Sacramento State Went All-In on FBS — Now, It’s in the ‘Club’
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Sacramento State began exploring a move up to the highest level of Division I college football almost a decade ago. Athletic director Mark Orr thought the Hornets checked all the boxes to compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision when he arrived on campus in 2017.
That was back when the ACC was confined to the Atlantic Coast and the Big Ten’s only Pacific presence in its iconic “Maps” commercial was the Rose Bowl. Conference membership was, at least theoretically, rooted in regionality. Times have changed.
Still, the Hornets’ aspirations of big-time college football persisted through rounds of conference realignment — not to mention the introduction of NIL and revenue sharing. Now, they’re finally being realized.
Sacramento State accomplished its goal of FBS membership a few weeks ago when it accepted an invitation to join the Mid-American Conference effective July 1. The transition comes at a considerable cost: $23 million-plus over five years. And while the new-look MAC might not make much sense on a map, Orr is confident this is a worthwhile investment for the Hornets.
“All the benefits that college football can do for a campus, a university and a community are still there,” Orr told Athlon Sports, “even with the landscape changes in the NCAA.”
On its face, the move presents a geographical quandary even beyond the sticker shock. The Hornets’ closest conference opponent will be Ball State, more than 2,000 miles east in Indiana.
Orr isn’t overly worried about travel logistics, though. If anything, he said, Sacramento State’s location could open up an extra time slot for the MAC to broadcast games. MACtion after dark, anyone?
“Us being in a TV window on the Pacific Coast time zone could be advantageous to the conference and to the viewers,” Orr said.
Sacramento State did attempt to transition to a conference that would have made more sense regionally. In 2024, the aptly named Sac-12 organization campaigned and raised funding for the Hornets to join the Pac-12. That overture was ultimately rebuffed.
As part of its agreement with the MAC, Sacramento State is footing the travel bill for the four conference games it will host each year. That’s in addition to the $5 million transition fee paid to the NCAA, plus $18 million to the MAC over five years — $6 million of which is due in Year 1. The Hornets also won’t receive any revenue distribution from the MAC for the length of that agreement.
Orr said donations, corporate sponsorships and ticket sales will be used to cover the Hornets’ cost of joining their new conference. Another potential revenue stream? Buy games.
“I don’t anticipate us playing an entire football schedule of buy games in nonconference,” Orr said. “But the plan would be, yes, we certainly are gonna utilize game guarantees to generate some revenue.”
He added that the payouts Sacramento State will receive for going on the road for nonconference games will be greater as a member of the FBS than the FCS.
The Hornets’ 2026 nonconference schedule appears to be set. They host FCS Mississippi Valley State and fellow FBS newcomer North Dakota State. Sacramento State will also hit the road to face Fresno State and ends the year at Hawaii. The MAC conference schedule has yet to be released.
𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙁𝙄𝙍𝙎𝙏 𝙁𝙊𝙐𝙍
Sacramento State will play Mississippi Valley State, Fresno State, North Dakota State and Hawaii during its 2026 non-conference slate. https://t.co/ywYqTTVlEW— Sac State Football (@SacHornetsFB) March 9, 2026
Orr emphasized that the Hornets’ financial commitments won’t hamstring their football spending. He said the 2025 team, which went 7-5 overall and 5-3 in the Big Sky Conference, had a collective NIL cost around $1 million. The plan is to increase that figure to $3 million for 2026.
“We were already invested, I would say, close to — if not above — most Group of Five FBS programs,” Orr said.
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Ideally, part of the payoff is increased exposure. That’s one area Sacramento State has excelled in throughout its FBS push. The Hornets hired former Sacramento Kings great Mike Bibby to be the head coach of their men’s basketball team last year. Shaqir O’Neal also joined the roster this season, and his father, Shaq, is the general manager, bolstering the Hornets’ national profile. (Sacramento State is joining the Big West in all sports except for football starting July 1.)
The benefits from that exposure are meant to manifest in material ways, such as increased applications and alumni engagement — and giving.
“Being able to be part of that quote, unquote ‘club’ has an impact,” Orr said. “[It] has an impact with recruiting, has an impact with admissions, enrollment, our corporate sponsors, our donors, all the merchandise, our ticket revenue — all those types of things that people associate FBS football with.”
The projected annual economic impact of the move to FBS, according to a study commissioned by Sacramento State and done by Collegiate Consulting, is roughly $195 million. Extrapolated over five years of the MAC agreement, that figure rises to $975 million, though that total projection was called into question by a CBS Sports report.
“It certainly wasn’t the driver in us deciding whether or not to go FBS or not,” Orr said of the study. “It was a tool and a piece of information that we utilized.”
Orr takes pride in the Hornets being the first team on the West Coast to transition to the FBS since Fresno State and San Diego State in 1969. He said Sacramento State saw a window of opportunity and didn’t know when the chance would come again in a constantly changing environment.
To drive that point home, Orr who played football at Cal in the 1990s in what was then the Pac-10, did not envision a future where the Golden Bears competed in the ACC against Miami. Now, his Hornets could have a midweek MAC game against Miami (Ohio).
“Who knows what the future of conference realignment looks like?” Orr said. “But Sacramento State will be an FBS institution, and I think there’s a significant amount of value to do that over the long term.”
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This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Mar 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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