New Fresno State Univ. AD Jim Bartko, who is "charged with driving the Bulldogs’ athletic programs forward into the rapidly changing and more costly college sports landscape, has embraced the challenges" of his position, according to a Q&A by Robert Kuwada of the FRESNO BEE. Below are excerpts from the interview:
Q: Where do you start, or what has to get done -- now?
Bartko: We’ve got to look at Bulldog Stadium long term. We have to look at the sports expansion issue, the costs and how we fit that all in. There are NCAA issues with cost of attendance and training table. I think we just need to sit back for the next couple of weeks and look at all of those things together and put together a good five-year plan that we can afford and manage and be successful with in those plans.
Q: The stipends, training table, those have to be high on that priority list. They’re here -- other departments in the conference already are ahead …
Bartko: They’re demanding. Obviously, we need to take care of the current sports that we have, make sure they have every resource we have. ... We have to make sure everything we have currently is up to speed and done effectively. We have some open spots we have to fill that haven’t been filled for a while, make sure our staff is up and running, make sure our fund-raising and marketing staff, ticketing, are customer-service oriented.
Q: Everything is going to come back to fundraising and generating revenue for all of that. I get the feeling here that people are starved to see a winning product on the field, but they might not understand how far behind some of the revenue programs are. So, again, how do you even start?
Bartko: It does come down to fans; fans, tickets sales and fundraising. Obviously, TV helps and going to bowl games helps. ... Football revenue drives a lot of the programs, so if we have success there, then we’ll have success for everybody. ... Every donor from a $100 donor to a $1 million donor needs to be treated with respect because it’s dispensable income. I mean, they don’t have to come to the games if they don’t want to. They can watch them on TV. We need them here. We need to sell the atmosphere. We need to sell family.
Q: Is it possible to do what needs to be done in Bulldog Stadium without securing a sponsorship or naming rights?
Bartko: I don’t know. We’re going to look at some consultants [to] come in and look at the stadium and just kind of give us some ideas and options. Until they really sit down and tell me what the costs are and the financing of it, that’s a question I probably can’t answer.
Q: What is the right balance between feeding football and everything else in driving fundraising and that ticket revenue?
Bartko: You look at Boise. They do it. Nevada has got a new addition. Schools can do it. It has to be all of our programs working together to have success. Football obviously drives revenue, but every sport is important (FRESNO BEE, 1/18).
