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The PAC/MWC Dominoes Begin to Fall

UCD is 30 miles outside of Downtown and in another county. The regional fan allegiance goes to the green and gold unless they continue to sit on their hands and get nothing done. And for the moment, it seems like they are trying to take advantage of increased interest.
Just like Elk Grove, Roseville, Rancho Cordova, etc. the actual city of Sacramento is not that big without the burbs.
 
Not a fan of the FBS Indy route but if that is what it takes, then so be it. I have no problem with Dr. Wood shooting his shot rather than continue to wither away in the FCS in a garbage conference with schools we have nothing in common with other than sponsoring FCS football.

A few thoughts:
Again, kudos to Dr. Wood on finding another bucket of money to pilfer. We saw him do it with The Well Inc.'s bucket of money to renovate the Well to create Hornet Pavilion and we are seeing him do it again with ASI's bucket of money to cover half of the NCAA FBS fee. Hate on Dr. Wood's vision for the university all you want but that mofo is pulling whatever levers he can to make it happen. Plenty of his predecessors have talked the talk, but he has been the only one with the balls to walk the walk. Major hat tip to him. I trust Dr. Wood will find the other $2.5M for the FBS fee somewhere else.

Interesting to see what comes from Dr. Wood's meeting with the NCAA President. The NCAA has never been weaker so I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Wood walked away with an exemption to either the timeline, the fee, or both for our FBS ambitions. The State of CA is always happy to levy a lawsuit against someone/something and hopefully Dr. Wood reminded President Baker of this state's lawsuit happy nature. The last thing the NCAA needs right now is another lawsuit.

Both the Big West and Big Sky are garbage conferences. Neither are noteworthy and we are only in the BSC because most of the BW members don't have the balls to sponsor football. I hate both of those conferences for various reasons, that said the BW sponsors sports that are more inline with ours. Here are some positives that come to mind with BW membership: A conference with a true regional membership. This will result in significant time and monetary savings in addition to better recruitment for the oly sports. This move will deprive the BSC of their lone CA member. While they probably won't openly admit it, losing their only presence in the Golden State will make recruiting to the mountain time zone all that much more challenging and I look forward to the BSC's membership withering further away under this scenario.

The complaints and comments about the NIL money being real or not is comical. I always viewed those as nothing more than pledges contingent on PAC/FBS happening, not sure why people are insinuating that the pledged money is already available. I mean, sure, some of those funds could be available but it seemed pretty clear that it was contingent on PAC/FBS membership. The fact that none of those businesses/people are even considering throwing that money towards a well established and recently successful FCS program like ours tells you all you need to know about why Dr. Wood is making this play for FBS status.

Lastly, if PAC membership is happening in a few years then a play at FBS Indy status gives the PAC cover in that they can claim that they didn't add an FCS program. Pretty weak but given the egos that were crushed with the PAC implosion I wouldn't be surprised that this is a real concern the PAC leaders have.

Dr. Wood is going all in on this FBS move and I respect him for going for it. He has my unwavering support in this effort.
 
Exactly right.

They may be a prestigious medical university, among other disciplines, but when it comes to athletics -- they'll never have the ability to be what Sac State can be IF the Hornets get there first.

UCD is 30 miles outside of Downtown and in another county. The regional fan allegiance goes to the green and gold unless they continue to sit on their hands and get nothing done. And for the moment, it seems like they are trying to take advantage of increased interest.
In my view it is a lot harder to build a successful athletic program in the Cal State System. San Jose State, Sac State, CSUN, Long Beach State are just a few examples of schools that enrollment numbers and media markets that should support at solid mid major basketball and decent G6 football programs. CSUN and Long Beach State dropped football. Utah Valley was a juco not to long ago and now has a better basketball team than most of those schools.
 
In my view it is a lot harder to build a successful athletic program in the Cal State System. San Jose State, Sac State, CSUN, Long Beach State are just a few examples of schools that enrollment numbers and media markets that should support at solid mid major basketball and decent G6 football programs. CSUN and Long Beach State dropped football. Utah Valley was a juco not to long ago and now has a better basketball team than most of those schools.
There is a difference between the Cal State schools that you mentioned and those that have been successful, Fresno State and San Diego State.

San Jose, Northridge, Long Beach and I'll throw in Fullerton are all in a market with multiple established, historically strong D1 programs.
San Jose is in the shadow of Stanford and Cal, the Southern California schools in the shadow of USC and UCLA.
None of those schools ever had a serious chance of becoming their market's dominate team.

Sacramento State like Fresno State and San Diego State are similar in that they have their markets to themselves, with no other FBS schools.
Of the three Sacramento with the 20th media market in the nation is the largest and growing.
 
Just like Elk Grove, Roseville, Rancho Cordova, etc. the actual city of Sacramento is not that big without the burbs.

No doubt. But most those suburbs are in the same county and the same side of the Sacramento River.

Sac State is closer and the more identifiable metro area university. It carries the "Sacramento" name.

All things considered, it has more advantages wrt fan support.
 
You can 'intermingle' donations until the cows come home. Money coming from the State or from the athletic budget of those moneys could certainly be ear marked. If some doner is willing to give you millions to go FBS, and it's the amount you say it is, I don't see the problem. Unless, of course, there really is no money.
You cannot intermingle allocated funds. The only funds that you can manage like that is the money you have from your own front pocket to your own backpocket.
 
