Mountain West meeting highlights conference realignment. What is Fresno State’s priority?
Realignment obviously was a topic on Wednesday at the Mountain West media days and commissioner Craig Thompson said this, picking through questions about the conference, the Pac-12, the Big 12 and the many ways it can all go: “I’ve been struck by the cliche recently that, man’s loyalty is as strong as his options.”
But he also brought up other factors that should drive conference members as they attempt to secure a best-possible position in the ever-changing landscape of college athletics.
Potential changes to the NCAA and how it is governed, access to the College Football Playoff and staying at the highest level of college athletics, he said, represent the biggest challenges to a conference that for now at least appears set with its 12 football-playing institutions.
“The (NCAA) transformation committee is a huge one for us,” Thompson said. “A new model for NCAA enforcement. What is going to happen with the subdivisional structure? Will there be a FBS football bowl subdivision? Will it include 10 conferences? Will it include 131 schools? Will there be limitations? Will there be floors? Will there be maximums or caps? Doubtful, on that …
“I think CFP and transformation are the biggest issues coming up. What are the thresholds? Are there going to be minimum requirements? We’ll see.”
What it will look like months or years from now is an open question as the Pac-12 deals with the departure of UCLA and USC. The Big Ten and Southeastern Conference schools are likely to bank $90 million to $100 million each in media rights revenues in the very near future, which will impact every other FBS conference and school.
“It’s just a dog eat dog world,” Thompson said. “You just have to keep pushing, pushing each other and pushing ourselves. You do what you can.”
Thompson noted that Fresno State has been in the conference since 2012.
And, that everyone has been hearing about a stadium renovation since 2012.
NCAA transformation and impact on Bulldogs, Mountain West
It goes back much further. The Mountain West was formed in 1998 when eight schools broke from the Western Athletic Conference, leaving eight including Fresno State behind.
The Bulldogs were not invited to join the league, lobbied for inclusion and ultimately were left out.
Fresno State did not join the Mountain West until 2012, after Brigham Young (independent), Utah (Pac-12) and Texas Christian (Big 12) had departed.
But while the Bulldogs aim at a Power Five-level conference, it also is possible that the bottom could fall out if the football bowl subdivision enacts substantial changes.
If the Bulldogs and the Mountain West don’t fit at the top, then where?
“All of these things, although they are external drivers, they do motivate us internally to continue to move the model forward with what best serves Fresno State,” athletics director Terry Tumey said. “That’s the key, so I appreciate the external pieces and how our model is changing, but I really appreciate the forward thinking of our leadership to say, ‘OK, with this change in model, how are we best going to be in position to serve our students and this community?
“To say that our industry right now is dynamic, that’s not even close. This is a true reset, and we really need to be able to think about how we’re going to invest moving forward in order to not just keep up, but put our best foot forward. That’s what we should be doing. It’s not about just keeping up. We’re trying to put our best foot forward to make sure we do what we can and what’s best for this community.”
University president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval has formed a task group to explore sustainable athletics success targeting infrastructure, revenue generation and marketability and the student-athlete experience.
Bulldogs, with recent momentum, look to keep moving forward
Fresno State this month has announced the formation of the Marvin & Tish Meyers Champions Circle, an exclusive group for donors designed to maximize athletics resources, and the renovation of a prime space in the North Gym, which will be turned into a weight room to serve the Bulldogs’ basketball, volleyball and Olympic sports programs.
The university and athletics department could also benefit from a proposed Fresno County sales tax that would generate as much as $36 million a year with two-thirds going to academics and no more than one-third to athletics.
“When you’re starting to talk about the SEC or the Big Ten and you’re talking about possible media rights fees that are going to yield them $100 million per institution, that’s amazing,” Tumey said. “That’s something that may not be met by other conferences throughout our nation. We all recognize that, but we also recognize the fact that the market is moving forward and we do still have a place in that market.
“It’s not just predicated on media rights fees. It’s more than that. What we need to do, with all those considerations, do what’s best for Fresno State. Keep moving yourself forward. I’m very happy that our administration is thinking that way. I’m happy that our local leadership, our mayor, thinks that way. All of our local leaders recognize the fact that Fresno State is very important to this community. Just continue to move it forward. It’s not even an option now. It’s an imperative. We have no other option. We have to invest in order to keep moving.”
This story was originally published July 20, 2022 at 3:48 PM.