The Fresno State athletics department has "furloughed 60 part-time auxiliary employees in response to the vast revenue loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic," according to Zaeem Shaikh of the student newspaper the Fresno State COLLEGIAN. The department currently supports 21 sports programs, and operating expenditures for sport operations have "continued to increase in the past five years." In '19-20, the projected expenditures were $42,731,050 -- an "increase from the previous year." Fresno State generates ticket-sales revenue from "primarily two sports -- football and men’s basketball." In '18-19, its Athletic Corporation "earned $4,921,000 from those sport programs." For the other 19 programs, the corporation "only earned $332,500 from ticket sales" (Fresno State COLLEGIAN, 5/23). In Fresno, Robert Kuwada noted the school "could be staring at more cost-cutting measures necessitated by a sharp decline in revenues." The furloughed employees "work in several areas, both in sports operations and administration in a no-frills athletics department" (FRESNO BEE, 5/23).
