Group meets with officials to try and bring back Fresno State wrestling. Is there hope?

Leaders of a group seeking the return of Fresno State wrestling and two other sports eliminated by the university last October heard a consistent message and the cold realities of athletics department funding on Tuesday in a meeting with university President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, vice president Debbie Adishian-Astone and athletics director Terry Tumey.

Though Jiménez-Sandoval said his door is always open, the road to a return for wrestling is closed.

“They wanted us to give them a pathway to bringing back wrestling,” Jiménez-Sandoval said. “I reiterated the value of wrestling to our Valley. I reiterated the fact that the Valley has a long tradition of incredible wrestlers, as well. It has deep roots at Fresno State since the 1960s. But at this point given the pandemic and given the situation in which we find ourselves I cannot commit to anything and that’s really where we left it.

“We will continue the conversation, but at this point I would not be able to commit to providing them with any feasibility study or any possibility of raising funds for the near future. It is not within the possibility of Fresno State to commit to any extra sports at this point. But it was a really good conversation, very frank, very open, as well. We were very transparent.”

John O’Brien, a 1989 Fresno State graduate and former Bulldogs wrestler, said the Keep Fresno State Wrestling group planned to continue the dialogue and that several budget questions were left unanswered in the meeting.

“Why are they cutting teams that save less than 1% of the overall athletic department budget?” O’Brien wrote in an email to The Bee. “How does $100 million federal COVID funding not enable the school to reinstate teams? We believe the money to support the teams exists.”

The university dropped wrestling, women’s lacrosse and men’s tennis amid a sharp decline in athletics department revenues during the coronavirus pandemic.

At that time former university president and now California State University Chancellor Joseph I. Castro, who had restored wrestling and added a women’s water polo program to balance Title IX requirements, said it would require a commitment of about $14.8 million to endow the program and more than $40 million for all three sports.

The impacts on adding, and eliminating wrestling

Members of the women’s lacrosse team claim the university violated Title IX in dropping their program and have filed a lawsuit to have it reinstated.

While there is no road to bring back wrestling and the other two programs, Jiménez-Sandoval said there is value in the conversation.

“The value is in that we see the genuine commitment and genuine passion from community members, who have really good points,” he said. “One of the main points that came out at the end, for example, is these are wrestlers who come from small communities in the Valley and look to Fresno State as the opportunity to change their lives. That’s a real reason.

“At the same time we have to be realistic and say, ‘There’s only so much that the university can do’ as far as the 18 sports that we have right now. We’re stretched as it is with 18. If we bring in two more, it is not a formula for success, in the least.”

That was the case in 2016 when wrestling was reinstated, as well, but Castro pressed on only to have to drop it after four seasons of competition. The sport was expensive, with operating costs almost double what was projected when it was reinstated. And, while proponents envisioned large crowds at the Save Mart Center for meets, it was a dud at the box office, even as Fresno State was ranked in the top 10 in the nation in attendance.

Wrestling ticket sales generated $118,252 in revenue in 2018, but only $79,645 in 2019 and $69,156 in 2020, according to the financial reports Fresno State submitted to the NCAA.

That had an impact across the athletics department. The addition of the two sports increased its portfolio to 21, and also squeezed a lot of life out of several of the Bulldogs’ programs.

While travel, equipment and other costs continued to rise, the operating expenses for the Bulldogs’ men’s basketball program were roughly the same in 2019-20 than they were in 2015-16 – $3,221,377 to $3,234,934.

Even with cuts, Fresno State faces challenges

There also was a smaller financial investment made in baseball, softball, women’s swimming and diving, women’s tennis and men’s and women’s track and field and cross country over that period.

Cutting back to 18 sports will help, but the athletics department is honoring scholarships for the student-athletes who decide to remain in school at Fresno State. It also has deferred maintenance issues with just about all of its athletics facilities including Bulldog Stadium, a major investment, which was addressed at the meeting.

While the university president said his door is always open, the message coming from behind it is not to be misconstrued.

“I made it very clear to them that within the next few years my job is to stabilize Fresno State and shepherd Fresno State through these times, to a place where we can be secure again and I don’t feel like we are secure right now with the pandemic,” Jiménez-Sandoval said.

“It’s not that I’m providing hope to them and saying in two years we’re going to pick up this conversation and I’m sure we’re going to work something out. That’s not what I said at all. I said the dialogue and my door is always open and that goes for everything and anything. I can’t shut the door to community members who are so passionate about real issues that are happening in our community.”

This story was originally published August 4, 2021 at 11:02 AM.