Chase Fisher details $5 million donation to San Diego State Aztecs men’s basketball program: ‘In the world of NIL, the pay is to play’

It’s no secret that Blenders founder Chase Fisher loves his alma mater, San Diego State.

Fisher attended college and graduated in 2010. Not long after, he founded Blenders, an eyewear company that reached a $90 million valuation in 2019 after 70% of the company was acquired by Safilo Group.

The San Diego-based company has become mainstream and popular over the years, mainly due to its association with Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders. Sanders and Blenders created a custom line called the Prime21 collection. This is in addition to the collaboration with F1’s Oracle Red Bull Racing for an eyewear collection.

While the sunglasses and the company are definitely mainstream and cool in appearance (it tries to emulate its San Diego roots), what’s also notable about Fisher and the company is their continued efforts through NIL.

Fisher recently donated $5 million to the San Diego State Aztecs men’s basketball program. It is the largest donation ever to San Diego State and will donate $1 million annually for the next five years.

That’s a big deal for a San Diego State program that isn’t a blue blood school. It’s also a big deal as the Aztecs prepare to move from the small-town Mountain West conference to a historic power conference in the Pac-12, with powerhouses like the UCLA Bruins and Arizona Wildcats, who have 50 national championships between them.

Fisher has already made $300,000 in NIL donations through Blenders this year, excluding the donation to the Aztecs.

“This is a very exciting moment for me personally, a full-circle moment, just because of its great significance,” Fisher said in a one-on-one interview. “The story of how this even came about is even more important. I was the kid who wasn’t supposed to go on and do big things, I struggled in school, and I was dyslexic. I was in special education, and I was just a kid who was basically set up to fail. If you look at Chase Fisher on paper, he wasn’t supposed to make it.”

Fisher has a close relationship with Coach Dutch – San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher – and the players. Coach Dutch has been involved with the program since 1999 when he jumped on board as an assistant coach. He was named head coach in 2017 after Steve Fisher announced his retirement.

He says it’s about maximizing the team while giving the students the tools they need to be as great as they can be. From an on-the-field perspective, it also gives them a chance to compete with schools that receive much larger NIL donations. That’s a big deal considering they’ll be moving to a power conference like the Pac-12 next year.

“My focus and vision here are really twofold: the first is to get the student athletes the resources they need and to stay in San Diego,” Fisher said. “But also to get them to believe in themselves in a bigger way. Coach Dutch and all the coaches here at SDSU always talk about bigger than the game and attracting new talent and retaining new talent. What happens when the ball stops bouncing. This is really about belief. This is really about investing in the student athletes and giving them an opportunity that is much bigger than the sport itself.”

Fisher’s NIL donations will help them retain and attract talent to the San Diego State basketball program, which made a surprising run to the national championship against the UConn Huskies just a few years earlier in 2023.

Coach Dutch explains why Fisher is such an energetic figure around the student athletes, saying his personality and positive vibes match the players’ youthful energy. Dutcher says he was a Blenders guy before he even met Fisher because of the San Diego ties.

“Saw the energy, he lived his life with passion and it was contagious,” Dutcher said of Fisher. “His attitude is infectious. The work of building something from nothing and you want to have guys like that in your program because they are a better fit for the kind of kids we’re getting. These aren’t kids from rich families and this and that, so you’re also trying to show me how basketball is a path.

“Here’s a guy who went to San Diego State and built it,” Dutcher goes on to say of Fisher. “He didn’t have a golden spoon and he built something great from his experience at San Diego State. To have him in the program, meet him and learn how he built his company was really great for all of us.”

The program hit a rough patch last year and was snubbed in the NCAA Tournament First Four. They had been to the NCAA Tournament each of the last four years.

“In the world of NIL, it’s worth playing,” says Fisher. “That’s just the world we live in, and coaches, teams, trainers and athletes, it’s a big deal. They attract talent, key talent, then we have to invest in them. I hope my investment and my donation isn’t even a donation — it’s a statement that SDSU is here to stay. We live in the greatest city in America, and I want to be a part of America’s best athletics and build the program that recruits and retains the best talent in America.”

Fisher says it is not only a personal contribution, but also a “leadership contribution.” He wants to be part of the Aztec players’ journeys.

“This is a personal contribution, not just from a monetary perspective, but from a mentorship, a leadership perspective,” Fisher explains. “I want to be part of these guys’ journey. I want to know their stories. I want to stand shoulder to shoulder in the front row. I want to help them succeed in whatever that may look like. This is the largest donation in SDSU NIL history. This is a huge milestone for me personally, and a groundbreaking donation for the program itself, and just a win for the city overall.”

Outside of NIL donations, Dutcher explains why future basketball stars should try to play at San Diego State, calling it the “most beautiful city” in America and saying the Aztecs are “San Diego’s team.” It’s the city’s basketball program and there aren’t many professional sports teams left, with the San Diego Padres being the most notable remaining after the San Diego Chargers left for Los Angeles.

“We are very proud of our students and alumni. I like to think we are the San Diego team,” Dutcher said. “We have the San Diego Padres, and then we have San Diego Wave FC for women’s soccer. But we don’t have pro basketball. We don’t have a pro soccer team anymore. I like to think we’re San Diego’s team, and so there’s San Diego sunglasses. We’re both very proud of the city.”

Dutcher says the impact of the contributions on the field is great, but he believes the impact it has on the local community is even greater.

“It’s not just about ourselves,” says Dutcher. “We try to give back. Part of our NIL Mesa foundation is that we host camps for underserved populations, challenge athlete camps to wheelchair basketball, go to the food bank and serve food, work with the homeless. As much as I like NIL, I love revenue sharing, I want them to do something that also makes a difference in the community.

“I think Chase embraces that,” Dutcher continued. “He teaches basketball for revenue sharing and NIL opportunities. But I think he teaches it because we give back to the community. We are involved, we are invested in the city, just like him. There is a commonality between us.”