Warszawski: Fresno State sports marketing achieves liftoff with Bulldog1

Yes, you heard right – the Bulldogs have their own blimp. When it comes to non-rigid aircraft, every other university is sucking Fresno State’s helium fumes.

Actually, that’s incorrect. Bulldog1, the 150-foot-long vessel that made its maiden voyage Thursday during the football team’s open scrimmage, contains no helium. Just 140,000 cubic feet of air that must be heated by propane gas in order to achieve liftoff.

Which makes Bulldog1 sort of a hybrid blimp and hot-air balloon. The proper term, said pilot Ryan Pratt, is “thermal airship.”

How did I know Pratt was a pilot? Well, he was the only guy at the launch dressed in a tan jumpsuit. Kind of a dead giveaway.

“We operate on buoyancy more than on lift,” Pratt explained. “This is actually an extremely rare aircraft. There are only four of them in the U.S.”

A university-issued news release says Fresno State is “believed to be” the first athletic department in the country to use a blimp for marketing purposes. (A Google image search revealed no others; I didn’t have time to call every university in the country to ask if they had one, too. Or if they were jealous.)

Adorned with a giant Bulldog logo on both sides along with customizable message banners (they currently read, “See you at the game!”), Bulldog1 will fly above football games this fall and in the sky around town for the rest of August.

“We want the ‘wow’ factor. We want impressions,” assistant athletic director Jason Clay said. “The uniqueness of it is kind of what makes it so cool.”

Bulldog1 is owned by Boling Air Media, a Fresno-based company whose president, Chris Boling, is a Fresno State alum. Boling approached athletic department officials a few months back. Private funds are covering the costs.

Kudos to Fresno State for thinking out of the blue. I’m picturing the guy stuck in rush-hour traffic on Herndon Avenue, sitting there in his SUV and practically needing binoculars to see the next stoplight.

He sighs, looks up from texting, glances out the window and – presto! – there’s Bulldog1. Soaring above the snarl, a cardinal-red reminder that football season is almost here. Better buy those tickets.

Plus, when you really think about it, blimps are a perfect complement to college football – because no other sport is so full of hot air (i.e., time spent arguing vs. actual playing).

Bulldog1 certainly made an impression during the scrimmage. As the players warmed up, the massive red blob appeared over the stadium rim and floated above the field.

Everyone stopped to watch. I even had flashbacks to a Pink Floyd concert in 1988.

“It came right up from behind the press box and the players were like, ‘We’ve got our own blimp. That’s kind of cool,’” coach Tim DeRuyter said.

Bulldog1 isn’t exactly a fast-moving aircraft. Of course, it’s not meant to be. The slower it goes the longer it can be seen. Top speed is about 17 mph, which is quite an adjustment for a pilot who normally flies high-end Gulfstreams.

“Anything that flies is awesome. This is just a lot slower,” Pratt said. “The fastest speed we can go in this is slower than we taxi in the jets.”

Thermal airships like Bulldog1 typically fly about 1,000 feet above the ground and can remain in the air for 11/2 to 2 hours, depending on how much fuel is on board to keep the trapped air nice and toasty.

They can also be at the mercy of prevailing winds. Thursday evening, Bulldog1 was supposed to take off and land next to the stadium but instead had to land in an alfalfa field.

Let’s hope that field wasn’t anywhere near downtown Fresno; it would have gotten a parking ticket.

Because Bulldog1 is easily transportable – and requires less than 45 minutes to set up, provided there’s a crew of six or seven – there’s also the possibility it could fly at “certain” road games, according to the news release.

Guessing one of them won’t be Air Force. Blimps might be cool, but they’re no match for an F-35.

If you’re one of those negative types who thinks this idea will go over like the Hindenburg, technically you’d be wrong.

The Hindenburg, which crashed and burned in 1937, had a metal frame. It wasn’t a blimp. Bulldog1 maintains its shape from internal air pressure. When that air is released (intentionally, let’s hope) it looks like a rumpled, deflated party balloon. Only a million times larger.

It really is neat watching something so huge and oblong inflate and take to the skies. Kudos to Fresno State for finding a unique way to market its brand and provide fans with a soaring new source of excitement.

You might even say the Bulldogs are blowing up.

This story was originally published August 14, 2015 at 12:13 PM with the headline "Warszawski: Fresno State sports marketing achieves liftoff with Bulldog1."