Before signing the contract that would change the name of Fresno State’s aging football stadium to Valley Children’s Stadium, university officials removed a “look-in” clause that was tied to conference realignment and could have generated a significant bump in revenue for their cash-strapped athletics department.
That clause, which would have allowed for a renegotiation or a set increase of the sponsorship fee if the Bulldogs were to join a larger conference, was rejected by Valley Children’s Healthcare, the Madera-based nonprofit.
That was enough to kill it, the university recently told The Fresno Bee. The clause, which was included in early drafts, was deleted and the contract was executed in June 2022, the deal worth $10 million over 10 years.
Just two years later, that decision appears to have been a glaring misstep by university officials, with the Bulldogs in September receiving an invitation to join a rebuilding Pac-12 Conference in 2026.
There already was movement across college athletics that could impact Fresno State while negotiations with Valley Children’s were ongoing, and before the California State University Board of Trustees approved the final naming rights deal. It started when Oklahoma and Texas approached the Southeastern Conference in July 2021 about joining the league, which spurred moves in the Big 12, the American Athletic Conference and Conference USA.
That realignment preceded the eventual implosion of the Pac-12 and opened the door for the Bulldogs to move up from the Mountain West Conference.
Fresno State, in addition, was slipping well behind its peers in athletics revenue and spending.
“Locking in multimedia rights or other contracts without flexibility in a changing landscape can create instability and the loss of revenue opportunities,” said a Division I athletics administrator, who was granted anonymity by The Bee to speak freely on the topic. “If you aspire to elevate the national profile of your university leveraging athletics as the marketing vehicle, you must capitalize on all large revenue opportunities such as naming rights and multimedia rights. Failing to do so will suppress your entire university’s pedigree.”
It’s unclear how much the university might have left on the table, or if Valley Children’s officials would have ever signed the deal with a look-in clause in place. Even so, experts tell The Bee that such clauses are routine in naming rights deals and a prudent, necessary way to protect the university’s interests.
“It’s an interesting decision by the university to take that off the table,” said Lauren Peterson, director of the Warsaw Sports Business Center at the University of Oregon.
“Maybe the university just said, ‘A bird in hand …’ We’ll get the money, and 10 years isn’t the longest naming rights deal,” Peterson said. “Historically, they started as 20-year deals, so at least they’re not locked into a 20-year deal. Everything is great on paper until you’re out on the street selling it.”
Fresno State president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval and vice president of administration and chief financial officer Deborah Adishian-Astone, who were involved in contract negotiations with Valley Children’s Healthcare, declined interview requests from The Bee for this report.
The university instead released a statement, which acknowledged that Valley Children’s had rejected the look-in clause. “We sincerely appreciate Valley Children’s Healthcare for their long-standing partnership with Fresno State, which is built on mutual dedication to the health and well-being of youth and families in the San Joaquin Valley,” the university said in its statement.
Valley Children’s is unlikely to revisit the agreement while focusing on other initiatives with the university, including nursing program support and a paid internship program.
“Valley Children’s partnership with Fresno State is addressing one of the Central Valley’s critical needs: The education and training of healthcare professionals dedicated to providing top-quality care for our community,” a Valley Children’s spokesperson said.
“The naming of the stadium is only one part of this agreement. As Fresno State transitions to a new athletic conference, we remain focused on enhancing our partnership to meet the evolving needs of our community.”
While eliminating the look-in clause in the naming rights contract, Fresno State did provide Valley Children’s protection in the event the Bulldogs took a step backward. The agreement may be terminated by either party, and without liability to the other party, if the university ceases to be a member of the FBS (football bowl subdivision).
Fresno State also removed a look-in clause that would have triggered a renegotiation or included a set increase in the sponsorship fee if the university renovated its stadium.
That appears to be another odd decision, considering the condition of a venue that opened in 1980 and the fact that renovating the stadium has been a stated priority of the past two athletics directors. The late Jim Bartko, who served in the position from 2015 to 2017, introduced a stadium renovation plan in his first year. Terry Tumey, who was hired in 2018 and left the university in March in a mutual separation, launched a campaign in March 2023 to address the stadium and athletics facilities upgrades.
