCS teams on graphics and posts. I 100% agree with you that we could become way more relevant if we can compete year in and year out in the FCS championships, but I also think looking forward needs to (and the timeframe I am more flexible) include that step to the mountain west to prepare us to be in the strongest position when realignment comes again.

I agree with much of what you say about the illogical reality of modern college football, it’s absolutely ridiculous, but I also still see being in the mountain west for ALL sports as aligning our athletics department.

Thank you for being so awesome to talk football about btw Gabe :)

Yikes. Hard pass.

it could be the MAC is desperate:

https://www.wtol.com/article/sports/local-sports/toledo-mac-football-attendance-financial-impact/512-7e89288c-8e89-4e4b-b4eb-9051d4ab609a

Who knew UMASS was in the MAC?

You drew great numbers against regional opponents with fan bases that will travel to watch. You will not have this in the MAC. Montana brings way more people to a game than Bowling Green or Toledo ever will. In NorCal almost all Big Sky teams have greater name recognition than any MAC school. Nobody outside of Upper Michigan and Ohio are drawn to see these teams.
I honestly wish you luck, but Woods took any move to FBS vs waiting for the right move.

I think the SJSU renovation was spot-on what they needed and looks great. They adjusted to the reality of their situation.