Sac State paying $23M to move up - Printable Version
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Sac State paying $23M to move up - chrisk - 02-18-2026
Sac State is paying the NCAA to move up to FBS. NCAA is requiring it to have a conference invite. Pac-12 and MWC did not give it a sniff, so it is paying $18M to the Ohio-based MAC (with teams in Michigan, Indiana, NY, and Mass) for a 5-year term. I'm sure they will be receiving less TV money than Stanford is from the ACC to offset the cost of cross-country travel. Will they be able to travel charter? Flying commercial from Sacramento to MAC towns will be brutal.
(Amherst, MA; Athens, OH; Mt. Pleasant, MI, etc).
For those who can access The Athletic:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7047451/2026/02/15/mac-sacramento-state-college-football-realignment/?campaign=16893957&source=athletic_untilsaturday_newsletter&userId=103451
RE: Sac State paying $23M to move up - Mick - 02-18-2026
(02-18-2026, 02:09 AM)chrisk Wrote: Sac State is paying the NCAA to move up to FBS. NCAA is requiring it to have a conference invite. Pac-12 and MWC did not give it a sniff, so it is paying $18M to the Ohio-based MAC (with teams in Michigan, Indiana, NY, and Mass) for a 5-year term. I'm sure they will be receiving less TV money than Stanford is from the ACC to offset the cost of cross-country travel. Will they be able to travel charter? Flying commercial from Sacramento to MAC towns will be brutal.
(Amherst, MA; Athens, OH; Mt. Pleasant, MI, etc).
For those who can access The Athletic:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7047451/2026/02/15/mac-sacramento-state-college-football-realignment/?campaign=16893957&source=athletic_untilsaturday_newsletter&userId=103451
Those flights are going to be brutal and expensive. Six months out, a flight from Sacramento to Bay City, Michigan (closest airport to Central Michigan) is an eight hour flight connecting through O'Hare, $659. Then a half hour drive to campus. Or you could fly direct to Detroit, no layover, 5 hours in the air, two hour drive from the airport on roads considerably worse than California's.
RE: Sac State paying $23M to move up - burger - 02-18-2026
Do teams moving from FCS to FBS have any track record of success?
The one example I'm familiar with is UMass. I was working at UMass when they moved to FBS after having a lot of success in FCS including a championship in 1998. Since moving up in 2016, they've been consistently terrible. Six seasons with 10+ losses, best record of 4-8, 0-12 in 2025, etc. I'm surprised they haven't given up and moved back to FCS.
RE: Sac State paying $23M to move up - Jamesy - 02-18-2026
(02-18-2026, 08:08 AM)burger Wrote: Do teams moving from FCS to FBS have any track record of success?
The one example I'm familiar with is UMass. I was working at UMass when they moved to FBS after having a lot of success in FCS including a championship in 1998. Since moving up in 2016, they've been consistently terrible. Six seasons with 10+ losses, best record of 4-8, 0-12 in 2025, etc. I'm surprised they haven't given up and moved back to FCS.
James Madison
RE: Sac State paying $23M to move up - Giants - 02-18-2026
(02-18-2026, 08:08 AM)burger Wrote: Do teams moving from FCS to FBS have any track record of success?
The one example I'm familiar with is UMass. I was working at UMass when they moved to FBS after having a lot of success in FCS including a championship in 1998. Since moving up in 2016, they've been consistently terrible. Six seasons with 10+ losses, best record of 4-8, 0-12 in 2025, etc. I'm surprised they haven't given up and moved back to FCS.
James Madison and Appalachian State are both success stories. I expect that No. Dakota St. will be successful as well.
RE: Sac State paying $23M to move up - Goose - 02-18-2026
(02-18-2026, 08:37 AM)Giants Wrote:Sacramento State isn't even a "power" in the FCS. They apparently believe that all they need is money to be at least "good" in the FBS. They might see themselves as "Texas Tech Lite". IMO it won't be that simple and Sac state will at best be a be "below average".(02-18-2026, 08:08 AM)burger Wrote: Do teams moving from FCS to FBS have any track record of success?
The one example I'm familiar with is UMass. I was working at UMass when they moved to FBS after having a lot of success in FCS including a championship in 1998. Since moving up in 2016, they've been consistently terrible. Six seasons with 10+ losses, best record of 4-8, 0-12 in 2025, etc. I'm surprised they haven't given up and moved back to FCS.
James Madison and Appalachian State are both success stories. I expect that No. Dakota St. will be successful as well.
RE: Sac State paying $23M to move up - Mick - 02-18-2026
North Dakota State was #1 last year. Sacramento State is #50. By way of comparison, Hahvahd is #10, Yale is #13 and UC-Davis is #16.
College Football Rankings - FCS | College Football Poll.com
RE: Sac State paying $23M to move up - fullmetal - 02-18-2026
So long as the Cam Skattebos of the Sac State world keep transferring to the Arizona States of the world, Sac State will be hard pressed to stay relevant. Sac State feels more like a commuter school, whereas UC-Davis down the road feels more like a university where people from around the state move to, study, and then go forth to their futures. It's hard to attract talent and keep talent at Sac State.
The MAC move is a football-only move. The rest of Sac State's sports will compete with the Big West Conference where applicable.
RE: Sac State paying $23M to move up - BostonCard - 02-18-2026
I guess the upshot is that it is good to have another FBS team locally for scheduling purposes. Given all the conference travel, having multiple non-conference games either at home or at worst a short drive from home really helps.
BC
RE: Sac State paying $23M to move up - 82lsju - 02-18-2026
(02-18-2026, 06:51 PM)BostonCard Wrote: I guess the upshot is that it is good to have another FBS team locally for scheduling purposes. Given all the conference travel, having multiple non-conference games either at home or at worst a short drive from home really helps.
BC
but not a power 4 team so not sure how much that will help scheduling compared to other non-power 4 possible opponents like OSU or WSU, of course we could almost certainly get Sac St to play here with no game there. I really hope we never have a road game at Sac St....
RE: Sac State paying $23M to move up - chrisk - 02-18-2026
In 2028, Stanford's scheduled OOC games are Fresno State, Portland State, and SJ State. Only travel is to Fresno.
One of these games is going to have to be dumped to meet the ACC's requirement of 10 P4 games.