Imagine 55,000 raucous Sac State football fans losing their minds in anticipation for one of college football?s most hotly contested rivalries.

Imagine the thunderous applause that the Hornet?s receive as they run out of the tunnel with each player elevating their index finger, signaling that they are the No. 1 team in the country.

Imagine the chorus of boos that echo magnanimously throughout the stadium as No.2 team in the country, the Oklahoma Sooners, are introduced.

To many, the vision of Sac State becoming a national power on the college football scene, is just that, a vision. For years the Hornets have been relegated to using a stadium that makes a circus tent look like the Trump Plaza.

Enter new athletic director Terry Wanless. The man that says “preparing a master plan” to upgrade the athletic facilities is at the top of his priority list.

Ok, maybe it?s me, but did I hear that statement correctly? We have an athletic director that is actually interested in building new facilities and renovating old ones? Do we have an athletic director that actually cares about keeping Sac State from being the laughing stock of the Big Sky conference, in a majority of the sports that we compete in?

No disrespect to Debby Colberg, but the hiring of Terry Wanless was probably the best thing that could have happened for the program. There?s no doubt that Debby Colberg has done an outstanding job as the women?s volleyball coach, but it was clear that she didn?t have the vision of seeing Sac State as an elite athletic program.

It?s a proven fact that in order to compete at the top level of any sport, you have to attain the top athletes. In order to attain the top athletes, you have to provide them with impressive facilities and a national stage that will allow them to demonstrate their talents.

Wanless is definitely looking to create that type of environment for recruits as he is looking to possibly build a new sports arena, as well as a new football stadium and a new field house. The only catch is that in order for any of these new structure?s to become a reality, attendance would have to subsequently increase in order to make the facilities “financially feasible” according to Wanless.

The bottom line is that the people of the Sacramento area are starving for a big-time collegiate atmosphere. If you build it, they will come.

For years the Sacramento community has had only the Kings as a source of sports excitement. And for years they failed us in the excitement category. Yet the fans still continued to support the Kings by selling out Arco Arena constantly.

With the addition of a new football stadium and a new basketball arena, bringing fans in won?t be a problem. Not only will it not be a problem, the fans will probably provide the Hornet programs with a home field advantage that is rivaled by very few programs.

I?m not naive enough to believe that the Sac State football team will be hoisting up the national championship trophy in the Bowl Championship Series championship gam any time soon. But in order to fly you have to first learn how to walk, and with an athletic director looking to improve facilities, we are taking a step in the right direction.