As stakes rise, can Fresno State AD achieve stadium goals? ‘It’s a huge priority’

Fresno State athletics director Garrett Klassy had a few headaches cross his desk in his first year on the job. One that remains is the football stadium, an aging and underutilized asset for a department in need of new revenue.

Now, Klassy says the timeline to come up with clear answers for what should and could be done with Valley Children’s Stadium is not today or tomorrow, but yesterday.

New construction or a renovation with premium seating and increased naming rights opportunities would address a lot of financial problems as the Bulldogs move into a rebuilt Pac-12. Success in the conference, and the future beyond a 5-year commitment signed by the nine schools, also will depend largely on what happens to Valley Children’s Stadium.

The stadium is a revenue driver that Fresno State has failed to leverage and monetize for decades.

Klassy mentioned the possibility of more big concerts and professional soccer, and offered that Fresno seems “entertainment starved.”

So where does Fresno State stand with its stadium aspirations? Klassy took a timeout to talk about it with The Fresno Bee.

Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Things are ramping up here in a hurry, with the move to the Pac-12. What are the things that absolutely have to happen to succeed at that level?

Klassy: “I’m a big believer, after being here a year, that we can compete against anyone. I know it’s cliche around here because (coach Pat Hill) said it, but ‘Anybody, Anytime, Anywhere.’ That’s our mentality. We’ve won a lot of championships in all of our sports here because of the people, not because of the bells and whistles.

“But the reality is the stakes are rising here as we go into the Pac-12. We are going to need some of those bells and whistles and they’re harder to achieve now because it’s not just a shiny new stadium, but it’s also how you revenue-share with your student-athletes, so the piece of the pie gets smaller overall.

“Revenue-wise, we are not going to get where we want to go without a new football stadium. That’s where the revenue comes from. The reality is we lead at our level in attendance every single year, but we’re near the bottom in revenue. That’s because we don’t have any premium revenue experiences. We have suites, and we have red seats, but the reality is there’s no special club room or experience that comes with those red seats. We need premium seating experiences so that we can maximize revenue here at Fresno State.”

Is there a consensus on whether the university will go with new construction or try to renovate Valley Children’s Stadium?

Klassy: “Not a consensus. We need to do a feasibility study to see what works best. But I talk to colleagues in this business every single day. I’ve talked to a ton of architects in the sports business. A lot of them have said when a stadium gets to a certain age and there isn’t a lot of room to build out around it then, a lot of times, is more cost effective to build something new.

“I would say both options are on the table and have always been on the table, but we’re going to pick the option that is the most effective for Fresno State, and we don’t have those answers yet, but we are exploring to get them.”

Are you on a timeline to get that done? The next shift in college football or college athletics is going to be here before you know it.

Klassy: “The timeline is yesterday, and I mean that in all seriousness. It’s a huge priority not just for myself, but for our president, to figure out what that solution is. We’ve needed it for quite some time. But it also has to be done right. A lot of times you can race into these decisions and it can impact the university for the next 30 or 40 years in a negative way if you don’t have the correct funding model, if you don’t get the correct number of seats in there, if you don’t put the right premium experiences in there.

“You could set yourself back and we can’t do that. We have to hit on this building, whether it’s a renovation or a brand new football stadium. That’s why I’ve always said we are going to approach it the right way, and we’re going to operate efficiently and quickly. But it also has to be done right, and I’m not going to release a plan for a new stadium or a renovated stadium until I know that it’s realistic that we can get this thing done and funding is going to be a big part of that.”

If it is new construction, is it on campus? Could you go off-campus?

Klassy: “We haven’t gotten to that point. We’ve looked at a lot of different options and everything is exploratory at this point. …

“I’ve been talking to architectural firms, I’ve been talking to different groups about different funding models. I’ve been doing that for seven months. There have been a lot of people locally and some prominent boosters not locally that are very interested in helping out with this project, so it’s on me to bring all those pieces together and present it and to have a realistic plan.”

Did Fresno State miss its window on the stadium. Revenue-sharing with student-athletes is a big line item, and donors might decide they want to pay a starting quarterback rather than support a stadium project, for example.

Klassy: “Does revenue sharing and NIL make it a little more difficult? Yes. But I don’t know if the train has necessarily left the station. The one thing I do know is the Valley and the Red Wave are always going to love their Bulldogs, and one of the things we’re trying to do is show the county of Fresno, the city of Fresno, the Valley, that this isn’t just a six Saturdays out of the fall stadium. That’s why we’re having youth camps there. That’s why we’re exploring concerts. That’s why we’re exploring other opportunities. I think this could be a crown jewel of not just Fresno, but also of the Valley, if we can build something right.

“I do think there will be more interest in concerts here in the future. Fresno is uniquely situated on the tour schedule, whether it’s between San Francisco and Los Angeles or San Francisco and Las Vegas or San Francisco and Phoenix. We’ll have some opportunities here. I know professional soccer maybe hasn’t worked out the last couple of times here, but this is a great soccer community, so how do you work with investors in this town to bring soccer back? I think that’s going to be really important, too. I do think Fresno is entertainment starved, so we have to find a way to make a stadium that not only benefits Fresno State, but also benefits the city of Fresno and the country of Fresno as well.”

This is it, the thing that everyone who sits in that chair has to deal with, until something gets done. It has been front and center for a long time.

Klassy: “I’m confident that we can get something done. Just getting to know the people here and how important it is to the people I’m confident that we can get something done. There are a lot of different ways to go about it and we have to figure out which way is the best for Fresno State.”