I really like this idea of having threads for each school, we can consolidate a lot of information in one place. Here are the specifics for UC Davis:

School: UC Davis
Location: Davis, California
Media Market: Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto (rank: 20, pop: 2.9 mil)
Undergrad Enrollment: ~23k
US News and World Report: National (Doctoral) Universities: #42
Current Designation: Division I-FCS (Big West/Great West)
Proposed Destination: Division I-FBS (Mountain West)
Football Stadium: on campus
Stadium capacity: ~10k expandable to ~30k (http://athletics.ucdavis.edu/development/facts.html)
Football Attendance: not sure
BBall Stadium: on campus
BBall Capacity: ~8k
BBall Attendance: not sure

Argument:
It was proposed in a past thread that UC Davis join the Pac-10. With the Pac-10 seemingly reluctant to expand, I think UC-Davis should target the Mountain West as a future designation. UC Davis delivers a solid media market and only one pro team in their DMA (NBA's Sacramento Kings). If the Mountain was ever serious about pursuing a BCS automatic bid, they would need solid academic schools and UC Davis certainly fits that bill. I don't know how willing they are to leave the other UC schools in the Big West, but I think if they were ever serious about FBS they match the Mountain West schools more than the WAC schools. I don't think they would join the Big Sky in FCS and their current FCS conference (Great West) is struggling to stay afloat.

An excellent name. I have some infor to contribute if you want to edit and add it to your inital post.

They seem to be in a race with rival Sac State to FBS. Both schools are in the large Sacramento Media market with 1.391M tv sets. Davis has the basketball advantage being outside Sacramanto proper and in Davis (They drew 1713 per game over the last 3 years vs. Sac State's 962 over the last 5). That limits the amount of direct head to head competition for the public at-large's basketball entertainment dollar with the NBA kings. If memory serves Davis is also a baseball school with a fair bit of success.

it looks like they averaged 9103 per game in football this last season. That is actually quite strong if you consider their stadium has a base capacity of about 10K now.

Davis is a very sensible add for the MWC if they can get their football attendance up to a point where they project as MWC reasonable member. Say consistently 14K in FCS so they project to mid 20's in attendance in the MWC.

I think they are a step short, stadium wise though. The odds are they will need a 40-45K stadium for MWC membership. I think this is a 10-15 year progression as it probably requires a new stadium/expansion and they just built a new stadium.

One question that arises is does Davis want into the MWC? I am sure if Davis gives the MWC enough momentum to become a BCS conference, Davis would want to join. (Assuming the BCS exists in 10+ years.)

But if their admission would not, they may decide to angle for a PAC 10 invite by becoming a "stranded Elite", perhaps taking the very risky move of jumping to breifly become an independent football school playing a national schedule ala ND to try to force the issue through the state legislature. They would have to have a lot of money hoarded and would really ramp up their athletic facilities to do that though.

Davis, Sac st, and Portland st will go WAC. MWC will probably not admit them.

Sac St. is part of the Cal State system just like WAC members SJ State and Fresno State and MWC member SD State. If Sac State reachs FBS first (assuming that is their goal), UC Davis could find admission to the WAC blocked by Sac State who might want to try to own the Sacramento recruiting and media Market rather than share it. It seems likely the WAC would pursue SAC State at the direction of their membership over UC Davis.

Now both schools have not at this point announced FBS intentions. It is possible that Sac State might be happy at the FCS level and in that scenario, the WAC would certainly want UC Davis if Davis wanted to move up.

Real comparison: Davis actually finished their new stadium, but after cutting it to the point that it was barely bigger than the old stadium. Their arena is serviceable. They have an opportunity to move, but football has to cause an expansion just to get up to the point where even the WAC might look at them.

Sacramento State proposed a major complex including basketball arena. None of that has broken ground, though a field house at Hornet Stadium is under construction, which if memory serves, probably changes whatever plans they may have had for stadium upgrades. Their "stadium" seating is still the old bleachers Fred Anderson left up from the WLAF and CFL days (substantially larger than what Davis offers, but those generally aren't being filled). Their current arena, well, I had to go into the Alumni building a couple weeks ago to ask for directions for the game I was attending, and the people in there didn't even know where it is.

In terms of CURRENT income generation, the edge certainly goes to Davis, because Sac State's gym might hold 1,200, and they're barely half-filling it for basketball. A lot depends on whether Sac State's capital project actually starts building up in the places where the students voted for it. Even then, Sac has a lot of recruiting to do to make up for past issues.

Hey pounder, any insight into why Davis only built the new stadium to 10K? It really just boggles my mind. What is their thought process?

Lack of funds, but keeping their word.

I should mention that it's illegal per state law for schools to use tax money on facilities. It's all donations.