College athletics has been in a period of rapid change in recent years, and the pace is likely to increase. Leadership in Boise State’s athletics department is trying to figure out how to keep up and find enough money to meet its increasing needs.
Earlier this month, industry news site Front Office Sports reported Boise State would have a “private equity investment ‘within the next six months.” But while Director of Athletics Jeramiah Dickey says they are planning to make significant moves — it won’t involve a private equity firm buying a piece of the athletic department, as Front Office intimated.
Concepts Boise State is considering could involve developing a large empty parking lot between Albertsons Stadium and Broadway Ave. with a private partner, along with upgrades to the east side of the stadium and ExtraMile Arena using private credit. The goal is to generate more revenue as the school works to compete in a rapidly changing landscape.
Boise State has made a number of high-profile changes in the past year. The school announced it would leave the Mountain West Conference next year for a newly-constituted Pac-12. It started work on luxury suites and student space at Albertsons Stadium. It extended its deal with Learfield Sports. It made splashy hires, bringing Boise State General Counsel Matt Wilde to the athletics department full time, and hired KTVB sports director Jay Tust over several other suitors to helm a new online streaming product.
Finding new ways of funding
Dickey said that for a typical business, the owners can draw up a business plan and seek a loan from a bank. But for Boise State Athletics — which is controlled by the Idaho State Board of Education, and ultimately the people of Idaho — it’s not as simple.
“I have to figure out another solution,” Dickey said. “There’s Bronco Nation (donations), there’s the institution (funding through the school), there’s the state — and then there’s this. Is it private credit? If there is a means, a mechanism, a way for us to navigate that within the state rules, policies, and procedures to make sure I don’t get fired in the process?”
Dickey nodded to the University of Kentucky’s move this spring to create a new limited liability company it calls Champions Blue, LLC. The move transferred the athletic department to the for-profit company.
“We have to go out there and say, ‘How do we stay ahead of it? And I tell the appropriate story to the powers that be, that look, here are options. If it’s not this, then you have to do this.’ Or we can say ‘no, we just want to be average’ and that’s fine too. Then, maybe I’m not the right fit here and that’s OK too.”
In April, Dickey and Deputy Athletic Director Cody Gougler said they had worked with the Boise State University Foundation, to form what a for-profit LLC they are calling Bronco Athletic Growth Solutions. Gougler said this could be a piece of how the department looks to fund initiatives in the future. But he stressed that some of the ideas the athletic department is considering might be outside of the ‘BAGS’ framework as well.
Idaho public higher education’s tangles with private equity have caused challenges recently. In 2023, the University of Idaho announced a surprise bid to create a new non-profit entity to acquire the University of Phoenix. Phoenix is owned by private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Vistria Group, and the complicated deal with the U of I would have given the PE firms a $550 million payday. The move and the lack of transparency caught the ire of Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, who sued, and the Idaho Legislature. The deal was formally scuttled earlier this month.
Dickey said he hadn’t closely studied the University of Idaho situation and couldn’t comment on the record, but did say that they want to take the time to gather information and be transparent about what the department hopes to do.
“We have a foundation, we have an institution, we have a state board, and we have a state in general that I have to keep an eye on. We’re not a private school, and fully understanding we’re going to follow every law and every policy to the letter.”
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Next month, schools can begin to pay athletes directly, after the approval of a $2.8 billion settlement in the House vs. NCAA case. Schools will have a $20.5 million salary cap to spend across all sports in the first year, which will rise throughout the ten-year life of the agreement. But the money that will flow to athletes won’t come from private credit or debt.
“The goal is not to take on debt to pay student athletes,” Dickey said. “My goal and our vision is, as our industry changes, how do we stay ahead of it and how do we get that influx of cash to invest in assets that will create a sustainable model.”
Retail? Hotel?
“I think the unique piece to taking on capital to impact a facility is thinking more outside of the box on other ways to grow revenue,” Deputy Athletic Director Cody Gougler said. “What if we had mixed-use retail? What if we had a hotel? There are other things we could potentially pursue as part of the fan experience.”
The State of Idaho owns about six acres that currently serve as parking along Broadway, and another 4.5 acres between the stadium and ExtraMile Arena. Together, the two parcels are similar in size to another plot of land being developed with a public learning institution and a private developer downstream: the CWI campus. That project is being developed with developer Tommy Ahlquist. Ahlquist is currently co-chairing a subcommittee on the search for a new Boise State President with Dickey.
“Utilizing people like Tommy, who is very experienced in that space. When I look at potential options, one of them has to hit. Is a (public-private partnership) a potential option? I think so.”
