In an effort to keep up with the college Joneses -- or at least within earshot -- football programs such as Boise State need to maximum any and all potential revenue streams.
That need, of course, leads to today’s development.
Following up on speculation that’s been growing the past couple of days, Boise State announced Wednesday that it has sold the naming right to Broncos Stadium to Albertsons LLC. The home of the blue turf will henceforth be called Albertsons Stadium in honor of the food and drug retailer that was founded in Boise in 1939 and has since gone national.
While the deal is for $12.5 million over the next 15 years, Boise State will receive just 75 percent of that sum; the other 25 percent is earmarked for Learfield Sports, BSU’s marketing company that helped secure the deal. Still the athletic department will net in the neighborhood of $625,000 annually.
“Since the 1930s, when Boise State and Albertsons each began just a couple of miles away from each other, the two institutions have shared a passion for the community and for improving opportunities in higher education,” Boise State president Bob Kustra said in a statement. “It’s appropriate that in the year we celebrate the anniversary of the Albertsons Library, we announce this new partnership that also will benefit Boise State students for many years to come.”
With unlimited meals already approved and cost-of-attendance stipends fast approaching on the horizon, the cost of competing in big-time college football is set to increase substantially in the coming years. To his credit, athletic director Mark Coyle wasn’t shy in connecting those developments to today’s.
“There’s a lot of things that are coming down the pipe line,” Coyle said. “A lot of those things need to be defined, but these are things that will help our program to provide for our student-athletes in every way we can.
“We talk about providing a first-class experience to our student-athletes and when we are able to secure a partnership like this with Albertsons, that’s a difference maker for our program to help us address some of those concerns that are coming up in the future.”