One thing leads to another

When UCLA changed athletic conferences, much of the focus was on the impact on UC-Berkeley. But, in fact, the dominoes kept falling beyond Berkeley.

From the Sacramento Bee: 

The UC Davis athletics department is making a move to a new conference. The Aggies announced [Dec. 10] the university accepted an invitation to join the Mountain West in all sports except for football, leaving the Big West Conference behind starting July 1, 2026.

UC Davis football already plays in a different conference from the school’s other programs, competing in the Big Sky Conference. “We are thrilled to join the Mountain West Conference, and we look forward to an incredible experience for our student-athletes and for our fans,” UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May said in a news release. “Our transition to the highly regarded conference will introduce our Aggie community to a broader audience, in major metropolitan areas and through increased media coverage. It also provides us with an opportunity to align with universities that share similar academic strengths while also expanding our competitive presence in the Western United States.”

UC Davis said the move, first reported... by Yahoo! Sports, strategically elevates its athletic programs to a higher level of Division I and is reflective of the school’s “level of investment and ambition unique to UC Davis.” The school said additional costs to support the transition such as travel and staffing will be primarily offset by increased revenues from ticket sales, donations, multimedia rights and revenue distributions from the Mountain West. It will take three to four years before revenues are expected to reach projected levels, and the school does not plan to use existing institutional funds to support the move. 

The jump comes months after the Mountain West learned it would be losing five teams to the new-look Pac-12 Conference. The Pac-12 had been looking to add schools to remain alive after it nearly dissolved over the past year when 10 schools left, including USC, Oregon, Washington, UCLA, Cal and Stanford...

Full story at https://www.sacbee.com/sports/college/article296889284.html.