Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson speaks during the conference’s football media days at Green Valley Ranch Resort in Henderson, Nevada, in 2019.
Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson speaks during the conference’s football media days at Green Valley Ranch Resort in Henderson, Nevada, in 2019.
HENDERSON, Nev. — The Mountain West Conference is in the midst of negotiations with CBS Sports and ESPN about a new television package for football games, and Boise State will continue to get an extra piece of the pie.
Boise State’s home football game are again being negotiated separately from the rest of the league’s package, Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson confirmed Tuesday. And that means the additional $1.8 million in revenue will continue after the current deal ends next summer.
When Boise State agreed to return to the Mountain West in 2012, part of its membership agreement called for home games on the blue turf to be sold as a separate package with the Broncos earning additional revenue from those games.
“That will continue and is continuing,” Thompson said.
The current deal calls for Boise State to get an additional $1.8 million per year, and then an equal portion of the rest of the television money — which this year is about $1.1 million for each of the 11 fulltime members. Hawaii (football only) is not currently part of the TV deal.
That means the Broncos will receive roughly $2.9 million this year compared to $1.1 million for the rest of the league.
Some around the Mountain West had hoped Boise State’s special treatment would end with the new television deal, but the Broncos’ membership agreement, which was negotiated by former president Bob Kustra and former athletic director Mark Coyle, calls for the Broncos to get their home games as a separate package for as long as they are in the league.
“It has been discussed more than it had ever been discussed when the deal was made,” Thompson said. “None of the presidents that signed that agreement are in the league today. … There’s been no official, formal discussion, but I would frame it that there’s been a little more hallway talk about trying to understand it with a lot of new athletic directors and presidents. But nothing has changed.”
Thompson confirmed that Boise State will continue to receive an extra $1.8 million on top of whatever teams get as part of the new deal, but was “very confident” the deal would bring more money to the rest of the league as well.
But more money for others still likely won’t appease the detractors since the Broncos still will be getting the additional $1.8 million for its home games.
“The pushback from some people is $1.8 million is $1.8 million and that’s not changing,” Thompson said.
Asked if there was anything the rest of the league could do about it at this point, Thompson said, “If the board wants to address that they would have that prerogative.”
The current seven-year deal is set to expire next summer. Thompson confirmed the league is talking with CBS Sports and ESPN during their exclusive negotiating windows with the networks, but declined to speculate on whether the games would likely return to those two networks. He did say he expects a new deal to be announced sometime this fall.
Boise State’s current seven-year deal calls for at least three home games to air on ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC. All additional home games must air on the ESPN family of networks, including ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, ESPNEWS or ESPNU. No more than two games can stream online only on ESPN+ (formally ESPN3).
ZERO CONVERSATIONS ABOUT TEAMS LEAVING
Thompson said there have been ‘zero conversations’ with Mountain West teams about leaving for another conference such as the American. UCONN recently left the American, igniting speculation that a Mountain West team such as Air Force, Colorado State or Boise State might consider a jump east for a bigger pay day. Thompson said there’s nothing he can do to keep a team in the league, but didn’t appear to be concerned about the possibility.
EXPANDED PLAYOFF HAS BEEN DISCUSSED
Thompson was asked about potentially expanding the College Football Playoff in the future and confirmed conversations have happened about increasing the number of teams that qualify to greater than four. “I don’t know if the CFP will expand but it’s good business to have those conversations,” Thompson said.
NEW BOWL LINEUP COMING WEDNESDAY
The Mountain West will announce its new bowl lineup Wednesday morning, which will guarantee six bowl slots to Mountain West teams. The Mountain West will no longer send its champion to the Las Vegas Bowl after this season, and instead is expected to announce the creation of a new bowl game in Los Angeles against a team from the Pac-12. Other bowl affiliations could change, but the Potato Bowl, New Mexico Bowl and Hawaii Bowl are expected to remain Mountain West affiliates. Last year Wyoming finished 6-6 but didn’t get selected for a bowl game. Thompson called informing Wyoming of the news a “terrible phone call, terrible feeling” and hopes the new agreement will minimize that possibility from happening again.
