Could Fresno State reap windfall with a new football stadium, like rival Aztecs?

Fresno State has had a number of renovation plans for its aged football stadium through the years. It even looked into new construction on campus.

None of those efforts has gone anywhere, yet. But as the Bulldogs take on financial challenges due to revenue-sharing with student-athletes, as well as a jump into a more competitive Pac-12 Conference next year, a peek into financial documents from rival San Diego State shines a light on opportunities lost and what could have been.

The Aztecs, one of three California State University schools that play at the FBS (football bowl subdivision) level, opened its new 35,000-seat Snapdragon Stadium in 2022.

Just three years later, football operating revenue has jumped to $30.6 million from $12.3 million through contributions to the program, ticket sales and licensing, according to the revenue and expense reports the university filed with the NCAA. As a result, it will rank near the top of the Pac-12 in athletics revenues when it moves into the rebuilding league next year, along with Mountain West rivals Fresno State, Boise State, Colorado State and Utah State.

Its overall athletics revenues in 2022: $65.9 million.

Its overall athletics revenues in 2024: $91.4 million.

That’s a 39% increase in just three years.

“We knew building the stadium and bringing appropriate premium seating into the building would allow us to significantly grow our revenue,” San Diego State athletics director John David Wicker told The Fresno Bee. “We really made sure we designed it in such a way that we could bring in San Diego, utilize it for all of the things we had the opportunity to do here in San Diego.

“The football ticketing revenue is important, and then we have another tranche of revenue from third-party events and what we were able to increase from a marketing standpoint with our signage and naming rights. From that standpoint, it has been successful.”

San Diego State also cashed in by advancing to the NCAA Tournament Final Four in basketball in 2023, but football accounts for the largest share of its athletics revenues, and it did not require a lot of winning. The Aztecs the past three football seasons: 3-9. 4-8. 7-6.

Fresno State, which plays in Valley Children’s Stadium for football, and at the Save Mart Center for basketball, where it receives no cut of signage, suite leases, concessions sales or parking, wasn’t all that close to those revenue numbers in 2022 and was nowhere close in 2024:

Its overall athletics revenues in 2022: $54.1 million.

Its overall athletics revenues in 2024: $56.1 million.

That is a $35.3 million difference in athletics revenues in 2024, compared to the Aztecs.

That’s the financial crater university president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval and athletics director Garrett Klassy find themselves in, through years of missed opportunities to deal with the aging football stadium or take other action to increase athletics revenues. The failure to act also spans the presidencies of John Welty and Joseph I. Castro.

To be sure, there is no guarantee that a new football stadium would have the same financial impact for the Bulldogs as it did for the Aztecs. SDSU has a larger student body and a balmy, coastal location. Snapdragon Stadium also is home to professional soccer and is part of a multi-use development that will include housing, retail, office space, and a hotel. But the two schools have nationally prominent football programs, strong player alumni (several top NFL players have come from the schools) and have won big games in the past at key moments.

Fresno State, for more than 20 years, has had a stadium renovation or expansion in mind, and there have been a number of windows when an upgrade plan or new construction might have been financially feasible. The current facility has not aged well baking under the San Joaquin Valley sun every summer.

In 2001, former Fresno State president John Welty spoke of improving the facility: “Stadium expansion, as (former coach Pat Hill) continues to build the program, is going to be necessary, no question,” he told The Bee at the time. “With the goal we have, which is to continue to strengthen the program and compete on a national level, it is inevitable we have to expand the stadium …”

Jiménez-Sandoval in 2021 was facing similar questions when he was appointed president.

“Every other Mountain West school that I know of, and that includes the two sister CSU campuses we have, have significantly invested in their facilities,” he said in an interview with The Bee. “So what do we do about that? What do we do about the facilities we have with our women’s sports? What do we do with our facilities that have this great need to come into the 21st century and they’re still just not there?”

Yet Fresno State through the years has barely moved the needle on upgrading Valley Children’s Stadium, and Fresno County voters have twice resoundingly defeated ballot measures that would generate revenue to address infrastructure on the Fresno State campus, including its football stadium.

This story was originally published June 22, 2025 at 7:30 AM.