Fresno State pays $4M in Save Mart Center debt it had deferred. Why it matters

The Fresno State Association has paid off more than $4 million it previously deferred on its Save Mart Center debt, taking some of the sting out of the annual payments on its aging on-campus arena.

The deferred money was to be paid off in four near-equal installments over the next four years – its debt service agreement does not impose interest or penalties on deferred amounts. But by making the full deferred payment from its reserves, the Fresno State Association’s payments over the next four years will each be about $1 million less and reflect principal and interest only. They new payments are scheduled to be about $3.8 million in 2025-26, $4 million in 2026-27, $3 million in 2027-28, and $3 million in 2028-29.

The Fresno State Association, the non-profit auxiliary organization that owns the Save Mart Center, still owes more than $26 million on an arena that was opened in 2003 at a reported cost of $103 million. The university made interest-only payments on the arena debt for more than a decade in the early 2000s.

That debt burden has had an impact on students and the university’s athletics department. The capital lease payments on the arena are a general obligation of all Fresno State Association revenues, which includes net surpluses from student services, such as university dining, the campus bookstore, and other operations run by the non-profit auxiliary organization.

Revenue from arena signage, suite leases, parking and concessions sales also is pledged to arena debt and operating losses, and athletics receives little revenue from its home arena, where the Bulldogs’ men’s basketball, women’s basketball and women’s volleyball teams play.

The final principal and interest payment of $6.4 million is due Nov. 1, 2031. The Association has sufficient reserves to cover all remaining obligations, the university said in a statement to The Bee.

It had owed principal and interest of $10.2 million in 2024-25, prior to deferring $4 million last fiscal year.

The decision to defer payments was made by former vice president of administration and chief financial officer Deborah Adishian-Astone, who retired at the end of 2024, in effort to maximize cash flow and establish a consistent payment schedule over the next four to five years, according to university officials.

This story was originally published November 18, 2025 at 12:14 PM.