Fresno State Launches Local Sports Media Agency, Ending Learfield Partnership

Garrett Klassy called it "taking 50 cents on the dollar": a flat $2.5 million annual payment from Learfield Sports in exchange for controlling every Bulldog sponsorship, broadcast deal, and brand asset since 2004. Last week, Fresno State's athletic director ended that arrangement and launched Bulldog Sports Enterprises, a locally owned multimedia rights agency built to return that revenue to the Valley.

Chris Pacheco, a former Fresno State football player and owner of Fat Dawgs Broadcasting, was named president of BSE. His portfolio extends beyond radio: Pacheco also owns A-Plus Signs and Megaprints, giving the new agency ready-built infrastructure in signage, print, and local media. Ryan O'Rorke joins as vice president and general manager, with Nico Pacheco as partnership account manager and Enrique Loera heading partnership and broadcast services.

The financial structure separates BSE sharply from the Learfield model. Under the five-year agreement, Fresno State retains 80 percent of gross revenues, with BSE keeping the remaining 20 percent. The contract extends automatically into a fourth and fifth year if BSE hits $6 million in gross revenue in year one, $6.5 million in year two, and $7 million in year three. That first-year threshold is roughly 2.4 times what Learfield currently pays. The flat guarantee had already been trimmed: Learfield reduced its annual payment by $550,000 and later $965,500 after the university signed Valley Children's Healthcare to a 10-year, $10 million stadium naming rights deal in 2021, leaving Fresno State absorbing the cost of its own corporate arrangement.

"Fresno State deserves a model that is built by people who understand this market, believe in this institution, and know what the Bulldogs mean to the Valley," Pacheco said. "This is more than a business opportunity. It is personal."

Klassy described the new structure as operating "like a pro sports model," where sponsors and corporate partners deal with one entity rather than navigating between the university and a national intermediary. "We believe Fresno State should control its brand, its assets, and its future," he said, adding that his belief in institutional ownership of intellectual property has held firm across more than 30 years in college athletics.

For fans, the shift is audible this fall. Games move from iHeartMedia stations, including PowerTalk 96.7 and Fox Sports 1340, to ESPN Radio 1430 AM, the Fat Dawgs flagship. The station previously carried Bulldogs broadcasts from 2013 through spring 2021 before Learfield redirected the rights to iHeartMedia. Local businesses that buy ad inventory around game broadcasts will now negotiate directly with a Fresno-based team rather than through a national sales operation.

Fresno State joins the Pac-12 on July 1, 2026. Klassy framed the BSE launch as the financial foundation the program needs before that transition, saying the move is "about putting the right model in place to maximize revenue, create flexibility, and strengthen our long-term financial future." Whether BSE reaches that $6 million year-one target will be the first concrete test of what it actually costs Fresno to have let someone else run the operation for two decades.