We know the date and now we know the time for the Aggies football game at Cal — the first matchup between the blue-and-gold cousins in 71 years.
Cal announced this week a 1 p.m. kickoff for the Sept. 4 game, the season opener for both schools. The Aggie athletics department announced that Comcast SportsNet California will televise the game.
But why watch on TV when you can be there for the Aggies’ first game against a Pac-10 opponent since the Aggies upset Stanford in 2005?
Cal allotted 5,000 tickets to UC Davis, and, as of midweek, about 1,000 remained, including fewer than 100 for students (out of 500 for students). Student tickets are $25 each (one ticket per student ID).
Tickets for nonstudents are selling for $40. These tickets are available to the public, without restriction, whereas when they first went on sale, the athletics department offered them on an "early-bird" basis to people who also bought Aggies season tickets.
All of the Aggies' 5,000 tickets are together, in reserved seating, in four side-by-side sections — MM, N, NN and O — in the southeast corner of the stadium.
Cal is paying UC Davis a guaranteed $300,000 for the game. Also, UC Davis gets to keep all the proceeds from its ticket allotment. Altogether, the payday for the athletics budget is likely to exceed $500,000 — a record high for the university.
Pregame celebration and package deal
With the game time now decided, the athletics department has set the time for the Aggies’ pregame celebration: 10 a.m. on Memorial Glade, in the heart of the Cal campus. Tickets are $20, which includes a barbecue meal and four beverages (two nonalcoholic and two alcoholic, for people 21 and over).
The pregame celebration is open to everyone — regardless of whether you buy your game ticket through Aggie athletics.
The athletics department also has arranged for a package deal that includes bus transportation. The cost is $95 for the pregame celebration, game ticket and bus ride from UC Davis to Cal and back.
Tickets and more information
Game tickets:
• Through UC Davis athletics: (530) 752-8962
For more information on tickets from UC Davis athletics, the Aggies pregame celebration and the package deal, contact Ashley Pierce at Athletics Development, (530) 757-3141.
On the Web
The Aggies last played the Bears in 1939, concluding an eight-game series that began in 1932. Read about the series — and the controversy surrounding the score of that last game.
Media Resources
Dave Jones, Dateline, 530-752-6556, dljones@ucdavis.edu