Fresno State basketball has season-high attendance at Selland. Will game return?

Fresno State made its return to Selland Arena on Sunday, playing for the first time since 2009 in the downtown arena that was home to legendary coaches Boyd Grant and Jerry Tarkanian, and some of the best basketball teams and players in Bulldogs’ history.

The game did not go well – the Bulldogs had an 11-point lead with nine minutes to go and ended up losing 76-71 to Cal State Bakersfield, which is playing this season with an interim coach in Mike Scott and was just 3-4 when it made the drive up Highway 99.

But more than 4,000 tickets were sold for the throwback game, enough to form a solid human tunnel of fans for the Bulldogs as they ran onto the court, as they did decades ago, and enough to generate a little revenue for the athletics department, after expenses.

Whether there is a return engagement is an open question, however, even with guarantees from Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer that the city would welcome the Bulldogs at every opportunity.

“I would love to see more sports activities downtown,” Dyer said, before the game. “Bulldogs’ games, whatever other events that we can bring downtown. We’re seeing a rebirth in our downtown area. I think it’s a win-win, being able to bring back a little bit of the history of Bulldog basketball and at the same time be able to enjoy some of the things that were seeing in downtown Fresno.

“Anytime they want to come downtown, I promised them we’ll make them a good financial deal that allows the university to be able to benefit financially.”

The city of Fresno, which owns Selland Arena as part of its Fresno Convention and Entertainment Center, did just that to help the university financially justify moving the game downtown from the on-campus Save Mart Center.

The city waived a $7,350 arena move-in cost and cut the rent it charges for similar events to $10,000 from $14,700. It also included the cost for equipment, such as the basketball floor and wireless internet in the rental fee, and cut its box office fee and Ticketmaster facility fee.

But there are other considerations, with the Bulldogs’ basketball program trying to regain some semblance of footing in the market as it transitions to the Pac-12 Conference next year.

“This was done intentionally as a one-year, one-time only event,” said Garrett Klassy, Fresno State athletics director. “I know Mayor Dyer has expressed interest in doing it more frequently, and I’m not opposed to that. But with the basketball schedule and MTEs (multi-team events, or tournaments) to play and the number of home games to play and the partnerships we have, moving to a much tougher league in the Pac-12 when it comes to basketball, we have to make sure it makes sense from all angles, not just the nostalgia standpoint.

“We have to position our basketball team for success as well. It’d be unfair for me to make any proclamations before getting a chance to talk to Coach (Vance) Walberg and his staff and get their thoughts on playing there.”

Klassy and his staff will meet this week to add up the plusses, and minuses. “It has to make sense financially if it’s something we want to do moving forward,” he said.

The positive fan environment, though, was not lost on the Bulldogs’ athletics director.

Selland, which seats about 10,000 for basketball, is a much more comfy fit than the much larger Save Mart Center; it seats 15,596 for basketball and often seems even larger, considering the Bulldogs have not drawn even 4,000 for a game there this season.

The official attendance at Selland Arena on Sunday was 4,374.

“After seeing my first game at Selland I can obviously see why our fans loved going there for years,” Klassy said. “It’s a close, intimate environment, and it was fun planning this and bringing back all the throwback items back and bringing it to reality.”

Walberg also seemed to enjoy the venue, aside from the result. The Bulldogs had a four-game winning streak working, their longest since winning four in a row in the 2021-22 season.

“It’s good that we’re here at Selland, I’m just disappointed for the fans,” he said. “We’ve been playing pretty darn good basketball and today we kind of laid an egg. It’s kind of disappointing.”

This story was originally published December 1, 2025 at 10:08 AM.