Any plan would need to take into account the large amount of surface parking used not only for athletic events, but also for other events and by students attending classes on a daily basis. The parking lots are also used for band practices, community events and, of course, tailgating.
Boise State is currently working to revamp its campus master plan, which was last updated in 2015. The project, entitled “Campus Master Plan 2024” started in 2023 and is behind schedule, as BoiseDev reported. Work was initially planned to go to the Idaho State Board of Education by December 2024. A progress update hasn’t been posted publicly since November of last year.
Dickey and Gougler didn’t detail what a project for the land could look like, other than some of the ideas Gougler outlined in theoretical terms.
Stadium expansion, ExtraMile
Another area the athletics department hopes to find money for improvements is the existing facilities — ExtraMile Arena and Albertsons Stadium.
While construction is currently underway on a new set of premium seats in the stadium’s north end zone, Dickey says there’s more they want to do.
“We need to create more club seats and loge boxes,” Dickey said, referring to semi-private boxes for fans with upgraded amenities. “We need to create a bigger concourse, not just for flow of traffic, but we need more points of sale for concessions, and the (Blue and Orange Store). We need to create more opportunities and invest in this massive state asset.”
Dickey and Gougler said they also hoped to find ways to upgrade the arena. Right now, premium seating options in the building are very limited. While athletics controls the stadium, it is a tenant in the arena, and shares it with concerts, and a litany of other events.
“Basketball and football are our revenue drivers,” he said. “I’ve made a commitment to our sports programs: I’m not dropping sports. My goal is to create options A through Z that we can choose this path, this path, this path… which all lead to creating more assets that allow me to run a race without my arms and legs tied behind my back.”
Gougler pointed to the North End Zone project, which will replace lower-cost general admission seats with premium seats that start at $3,000 each and run as high as $25,000 for a loge box.
“The most important part of that is it will pay for itself and generate revenue,” he said. “There will be a positive delta that we can reinvest in our athletes.”
He noted that they are looking at every piece of revenue — including ticket sales, sponsorship/ad deals, fundraising, and more, to see how they can maximize opportunity.
Taking in private capital to help pay for projects, they hope, can accelerate investments, bring in the needed return for the lender and put additional dollars into the budget that they can put towards their needs — like paying student athletes.
“Our goal in Albertsons Stadium over the past four years has been to create an experience for our fans that when we’re winning at the highest level to maximze revenue, but it will be an experience that our fans will want to be a part of.”
But they say they have to move more quickly than the school might have in the past. Most of Dickey’s ambitious Athletics Village master plan remains, so far, unrealized.
“We have to make decisions. I can’t take three and a half years to get shovel to ground on a north end zone. I’m trying to get across to everyone, we have to have urgencey — and I’m not sure that’s an urgency that had been felt prior to me getting here.”
While season tickets in the North End Zone will rise from $199 a season to $3,000, Dickey says they want to find ways to accommodate fans of every budget level.
“I’ve said publicly about the North End Zone project (moving people to other seats). It bothers me. These are my people. I grew up like them. I don’t want to create something that disenfranchises people. You’re going to see more family-friendly pricing. My ultimate goal is to get to 40,000 (capacity). That doesn’t mean that they are going to be able to sit on the 50 (yard line) like they always have, but my goal is to make sure, if you want a seat in our stadium and you can only afford X, that you have that ability.”
Next University President and ‘What’s Next’
The movement in athletics comes as the State Board of Education works to consider who it will hire to replace Dr. Marlene Tromp, who resigned earlier this year.
Idaho Ed News reported earlier this month that Dickey is hoping for a president who will give them room to run.
“We need a leader who will trust and empower the athletics department, relying on our expertise to make decisions, create additional assets and opportunities to monetize our operation, and engage with the business community, alumni, and donors,” he said during a president search subcommittee meeting, according to Ed News.
Dickey told BoiseDev that he thinks the hire is key. Beyond key.
“It’s the most important hire in the history of this state, as it pertains to athletics.”
He said he trusts the process and the Idaho State Board of Education to make a hire that helps drive the goals he’s set.
“They’re going to do what’s in the best interest of this institution and what it represents,” he said. “I’m excited. This is an opportunity for us to take this university to the next level.”
Whatever happens next, with the presidential search, with financing or with public-private partnerships, Dickey said it’s time to go.
“It’s now or never. We have to make a decision.”
Each day, Gretchen Parsons gets the day started with a 5-minute pulse on the day.
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