(KTXL) — Plans for Sacramento State’s graduation ceremonies could change depending on how far the Kings advance in the playoffs.
The university announced Monday that the venue for commencement ceremonies could move to Hornet Stadium if the Golden 1 Center becomes unavailable due to the Kings’ playoff schedule.
Sac State’s graduation ceremonies are scheduled from May 19 to May 21 at the Golden 1 Center. The university said the dates won’t change, but there are contingency plans in place if it’s moved to Hornet Stadium including an alternative ceremony schedule.
What has to happen for graduations to be moved?
The Golden 1 Center potentially won’t be available for graduation if the team advances to the Western Conference Finals.
The Kings haven’t competed in the playoffs in nearly 17 years, but they can officially clinch a playoff berth Monday night with a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves or losses by the Phoenix Suns or Los Angeles Clippers.
The decision for Sac State to move commencement ceremonies will happen if the Kings are eliminated in the first round of the Western Conference Semifinals, which is estimated to end on May 14.
The first round of the NBA playoffs begins on April 15, followed by the conference semifinals on May 1-2 and the conference finals on May 16-17.
According to the league’s schedule, the conference semifinals may move up to April 29-30 and the conference finals could move up to May 14-15.
The downtown Sacramento arena has hosted the university’s graduation ceremonies since May 2017.
“If Golden 1 Center is unavailable on any of the days that we have ceremonies scheduled, or on our setup day, we will be forced to shift all ceremonies to Hornet Stadium,” Sac State president Robert S. Nelsen said in a message to students and staff. “Setting up for Commencement takes a tremendous amount of time and effort, and we cannot do setups at two venues.”
What will change if Sac State’s ceremonies are moved?
According to the Golden 1 Center’s website, there are three ceremonies planned on May 19 and May 20. Ceremonies on those days are scheduled to begin at 8 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
There is only one ceremony scheduled to take place on May 21 at 8:30 a.m.
If graduations move to Hornet Stadium, Sac State’s contingency schedule has two ceremonies taking place on each of the three days with one starting in the morning and another at night.
The schedule for May 19 and May 21 has ceremonies starting at 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. The ceremonies on May 20 are slated for 8 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
The university said it was advised to not host ceremonies midday due to heat-related concerns. The university was also advised to space out the ceremonies due to concerns about traffic flow, allowing traffic from one ceremony to be cleared from campus before the next one begins.
Will UC Davis graduations also be affected?
After receiving feedback from students, UC Davis announced it will move its graduation ceremonies to the Golden 1 Center after ending one of its ceremonies last June due to excessive heat.
Graduations for UC Davis take place from June 16 to June 18 at the downtown Sacramento venue.
According to the university’s website, one ceremony will take at 2 p.m. on June 16, followed by two ceremonies at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on June 17-18.
If the Kings were to make the NBA Finals, the NBA has Game 6 scheduled for June 15 and Game 7 for June 18.
Like all of its playoff rounds, the NBA Finals are conducted in a best-of-seven series, meaning the first team to win games win the series. If a team sweeps their opponent in the Finals, then the series will end after Game 4 on June 9.
As of March 27, the university hasn’t announced contingency plans in case the Kings advance to the Finals.
Seven students were taken to area hospitals during one of the university’s outdoor commencement ceremonies last year.
According to UC Davis, its fire department received 36 calls for service during the ceremony and mostly of them were heat-related.
The graduations were held outside at the UC Davis Health Stadium despite the forecast being 105 degrees and the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning on the day of the ceremonies.
