I'm trying to make sense of these four bits of information from Fresno State athletics:
1.) Bulldog Foundation annual fund drive totals:
2009 -- $6,252,828 pledged; $5,329,901 paid as of late September.
2008 -- $7,226,719 pledged; $7,161,318 paid.
2007 -- $7,289,114 pledged; $7,275,931 paid.
2006 -- $7,778,165 pledged; $7,770,685 paid.
2005 -- $7,181,882 pledged; $7,175,449 paid.
The payments are divided about 50-50 between donations (to help fund scholarships) and season-tickets (which help pay for operations).
Football and men's basketball are the primary catalysts for season-ticket sales.
Obviously, there's trouble this year with sales in one or both of those programs.
2.) On Sept. 15, the Budget Committee of the Fresno State Athletic Corp. board met in the North Gym annex. Paul Ladwig, Fresno State's associate athletic director for Broadcasting and External Relations, presented the Athletic Director's report.
Referring to season-ticket sales for the 2009-10 men's and women's basketball program, Ladwig told the committee: "We realize there are some dollars out there to be had."
Translation: The women's team, an NCAA Tournament-qualifier the past two seasons, is a known quantity. But the men's basketball program has suffered a variety of ills for the better part of a decade. This year could be different. The university sees a huge ticket-selling opportunity with Coach Steve Cleveland's 2009-10 men's team.
3.) This year's men's team includes some talented veterans -- Paul George, Sylvester Seay, Mychal Ladd and Ned Golubovic. Among a promising group of newcomers is 6-foot 10-inch Greg Smith, The Bee's 2008 Player of the Year.
The Bulldogs this year could win 20-plus games. Without a doubt, this is a pivotal year in the Steve Cleveland era.
In other words, the men's team has no shortage of compelling drama ... ticket-selling drama.
4.) Today is October 5. According to the university's Web site, Cleveland's squad opens the 2009-10 season in less than a month -- Nov. 4 with an exhibition game against Fresno Pacific at the Save Mart Center.
I spoke with two university employees today -- your average fan (definition: didn't have a season ticket last year, isn't a Bulldog Foundation member) still can't buy a men's basketball season-ticket.
How can this be?
Steve Cleaveland sucks! He has done nothing for FSU Basketball. They can't even win games against smaller schools. Say what you will about Tark the shark, but that was the golden age of Bulldag basketball. Get rid of Cleaveland and get a real coach and you'll see ticket sold.
I find the BDF numbers you have posted to be very interesting because this is the first time anything has been published to my knowledge. The fact that the fund drive was down about a million is not good news, and that pledged levels are another 900-thousand behind is more bad news. I've been a fund drive member for many years, but this year the drive took a different turn. Fund drive members were pretty much snubbed by the University administration while 'staff' took over renewals. You can see renewals didn't go real well. Fund drive workers were told to focus on 'new money', but there was very little help in telling us what to sell. I had suggested we focus on basketball because it looks like it could be a good season, but the administration doesn't like to single out particular programs, instead selling the 'student-athlete' experience. You can see how well all that worked. The U is in danger of losing the few fund drive workers that are left and they don't even seem to care. We're all beginning to wonder if there's another cause that would like 400 volunteers, or should I say the 125 volunteers that are left?
George-- I would think Fresno State would want to fill up the seats, individual sales, or whatever. I looks to me like only 3,000 to 4,000 people are in their seats at games. The team has no real identity and needs more local talent to games to get more people in the seats. Maybe Greg Smith, a real talent, will be the one. Steve Cleveland is a fine man and great coach. He is really trying to clean up the program from the abuses of the previous two regimes. I hope this year will get the program back. Good luck, coach.