Fresno State’s move to the Pac-12 is, as athletics director Garrett Klassy said, transformative. It puts the Bulldogs on an elevated platform. It is where they want and need to be, as college athletics continue to evolve.
But it also puts them in a conference that is likely to adopt an unequal revenue-sharing plan, with the teams that participate in postseason play in football, men’s basketball and perhaps other sports earning larger shares of the returns from big-money bowl games and the NCAA Tournament.
That may not be a problem in football. Former coach Jeff Tedford ignited the best stretch of Fresno State football in decades, but there is a 4-8 season sandwiched in there. The question becomes how quickly the program can be turned when off the rails, and that becomes more difficult if the program is not competitively resourced.
In basketball, the Bulldogs are in deep given the lack of revenue the athletics department receives playing in the Save Mart Center, where it pays rent while receiving no cut of parking, concessions, suite leases or sponsorships.