Valley Children's Stadium photo via gobulldogs.com

Editor’s note: The Fresno City Council unanimously approved this resolution at its Thursday meeting.

In reflection of both its national ranking as well as its longstanding athletic success, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and City Councilmember Tyler Maxwell announced Wednesday their plan to introduce a resolution urging Fresno State to be admitted into a Power Five Conference.

A “Power Five Conference” is one of the five most noteworthy conferences in college athletics. The nation’s power five conferences consist of the Big Ten Conference, the Big 12 Conference, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Pac-12 Conference.

Recently, UCLA and USC announced they will join the Big 10 conference in 2024, making them the westernmost teams in a conference predominantly consisting of teams in the Northeast. Currently the westernmost team in the Big 10 conference is Nebraska — more than 1,500 miles away from both California colleges.

Many fans believe that a move into the Pac-12 Conference makes not only geographic sense, but competitive sense as well, citing Fresno State’s storied athletic history, as well as its overall national ranking as an institution.

“US News & World Report has, for the past five years, named Fresno State third among national public universities for graduation-rate performance,” according to a news release from Dyer and Maxwell. “Washington monthly has consistently ranked Fresno State among the nation’s best universities.”

The release also includes the college’s two national championships (baseball – 2008, softball – 1998), as well as other accolades collected in the Mountain West Conference, the athletic conference the college currently participates in, to be taken into account.

In addition to both university rankings and athletic history, the release also cites Fresno State’s world-class education programs in promoting the economy of not only the Central Valley, but the nation and the world in regards to food-security.

The release also recognizes the values and positive impact that the region receives from Fresno State.

The press release also adds that both Dyer and Maxwell will recognize the Fresno State Bulldogs for their 2022 season and academic achievements, as well as urge the Pac-12 and Big 12 conferences to consider discussions to admit the university to one of their conferences.

The resolution is scheduled to be heard during Thursday’s City Council meeting at approximately 1:30 p.m. The meeting can be viewed online or via an additional link via Zoom at tinyurl.com/fresnostateu.