For Fresno State the bottom line is not 9-14, the Bulldogs’ record going into a Western Athletic Conference game tonight against Idaho at the Save Mart Center. It goes deeper, and could lead to additional cuts in the athletic department and its programs.
With six home games remaining, Fresno State is about $70,000 short of projected basketball ticket revenues, and while there is time to cut into the deficit any shortfall would not help an athletic department that has been staring at a substantial budget crunch since the football program fell $730,000 short of projected ticket revenues in a disappointing 4-9 season.
“I believe in every business you do a midyear budget review to see where you’re at — are you fat and happy or have you not met your numbers?” said Paul Ladwig, senior associate athletic director/external relations. “And if you don’t meet your numbers then you have to go and re-evaluate your budget and tighten certain belts. …
“The other side of that is you hope to make it up in other areas — not it all. But will your licensing numbers be up this year? Will your merchandising numbers be up? Will baseball and softball make their budget numbers, plus some? Budget is such a fluid thing and it’s a 12-month thing and you never know where you’re at exactly until June 30, until you get your last dollar in the bank.
“But tickets are a huge portion of what we do and how we make our budget number.”
In December it was reported that if Fresno State met its project revenues and expenditures for the rest of the fiscal year, it would be facing a deficit of about $739,000.
Ladwig is confident that Fresno State can close the gap in basketball revenue over the second half of the WAC season, though attendance at the Save Mart Center has been in a steady decline the past five years. The Bulldogs have a new coach in Rodney Terry, but a new direction has not in the past been enough to spur ticket sales at basketball games and it has not this season.
Only the arrival of Jerry Tarkanian in 1995 generated a significant increase in attendance, the average at home games at Selland Arena going up by 1,704 in his first season.
Attendance increased by 91 per game in Ray Lopes’ first season in 2002-’03, decreased by 1,428 in Steve Cleveland’s first season in 2005-’06 and through eight home dates in Terry’s first season it has fallen by an average of 1,266 per game to 6,066. In the Bulldogs’ first season at the Save Mart Center, 2003-04, Fresno State averaged 14,064 for 16 home dates.
It also has not helped that the Bulldogs have spent much of the season on the road, their only extended homestand two weeks ago when they split WAC games against Hawaii and San Jose State followed by a nonconference victory against Cal State San Marcos.
“Any time you play five of your first seven games on the road, I don’t care what conference you’re in, that’s a challenge,” Terry said. “To go out and compete and compete the way our guys have, I’m hoping we get this community and we get people behind us to come in and give us a lot of support.”
The key, Ladwig said, is to get the community to take a peek at a Bulldogs’ team that has played well and been in some close games despite a roster that includes only eight scholarship players.
Fresno State is 6-2 at the Save Mart Center, with its only conference loss in overtime to Hawaii, and in the second half of the WAC season will get a shot at avenging close losses on the road against Idaho (63-59), Louisiana Tech (59-58) and New Mexico State (60-56). Nevada, which has won 15 in a row and is leading the WAC at 7-0, could be ranked in the Top 25 on Feb. 25 when it comes to the Save Mart Center.
“If we can get people to taste the product, I think we can get them to buy season tickets,” Ladwig said. “We haven’t given up on this year — but I’m thinking of next year as well. I’m projecting out of where we want to be next year and what we want to be able to do. …
“It’s an ongoing process of keeping people involved and keeping people tied to the teams, no matter what team it is, whether it’s basketball, baseball, softball, football. We’ve got to get people if they’re new to taste the product. If they haven’t been here in a while we need to get them to come back. I think once we get them I think we can hold onto them because I think we have a good product.”
Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/02/01/2706374/fresno-state-needs-basketball.html#storylink=cpy
