Fresno State and its new multimedia rights partner are targeting the fan experience at its sporting events, which means at football games fans could be on the business end of a Gatling gun, a rapid-fire, C02-powered cannon that fires rolled up T-shirts or other promotional items as far as the top rows at Valley Children’s Stadium.

That’s one of the upgrades to refresh and drive stronger engagement with fans eyed by Chris Pacheco and Bulldog Sports Enterprises, which on July 1 will partner with athletics on its multimedia rights.

There is a double-barrel gun that can blast 60 T-shirts every 10 seconds to fans in the seats, and a triple-barrel gun that can fire 114 T-shirts every 10 seconds.

There’s also a quadruple-barrel cannon that can send 186 T-shirts flying in 15 seconds.

Pacheco seemed entranced at the prospect. He said he was going to get one. Which one? That hasn’t yet been decided. One thing is certain, though. “I’m so sick of the single-shot T-shirt gun that every third T-shirt doesn’t even make it to the stands,” Pacheco said.

“We’re going to invest in new ideas, new opportunities, and we’re going to be willing to try things that maybe haven’t been done here before. That to me is a critical piece, being willing to try something different.”

The gun would be a novel add for Fresno State, with an in-game experience now highlighted by former coach Pat Hill calling the Hot Dog Race. There’s also the marching band, and the fan sing-along to Don’t Stop Believin’ by rock band Journey. There has been a good bit of winning, too. The Bulldogs have won 77% of their home games over the past five seasons, so more often than not, the fan base has left a dreary, 45-year-old stadium that lacks many modern fan amenities at least with a winning smile.

“We’ve got a great fan base here. We always have,” said Pacheco, who played on the defensive line for the Bulldogs in 1984-‘85 under famed coach Jim Sweeney. “But there’s more we can do. We can refresh the experience, make it better, make it something people are excited to be a part of, and not just on game days.

“Jim Sweeney used to say, if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always be what you’ve always been, so it’s time for us to make some changes, and I’m excited about that.”

From a merchandising perspective, opportunities abound. The Gatling barrel can be branded, the base of the guns include advertising panels. There are badges that can be affixed to the gun. There are, of course, the T-shirts or other promotional items coming out of the business end of the cannon.

And, of course, food. FXinMotion, which produces the T-shirt guns in Wisconsin, created what it calls a thermal delivery device for hot dogs or smaller promotional items that also can be branded. It’s essentially an aerodynamic foam tube. “It helps keep your hot dog or brat, or whatever you order, nice and secure when you’re shooting it out of the cannon,” said Cole Janz, a sales rep with FXinMotion.

In a city that prides itself on tacos, they also would work with the thermal delivery device.

All of those advertising opportunities can easily be changed, for a different sponsor, week to week.

And, even fans near the top of the stadium, could have a chance to go home with a souvenir.

“They go really far,” said Janz, the FXinMotion rep. “They all have an adjustable base to it, if, for example, you want it to shoot higher. If you want to bring it to a baseball game where they have those safety nets that you have to shoot over, you’re able to crank that thing up higher, that way it shoots up and over.

“But if you’re wanting to bring it to a football game, they don’t have those nets, you can angle it down and have it go a lot further back as opposed to super high in the air.”

The guns have been around and evolving for decades, and are in use in college football and basketball stadiums and arenas, at Major League Baseball stadiums and NBA arenas.

Texas Tech has had one the past two years, a double-barrel hit that the Red Raiders break out at football, basketball and women’s basketball games. “We’ll have it forever,” said Jon Parnell, assistant athletics director for promotions and fan engagement. “It burns through a lot of T-shirts. If you use it multiple times a game, just be ready to increase your annual T-shirt allotment.”

“These are a huge hit, no matter where you’re going,” Janz said.

That is what Klassy and Pacheco are looking for, increasing fan engagement and game environment. The two already have had multiple conversations about upgrades, Klassy said, at a press conference announcing the partnership with Bulldog Sports Enterprises.

“I love the ideas that he’s bringing to the table, and I know the Red Wave is going to see some considerable differences at our football games and our basketball games, and all our sporting events moving forward,” Klassy said. “That’s important. That is something in my first two years here, I know that we need to improve.

“That doesn’t fall on our marketing office — they have probably the smallest budget in college athletics when it comes to in-game experience. We need to find new creative ways to really enhance our student experience and our fan experience at all of our events, and we plan on doing that.”

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