Fresno State, facing severe budget cuts, to cut back financial support to athletics
The Fresno State athletics department has been dependent on university support to keep up with the rising costs, receiving a record $19.7 million last year.
But in a severe budget crunch due to cuts in state funding that is impacting all 23 campuses in the California State University system Fresno State president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval said it can no longer subsidize athletics at such lofty levels, which presents a challenge to athletics director Garrett Klassy and the community in funding 18 sports programs at competitive levels as the Bulldogs get set to join a rebuilding Pac-12 Conference in the fall of 2026.
“We can’t go there,” Jiménez-Sandoval said, in an interview with The Fresno Bee. “These are no longer the times in which the university will say, ‘All right, we’re going to cover athletics and it will be fine.’
“Within that then, the plan, not just the hope, is to have a plan in place so we can leverage all of the assets athletics has to their maximum capacity. How can we use facilities more? How can we move forward with multimedia? And, what other areas can we come up with that we can really leverage the revenue needed to sustain athletics?”
The amount of direct institutional support for athletics has not yet been set for 2025-26, but Jiménez-Sandoval made it clear it will not hit $19.7 million. Over the past five years, it has been $19.7 million, $15.5 million, $18.2 million, $13 million and $18.5 million.
Revenue from an increased mandatory student fee approved by the Fresno State president in April will offset some of the cut in institutional support in 2025-26 -- athletics is to receive $5 million from a fee that will go into effect this fall and is expected to generate $11.4 million.
A jump to the Pac-12 will add a jolt of media rights revenue, and greater visibility to the university and its athletics programs that can be parlayed into more lucrative multimedia and apparel deals.
But revenue sharing with student-athletes is imminent. Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) competes for donor dollars. And, costs associated with funding 18 sports programs including salaries, scholarships and travel continue to rise.
A concert at Valley Children’s Stadium?
In 2011, the year before Fresno State joined the Mountain West Conference, ticket sales ($8.2 million) and donations ($7.2 million) accounted for more athletics department revenue than direct institutional support ($5.8 million). It represented just 19.4% of a $30.2 million budget. Just 10 years ago, athletics received $9 million in university support and it accounted for 23.1% of department revenue, followed by ticket revenue ($7.8 million) and donations ($4.9 million). In 2024, the $19.7 million in institutional support represented 35.1% of athletics revenue and far surpassed revenue from ticket sales ($6.9 million) and donations ($5.4 million).
“We have to diversify the streams of revenue that support athletics as a brand and that return directly back to the institution, but also to the valley,” Jiménez-Sandoval said.
“What I’m seeing with Garrett, he is very intentional about creating revenue sources that are going to get us to dry land, from which we can build on from this point on.”
Klassy, who was hired last June due in part to a strong revenue generation background including stops at Nebraska and Houston, did inherit a number of opportunities with an expiring apparel contract with adidas and multimedia contract with Learfield/Bulldog Sports Properties that run through the 2025-26 athletic year.
One of the new revenue streams that has been explored is booking a concert at Valley Children’s Stadium. The addition of premium seating options at football games including the potential for field-level suites is in its early stages.
The athletics department also is shopping for corporate branding to add on the 25-yard lines at Valley Children’s Stadium, and it will increase football ticket prices this fall to generate additional revenue.
Fresno State balancing needs amid budget crunch
“The level of (university) support is what it is,” Klassy said. “We’re going to control what we can control and we have a unique opportunity in athletics that the rest of campus does not have, where we can go out and find some unique revenue opportunities.
“I’ve said since Day One that we have to run this enterprise like a business and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re reviewing every revenue contract. Quite frankly, as attendance has gone up, revenue in some of those important areas has not gone up. We need to have some look-ins in all those contracts to make sure we’re maximizing those pieces of revenue. We can’t leave any stone unturned.”
The Bulldogs also have to hit a few home runs. Fresno State is well behind many of its peers in the Mountain West and the new Pac-12 in athletics revenue and spending. Boise State, as an example, in 2024 reported $68.4 million in revenue and $65.6 million in expenses, according to the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database, while Fresno State reported $56.1 million in revenue and $56.6 million in expenses.
But Jiménez-Sandoval also has to find a balance in funding the campus, at a time the university is working through budget cuts. He pointed to a successful Bulldog Bound program, which guarantees high school students that meet CSU entrance requirements admission to the university, as early as the ninth grade.
“I have a commitment to those students,” Jiménez-Sandoval said. “If all of the sudden I have 1,200 students that are interested in engineering, I have to step it up. I need to balance the resources I have in difficult times in order to move forward with what I feel is going to take Fresno State to the next level, and academics is foundational to Fresno State. It is the cornerstone for all of our ethos.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2025 at 1:26 PM.