Illinois State gets a nice donation from an “anonymous former quarterback”

https://goredbirds.com/news/2025/12/23/redbird-athletics-announces-2-5-million-gift-to-football-program.aspx

A friend who is an Illinois State grad told me they had received $25M but evidently he moved the decimal point over a digit.

$975 Million?
There should a prop bet on this. 3 choices you can pick- the under, the way under or a bankrupt athletic dept

I agree that Sac State sees the MAC as a stepping stone. But they have to sign a grant of rights to join a conference. So for the duration of the next media deal the MAC will be making for 2028 and beyond, Sac has a buyout - another chunk of money out the door.

And to be a desirable addition to another conference, Sac will need to be successful on the field and court. That's never a guaranteed outcome.

I agree with the sentiment, but the thing is, the MAC isn't a "higher level" and you know what's "stale" - relegating your football program down to D2 in order to avoid cutting it completely.. Putting a product on the field worth watching (winning) makes way more sense than chasing exposure for the sake of exposure. I think Luke Wood has a tenuous grasp on sports economics let alone basic finance. Winning cures all. That's what UCD should be focused on. Seemingly, they are. Also, nothing scares away donors faster than the possibility the program will be defunct in a few years.

yeah that isn't happening. Davis isn't close to moving up before 2030 at the earliest if at all. Why?

1. Stadium is not ready for an FBS invite (this will take years to complete. Funding, construction, etc.)
2. TV deals are set for 2029. The FBS as we know it will change from how we know it. Nobody knows what happens to the current FCS teams or the lower FBS teams in the new TV deals.
3. Economic benefit: Cost of moving to FBS has to show a positive net income vs an added expenditure. What is the point of moving up to FBS if it costs the university $5M in expenditures?

If you want an honest timeline, look more for a 2030-2040 timeframe.

Sac is playing checkers and UCD is playing chess. I'm very confident in 10 years we'll be looking back and glad we took a more methodical approach. Luke Wood will be an assistant AD at Colorado in 3 years while Sac State athletics is left with a very expensive smoldering pile of rubble.

I'd say a move somewhere between the 2028 and 2030 season sounds plausible and lines up with the Plough extension and renovation plans.

And what is your current time frame?

Makes sense. I am just curious what the funding looks like for the renovation projects now. If its lacking, I would imagine some clarity on the future would be helpful for that. I think it was a surprise when we joined the MW for all other sports, but also leaves us in a weird limbo of head scratching of where we will be in the future. Its like all signs point towards one thing but that one thing is shrouded in mystery.

Oh im not saying move this year, that makes no sense for us. I am echoing what others are saying about the AD putting out a statement giving a goal/timeline for that move. 2028-2030 sounds about right. It just seems like it would give donors clarity of what they are building towards, especially with all other sports in the MW.

For some reason, he has decided against announcing. I trust his judgement (the premature stadium renovation tweet makes sense now, although could have been executed better). I think its mostly because we aren't in a hurry and the program is doing ok financially year-to-year. Fundraising is a different story.


I believe Wood got a sh*t-or-get-off-the-pot warning regarding football. They clearly weren't in good shape.

I 100% agree. I think Rocko needs to come out and say what are goal year is to move up, especially since half of the world is confused about our status in the MW next year as it is. Coming out and saying ""Football's goal is to move up by 2030...." seems like a realistic response that would absolutely expand our donations. Right now we seem like were in this weird kinda limbo. Don't go out and talk a ton of crap, just throw it out there for donors and recruits that we have a goal hopefully by (blank) year, it would boost investment substantially, especially if we are trying to raise money for renovations.

Lmao they have to pay for visiting team travel. What a joke.

I think sac state is betting on joining another conference when realignment comes around. We just need to get into FBS before then. We need the stadium upgrades fasho. A 30k stadium would be perfect.

This is insane.

You are speaking my language!

They don’t have plans yet from a real design firm. Just conceptual stuff from the space planning group. That is why it would be smart to do some other stuff while they work through this.

Yeah I look at that website of projects more often than I should :lol: . I always look at the interactive map they have that seems to be updated often to see if it has started.

I agree with @AggieFinn that they need to be aggressive in progress or actual timeline assignments of projects beyond "like 5 years" to keep Aggie Ascent actually on peoples minds and not become this folder of renderings sitting in the black hole of university planning. Maybe at the Wine Fundraiser coming up in 2ish weeks Plough or the athletic staff will have an update on it. I think its really important (especially after resigning him as coach and spending all this time on these big plans) to actually put them into action if we want to solidify ourselves as a top FCS program, even more if we are planning to move to the MW. Getting those premium seating options and expanded concessions is an important step in the programs future, and it seems like now we have really hit this stride of ascension in the past few years that we need to tap.

Does anybody know the status of the contract for expanding Aggie Stadium with the Club Suites? it's a nice contract - was thinking McCarthy or Turner or somebody along those lines would be competitive enough to win this contract.

Can’t wait for the Ball/Sac rivalry.

That would be amazing. I'm looking forward to when all the money comes in to get started.

This has been posted on other threads but can a potential stadium renovation please include something like this?

An Endzone bar area like Colorado St or San Jose Soccer. How about the Mondavi/Sierra Nevada Endzone Porch?

It seems like something the UC Regents wouldn't like but come on, this would be great.

Agreed.

There's a reason why Plough is a D! HC, Delucca is a D! AD and Gary May is a UC chancellor, while we're all blogging and second-guessing them on AST. :rofl:

Like everyone, they'll make mistakes that provide grist for our word mill, but overall I think they do an excellent job.

The proposed suites are a totally different product. Expect they will provide buffet/bar access to some of the box seat holders between the 40s for a fee, which is a good idea. What I’m referencing are the new sections designed for a more social experience. Like, I went to this great outdoor bar and grill and a football game broke out in the background. That product helps to capture the local Cal/Oregon/SC/9ers fan in a way that the current options do not and you can put a more premium price tag on this compared to just some end zone beer garden. Kind of like SJSU on the east side or Poly’s north end zone. Boise is reconfiguring one of its end zone sections to do the same.

I thought the game yesterday was a typical, fairly small crowd with pretty good energy that we often have. The game against Sac was the biggest and most vocal crowd and the crowds at the games against Irvine and Santa Barbara were smaller but quite energetic also. I expect we'll have a good crowd for our final home against Hawaii. We have a pretty good rivalry with the Bows and it will be senior night also.

If Sac is willing to pay $18M for the MAC, it stands to reason they pitched the same to MW. MW saying no is saying they already have their Sac metro area team. UCD will be FBS by ‘30-‘31 and playing in the MW.
Sac St went FCS first and spent the better part of two decades floundering around. I was at UMass when they joined MAC and they were far better positioned than Sac is.

I know a lot of you guys are season ticket holders and go to the games (I wish I lived close by!) often. I was wondering if the energy at this game was similar to other games? I had a great time going yesterday and I honestly thought the crowd was great. As a viewer watching on tv, it’s really hard to feel that energy through the screen. Now just dreaming of the next time hubby and I can make it to another home game…

Good start to the season!

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.