Warszawski: Bulldog Stadium renovation plan hinges on team’s success

As the Fresno State football team practiced Tuesday afternoon inside Bulldog Stadium, I couldn’t help but notice the four large black tarpaulins draped across rows of red seats.

These tarps have a purpose. Placed underneath each of the cantilevered light standards, they protect those seats (some of the most expensive in the stadium) from being splattered with bird droppings.

Apparently it gets quite messy.

Likewise, Fresno State also finds itself in a bit of a mess heading into Thursday night’s season opener against Abilene Christian.

The Bulldogs have a bushel of question marks, on both offense and defense, and a schedule with very few gimmees. (Abilene Christian being one of them, at least on paper.)

I picked Fresno State to go 5-7, missing a bowl for the first time under coach Tim DeRuyter. But the more I think about it the less I believe wins and losses will be the most important evaluation of this team come late November.

More significant, in the big picture, is the nebulous concept of momentum.

Three months ago Athletic Director Jim Bartko unveiled a major renovation plan for Bulldog Stadium that would bring the 35-year-old facility into the 21st century.

Renderings by the global architecture and engineering firm AECOM depicted a gleaming new west side tower with suites and club seating, a football operations building in the south end zone and upgrades within the main bowl to make it easier for fans to reach their seats, concession stands and bathrooms.

Bartko did not say how much these renovations would cost – $80 million was one estimate – but has indicated it would probably take $15 million to $20 million to get things off the ground.

The plan has four phases and would be implemented over several years. But let’s not kid ourselves. Only a small window exists to generate the enthusiasm necessary to get the project moving.

Once that window closes, forget it.

There’s a reason Bartko so often says, “We have to win in football.”

After all, this isn’t the first time there’s been a Bulldog Stadium renovation plan.

DeRuyter’s predecessor, Pat Hill, used to dream about stadium expansion. He too had professional drawings made and a model built of a double-decked, 70,000-seat facility that he used to keep in his office.

I’m told former athletic director Thomas Boeh also had a stadium renovation plan, though in typical fashion he didn’t bother sharing.

Yet Bulldog Stadium still sits there, virtually unchanged since the early 1990s.

Bartko’s proposal could easily suffer a similar fate.

It would be one thing if Fresno State had a stadium plan ready to go when Derek Carr was passing for all those yards and touchdowns, and 41,000 packed the stadium.

It’s quite another when the Bulldogs are coming off a 6-8 season with four of the six home games drawing fewer than 34,000.

Zack Greenlee (or whoever emerges at quarterback) need not duplicate what Carr did his senior year, throwing for 5,082 yards and 50 touchdowns, to keep the stadium momentum moving. Nor do the Bulldogs have to win 11 games.

At the very least, Fresno State must show progress and generate excitement for 2016 and beyond. Or else that window slams shut.

I’m not saying another losing season sinks the stadium plan, but fans will need some motivation to dig into their wallets for suites and club seats that will almost certainly cost more than the seats they’re paying for now. They’ll need to have faith the program is on the right track, that 2014 was just a hiccup.

Is it fair to place this sort of burden on a bunch of 18- to 22-year-old football players? Not really. But this is the system college athletics has created.

Fans who attend Thursday’s season opener will notice a new video scoreboard in the north end zone. They’ll notice new tailgating areas, a festival zone and fewer barbed wire fences. And if those tarps do their jobs, fans who have red seats beneath the light standards won’t have to sit in any bird droppings.

More substantive upgrades and improvements will have to wait, if they happen at all. How this season progresses, and the feeling we’re left with in December, should provide a pretty good indication.

This story was originally published September 2, 2015 at 6:35 PM with the headline "Warszawski: Bulldog Stadium renovation plan hinges on team’s success."