Chase Fisher was casting around after graduating from San Diego State in 2010, working as a surf instructor, trying to decide what to do with his life.<\/p>\n
The following year, he went to a DJ show downtown wearing $5 neon green sunglasses that drew rave reviews from fellow concert-goers and that got him thinking. It was the genesis of Blenders Eyewear, which over the past decade has grown into a national brand worth hundreds of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis,\u201d Fisher, the company\u2019s 37-year-old founder and CEO, said Friday, \u201cis a full-circle moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The occasion was donating $1 million per year over the next five years to the men\u2019s basketball program of his alma mater, a massive injection of capital into the successful mid-major program trying to keep pace with the seemingly endless resources of power conferences.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s everything to us,\u201d coach Brian Dutcher said, \u201cbecause we\u2019re not the Big Ten or SEC where we have all this TV revenue that we can do revenue sharing. The revenue we share is the money we raise. For Chase to make this kind of commitment to San Diego State University and San Diego State basketball, this is significant beyond belief.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives us a chance to compete for some of these good players. \u2026 It moves the needle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The MESA Foundation, SDSU\u2019s basketball NIL collective, has been the program\u2019s primary fundraising instrument in the four years that players have been allowed to monetize their name, image and likeness, which has been code for professionalizing football and men\u2019s basketball almost overnight. MESA\u2019s budget is close to $3 million for the 2025-26 season, which seems like a lot until you see that Kentucky\u2019s payroll this season reportedly is $22 million.<\/p>\n
Fisher\u2019s contribution and the $1 million guarantee from the annual Players Era Festival event over Thanksgiving week in Las Vegas gives the program a starting base of $2 million per season. That\u2019s exponential growth from MESA\u2019s 2021-22 budget of $350,000.<\/p>\n
Blenders has worked with the MESA Foundation in the past, raising $275,000 through the sale of signature sunglasses. This donation is separate from the company, though, coming directly from Fisher.<\/p>\n
\u201cLife is full of many moments, and this is very special moment for me personally,\u201d Fisher told Fox 5 on Friday morning, wearing a scarlet and black Blenders letterman jacket with the old Aztecs headdress logo that was retired in the early 2000s. \u201cI went to school at San Diego State. This is home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love this city, I love this program, I love what \u2018Dutch\u2019 has built, and I want to be part of it long-term. I feel like I\u2019m in a unique position to bring to the table a lot of resources, a lot of knowledge and a lot of skills, a lot of opportunity for these student-athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dutcher accompanied Fisher, who is no relation to former head coach Steve Fisher, on the morning TV spot, a pair of Blenders mirrored sunglasses tucked into the collar of his SDSU quarter-zip pullover.<\/p>\n