What will Fresno State do if stay-at-home order forces changes to final game week?
Fresno State has contingency plans in place should the stay-at-home order that was issued on Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom impact its ability to finish the football season.
The Bulldogs, who have had two games canceled due to coronavirus contact tracing, play on Saturday at Nevada and left for Reno by bus on Thursday after players, coaches and staff had been through COVID-19 testing. They will return to Fresno after the game against the Wolf Pack, and if unable to practice at home next week will move operations to Las Vegas to prepare for a final regular-season game against New Mexico.
That game will be played Dec. 12 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, where the Lobos have practiced and played home games since the start of November due to a spike in coronavirus cases in Albuquerque and surrounding Bernalillio County and state health and safety guidelines.
“Everyone is trying to do what’s best for the students and for our community, but yet we’re trying to establish some sense of normalcy and try to have something for these students and their experience,” Fresno State athletics director Terry Tumey said. “It causes us to have a myriad of options that we have to look at, not only from a logistics standpoint and an experience standpoint.
“If we do have to move quickly, the authorities do usually give us 48 hours to plan and that’s plenty of time for us. We do have accommodations on hold in other locales to assist us.”
California teams crossing state lines
San Jose State already had to bolt, turning its home game on Saturday against Hawaii into a road game at Aloha Stadium due to COVID-19 guidelines in Santa Clara County. The Spartans are scheduled to play Nevada at home in their final regular-season game.
Stanford has moved its football operations to Seattle in advance of a game at Washington on Saturday and will remain in the Pacific Northwest for a game against Oregon State next week that was scheduled at Stanford but will now be played in Corvallis, Ore.
New Mexico had its season-opening game at Colorado State canceled due to the prevalence of coronavirus cases and county guidelines, and had to play its scheduled home opener against San Jose State on the road – it was moved to CEFCU Stadium in San Jose.
After that game the Lobos made a quick stop at home and headed to Nevada where they set up operations at the Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort and Spa in Henderson, about 20 miles from the Strip. They are scheduled to play Wyoming on Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium.
The New Mexico athletics department is spending about $70,000 per week to keep its team on the road, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
The cost of an extended road trip for the Bulldogs has yet to be determined, according to an athletics department source. But they have all season been making adjustments to cut costs – they took buses to a November game against UNLV at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and are busing to and from the game on Saturday at Nevada.
Bulldogs have flexibility, contingency plan
Round trip, the cost of buses is about $50,000 less than a charter flight.
If the Bulldogs, 3-1 with the cancellation of rivalry games against San Jose State and San Diego State, clinch a spot in the Mountain West championship game or are invited to a bowl game they might need to make additional accommodations out of state.
“We must plan and then have a plan if that plan fails,” Tumey said. “We try to look at every option.”
Fresno State is one of four teams in contention for the title game with two games to play – San Jose State and Boise State are 4-0 and Nevada is 5-1. It is to be played Dec. 19 at the home field of the team with the highest winning percentage in conference games.
A potential championship aside, there is a lot at stake for Mountain West schools in a football season starting with a share of conference media distributions and payouts from the College Football Playoff and bowl games that amount to about $4 million a year.
That is needed revenue for an athletics departments hit hard by the coronavirus.
Fresno State during the pandemic has had two rounds of furloughs for athletics department personnel, eliminated its director of marketing and fan engagement position, and dropped wrestling, women’s lacrosse and men’s tennis from its portfolio of sports programs.
Cutting the three sports is expected to save the athletics department about $2.5 million a year in operating costs and with 18 remaining programs puts Fresno State more in line with its Mountain West peers.