Fresno State athletics forced to second round of furloughs as budget tightens

Fresno State announced on Friday that it is furloughing about 55 Athletic Corporation employees for a period of two weeks due to a sharp decline in revenues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Included in the furloughs are a number of employees in academic support, strength and conditioning, athletic training, marketing, communications, ticketing, compliance and equipment.

In addition, athletics director Terry Tumey has voluntarily taken a 25% cut in the portion of his salary paid by the Athletic Corporation. The Bulldogs’ highest-paid coaches are classified differently and unable to take a voluntary reduction, a source within the department said.

About 60 part-time and stipend employees were furloughed on May 22 for two months.

The Fresno State athletics department is looking at deep cuts to operations due to the coronavirus.

University support, which accounted for $20.9 million of its $49.8 million in revenues last year, could be cut by $3 million or more, enough to cover operating expenses for a number of men’s and women’s sports programs.

A distribution from the NCAA and Mountain West Conference will be considerably less than in past years, due to the cancellation of the NCAA basketball tournament in March.

While the NCAA has finalized a summer practice plan for football and the California State University system works toward getting student-athletes back on campus, Fresno State and schools across the country are preparing to limit seating capacity and fans in stadiums, which would be another significant hit.

Fresno State last year generated more than $5 million in revenue from football ticket sales, and brought in more than $600,000 through parking and concessions sales.