With few options, Fresno State could partner with investors for football stadium

As Fresno State again explores its options with its aging football stadium, a funding model commonly used on college campuses may provide an opportunity where the university’s renovation projects in the past have failed.

The public-private partnership, or P3, is often used in infrastructure and facilities projects, including student housing and academic buildings. Fresno State, for example, entered into such an arrangement with a consortium of companies known as the Bulldog Infrastructure Group on a $170 million Central Utility Plant upgrade. It was completed earlier this year, and included replacing or modernizing hot and cold water distribution and upgrades to heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems on campus.

But public-private partnerships are emerging more as a credible option for universities in addressing athletics venues, coupling some with mixed-use development projects that include market-rate or student housing, conference and entertainment or office and retail space, restaurants and parking lots.

“Universities have recognized, especially in the era of (Name Image and Likeness), new or renovated sports facilities are an attractor for top tier talent, whether it’s coaches or athletics, and driving value in stadium redevelopment can have a multiplier effect of benefits for the university,” said Geoff Stricker, senior managing director of Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate, a partner in the development of the Gateway District at the University of Kansas. 

“We’re seeing a lot of universities thinking about how to leverage their athletics assets in a new light and to become an activated space on more than just game day.”

The project at Kansas, which Fresno State officials will get a chance to see when the Bulldogs open the football season against the Jayhawks on Aug. 23 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, includes a renovation of the west and north sides of the venue with premium suites, a club lounge, upgraded fan amenities including more legroom in seating areas and improved sight lines, as well as restrooms and concessions areas. 

It also includes the addition of a conference center at the north end of the stadium, which leads into the second phase of the renovation, the Gateway District with student housing, a hotel, additional parking, restaurants and retail space to drive traffic year-round. 

The cost, according to the university, is estimated at $448 million for the first phase and $311 for the second.

Public-private partnerships also are a critical funding piece for San Diego State in its planned mixed-use development around Snapdragon Stadium, which opened in 2022. The project is to include residential property, a hotel, retail space and an Innovation District with more than one million square feet of office, technology and research space. It’s unclear how much the full project might cost, but the completed stadium part of the project cost more than $300 million, according to the university.

More universities looking to partnerships for athletics venues

Michigan State in April proposed building a $150 million Olympic sports arena for its women’s volleyball, women’s gymnastics and wrestling programs, and developing adjacent housing, office and retail space, restaurants and a hotel through a public-private partnership.

Texas opened the Moody Center in 2022 at a cost of about $375 million without using university or public money or taking on any long-term debt, the result of a public-private partnership led by the Oak View Group, Live Nation Entertainment and concert promoter C3 Presents.

In that contract, the university retains ownership of the land and building and has control of the arena and revenue including parking, concessions and merchandise sales for 60 dates a year for its basketball games, graduation ceremonies and other events. It also receives 20% of all revenue generated by suites in the arena, regardless of the event, according to a report in the Austin American-Statesman. 

The Oak View Group funded construction and in a 35-year agreement manages the arena and retains revenue from non-university events, as well as revenue from eight permanent sponsorships.

“It’s absolutely a model to look at,” said Fresno State athletics director Garrett Klassy, who was at Illinois-Chicago when it built a residential-academic complex on its campus through a public-private partnership. “If you look around our campus, there’s a need for more businesses. That’s part of the discussion. I can’t guarantee that it’s part of the final plan, but absolutely (it’s something for the university to explore).”

An indoor arena has the potential to book far more dates than a football stadium — basketball programs typically play a minimum of 16 home games a season, while football programs play six. But creativity is critical in planning a mixed-use development, as well as scheduling outside the football season, such as concerts and other events.

“From a theoretical standpoint, you can absolutely build a mixed-used district around a football stadium and achieve the financial outcomes that you want in a P3,” said Andrew Lieber, a former program advisor at the planning and development firm Brailsford & Dunlavey, who is now a deputy athletics director for capital planning at George Mason University. “In a sports-anchored mixed use district, the sports anchor delivers some additional value, but even in the case of an arena, it’s the market itself that drives the most amount of value.”

Klassy already has been trying to expand use of Fresno State athletics facilities including the football stadium, emphasizing that it is an asset before, during and after the football season.

Funding an issue with past stadium projects at Fresno State

A Shakira concert at Valley Children’s Stadium on Aug. 7 is the most high-profile example. Klassy said other concert promoters have reached out about the venue, which also could be used for other sporting events or trade shows and university and community events.

A public-private partnership around a renovation of Valley Children’s Stadium or new construction could include a conference center, a smaller entertainment venue, retail and student housing, even with a hotel going in at Campus Pointe, the public-private mixed-use development on the east side of campus. Fresno State is building additional student housing that is expected to open for the Fall semester in 2026, but it still will have dorm or apartment space for a little more than 1,500 students on a campus with an enrollment of more than 24,000.

Fresno State, which has eyed a stadium renovation for decades, has not made significant upgrades since 1992 when it added 22 suites and 11,000 seats to what was then known as Bulldog Stadium. It has not, however, made much progress toward funding proposed projects over the past decade. Donations fell well short for a plan introduced in 2015. County sales tax measures that would have raised millions of dollars for deferred maintenance and campus infrastructure projects including the football stadium were rejected by voters in 2022 and ‘24. Needing 50% of the vote plus one to pass, the measures received just 46% and 42%.

A P3 could be one of the university’s best and perhaps final opportunities to boost revenues through its football stadium, a crucial revenue driver for athletics departments.

Fresno State in 2024 reported football operating revenues of $14.3 million, according to the financial report it filed with the NCAA. Two long-time rivals also headed to a rebuilding Pac-12 Conference next year generated more than double that number - San Diego State reported $30.6 million in football operating revenues, according to its financial disclosure report, and Boise State reported $30.6 million.

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

This story was originally published July 26, 2025 at 5:34 PM.