I don't consider that Luke Fletcher guy reliable. Also that Gould statement was from a mid-December tweet. So the Pac has been shopping its media deal for 6 weeks as of that tweet plus another 8 weeks since that tweet and no results have been garnered. That's not good for the Pac, but it is good news for us. The longer this drags on for the Pac, the more desperate they will get which is good for us.

No media deal + active litigation and a July 2026 deadline to get to 8 FBS members really puts the Pac in a bind.

For those keeping time, if Dr. Wood is granted a short FCS to FBS transition window of 1 year (instead of 2) by the NCAA and if the FBS transition begins on July 2025 then Sac State would acquire FBS status in time for the Pac's July 2026 deadline. Food for thought.
 
We should be in a conference, but the PAC-12 doesn't inspire much confidence.

They need to accept that they aren't a power conference anymore and won't be able to attract big names programs or demand relatively significant TV money. Grab the big market team in Sac State and grow from there.
 
I don't consider that Luke Fletcher guy reliable. Also that Gould statement was from a mid-December tweet. So the Pac has been shopping its media deal for 6 weeks as of that tweet plus another 8 weeks since that tweet and no results have been garnered. That's not good for the Pac, but it is good news for us. The longer this drags on for the Pac, the more desperate they will get which is good for us.

No media deal + active litigation and a July 2026 deadline to get to 8 FBS members really puts the Pac in a bind.

For those keeping time, if Dr. Wood is granted a short FCS to FBS transition window of 1 year (instead of 2) by the NCAA and if the FBS transition begins on July 2025 then Sac State would acquire FBS status in time for the Pac's July 2026 deadline. Food for thought.
More reliable than the “Big Mountain” whatever dudes, but I see your point. No one knows nothing for real right now.
 
We should be in a conference, but the PAC-12 doesn't inspire much confidence.

They need to accept that they aren't a power conference anymore and won't be able to attract big names programs or demand relatively significant TV money. Grab the big market team in Sac State and grow from there.
100%… the part that scares me is even though this is the NEW PAC… It’s still the old PAC 12 admin of past that is still leading the New PAC?

The old arrogance I’m starting to believe is dtill alive and strong in their minds. Like a high school prom queen who still think 40 yrs later that she’s still at Elite level! ( LOL - That’s why I gave a new younger wife) 😬😬

Shared too much but if felt relevant in how I see the old / current PAC leadership team.

Once the humility / reality sets in that they are not a P4 they should recognize they need to secure west coast football print.

Think about it.., the only other options in the State of CA are Cal Poly and SD Toreros.

We are in a great position. Let’s get our FBS 1 yr exemption and I believe we are in a great place to join either PAC / MWC
 
The MW and PAC are unsettled right now. Moreso the PAC. No tv deal after months of trying. No public decision on the 8th football member either. If Sac State wants to make the jump and has deadlines to meet, like making a schedule for the 2026 season or finding a place to park their olympic sports, then they can't wait for the PAC to see if they can get a "better" school. Take control of your own destiny.

Independent feels risky, but so is waiting on a conference that is slow to get things done and has a recent history of overvaluing themselves.
 
The MW and PAC are unsettled right now. Moreso the PAC. No tv deal after months of trying. No public decision on the 8th football member either. If Sac State wants to make the jump and has deadlines to meet, like making a schedule for the 2026 season or finding a place to park their olympic sports, then they can't wait for the PAC to see if they can get a "better" school. Take control of your own destiny.

Independent feels risky, but so is waiting on a conference that is slow to get things done and has a recent history of overvaluing themselves.
This is how I feel too… I appreciated the moonshot for the PAC. But, the longer we wait for the PAC and MWC to figure their sh|t out, the less viable this jump becomes.

I was initially anti-Indy, because of nightmare stories like UMASS. But, I think SAC can place themselves in a greater position of bargaining power on the FBS landscape if we’re already there. It gives cover to anyone wanting to add us as full members, grants time for facility improvements, and really just makes us more marketable in two years time. AND, might not have to offer things like forego full media payouts for 6 years to “belong.”

With the rumored football scheduling agreement with the PAC, we will be able to play a road heavy PAC schedule anyways, and create valuable viewership datapoints when we have to go back to the table. And, I have confidence in the Marion program to represent us well on a national stage, hopefully scaring the crap out of schools paying us 2x or 3x the FCS amount to play them on the road. Especially as FBS wins become more valuable than OOC FCS wins with the CFP.

By many accounts (to me, and via online rumors), this is a DONE deal. Much, but not all of the NIL will be activated. The administration is all-in. The process might not be perfect, but it’s more than I ever imagined we could ever do at SAC. After decades of having the “sleeping giant” moniker, Dr. Wood and company are busting out the air horns.
 
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Agree.. with scheduling agreement. Getting paid 2X of FCS we will be making money and playing mostly PAC / MWC teams,


This is probably told to Fletcher to throw this out to see our reaction too it. Pre condition the offer.

I’m fine with it if 3 yr scheduling agreement. Where we get extra year schedule so if we decide to NOT Join and go elsewhere or visa versa we have a season to recalibrate.
 
Agree.. with scheduling agreement. Getting paid 2X of FCS we will be making money and playing mostly PAC / MWC teams,


This is probably told to Fletcher to throw this out to see our reaction too it. Pre condition the offer.

I’m fine with it if 3 yr scheduling agreement. Where we get extra year schedule so if we decide to NOT Join and go elsewhere or visa versa we have a season to recalibrate.

Ask the MWC how their scheduling agreement with the PAC worked out. Better get it in writing and be prepared to take it to court.

I'm all for it. Don't want to be strung along though.
 

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