The Bartko plan was spiked by former university president Joseph I. Castro in January 2018, three months after the athletics director resigned. The project, with a price tag of more than $60 million, didn’t pencil financially, Castro said, at the time.
Athletics director Garrett Klassy, hired in June, has acknowledged the need for facilities upgrades, but he is also focused on closing a significant revenue gap for a department that in 2022-23 ranked ninth out of 11 full-time members in the Mountain West Conference in revenue.
The removal of the look-in clauses appears to be a missed opportunity to make up some of that financial ground as Fresno State moves closer to joining the Pac-12.
The university’s athletics department in 2022-23 spent $51.7 million on its 18 sports programs, ranking fourth among the five Mountain West Conference schools that will make the jump to the Pac-12 along with the Bulldogs in 2026. San Diego State led the group at $96.6 million, followed by Colorado State ($64.5 million), Boise State ($58.3 million), Fresno State and Utah State ($51.4 million).
Fresno State also reported $48.7 million in athletics revenue, ranking last among the five schools, and is the only one that reported an operating loss of more than $1 million.
The Bulldogs ranked fourth in the Mountain West in athletics revenue just six years ago, and in 2022-23 it had fallen to ninth, according to a database maintained by Sportico.
Fresno State does have a look-in clause in its apparel contract with adidas, calling for the commencement of good-faith negotiations to determine if the agreement should be revised were the Bulldogs to join a power conference. That contract was signed in 2020. The university also had a provision in a contract to play a home-and-home football series against Brigham Young that allowed either school to cancel if they joined a Power Five league. BYU exercised that clause after joining the Big 12, canceling games in Fresno in 2023 and in Provo, Utah in 2027.
The details in naming rights deals are unique to each school, market and brand, and the value of a rebuilt Pac-12 Conference and the boost it provides its members is speculation at this point. Fresno State also is dealing with an aging stadium that is in use just six times a year during the football season.
In 2021, San Diego State signed a naming rights contract with Snapdragon worth $45 million over 15 years. Colorado State also landed a lucrative naming rights deal with Canvas Credit Union worth $37.7 million over 15 years.
The San Diego State contract includes an early termination clause for both parties after the 10th year of the deal. The university and Qualcomm Technologies also have a right to terminate the deal if an NFL team relocates to the stadium and the parties cannot agree on a sponsorship fee increase after 45-days of negotiations.
Both of those deals were for new construction, not for something like Fresno State’s 44-year-old stadium that long ago started showing signs of wear and lacks an array of premium seating options and other fan amenities common at other venues.
There are other examples where Group of Five conference schools cashed in, however, when executing a naming rights contract around the time they took a step up to a higher-profile league.
North Texas, which opened its football stadium in 2011, landed a naming rights contract worth $21.5 million over 15 years with the credit union DATCU last year as it was transitioning to the American Athletic Conference from Conference USA.
The university, when opening the venue, had a naming rights deal with the telecommunications company Apogee, which opted out in 2023. That deal was worth $20 million over 20 years but, according to reports, only $11.8 million of the $20 million was to be paid in cash and the remaining $8.2 million in in-kind services.
“For us, going from Conference USA to the American, that was a very significant jump and that value drove the number we arrived at,” athletics director Jared Mosley told The Bee. “It definitely helped us in our process with DATCU, getting that to the finish line.”
There are look-ins in the contract, and Mosley said they meet often with DATCU to discuss the partnership and ways to maximize it for both parties.
“I think it’s really important,” the North Texas athletics director said. “Those look-ins cut both ways. They’re beneficial on our end in that if things change or the landscape shifts, if you experience rapid growth or a lot of success, it gives you a window to have discussions about enhancing the deal. Most of those deals, you’re trying to do them as long as you can - there’s a lot of infrastructure and a lot of things that go into those, so you don’t want to just do them for two or three years.
“And, it certainly gives the brands a little peace of mind to know that you can schedule a look-in… in the event something isn’t met on their end or not going well like they need it to. I, it gives you some runway to keep those conversation lines open and to see how you can maximize the relationship. I think it’s critical for both parties.”
