BOISE, Idaho — Boise State Athletics and director of athletics Jeramiah Dickey on Thursday announced its vision to create an Athletics Master Village on the Boise State University campus.
The village is included in Boise State's 'Playbook for Success,' after AECOM's sports practice provided the athletic department with recommendations for Bronco facility improvements and additions.
Boise State's plan for the Athletics Master Village includes 12 priorities, broken down below.
The first priority is creating a new 'Varsity Center' for all Bronco sports. Boise State plans to create a state-of-the-art performance center with a new weight room and sports performance, health and wellness suite.
The Varsity Center plan also includes a new academic center, nutrition and dining center and spaces and offices for Boise State men's and women's tennis, beach volleyball, softball, track and field/cross country, gymnastics and soccer.
Boise State's second priority in the vision focuses on renovations to the east and north sides of Albertsons Stadium.
The Broncos plan to create a 360 degree concourse in the football stadium, with new premium seating, field-level concourse and a Grand East Stadium Lobby Entrance. The vision's goal is for Albertsons Stadium to hold more than 40,000 fans and renovate restrooms, concessions and fan amenities.
Boise State Athletics' third priority in Thursday's announcement focuses on an Arguinchona Basketball Complex. The new basketball facility includes upgrades to the Broncos' performance center and training room.
The hoops complex plan also includes a state-of-the-art weight room for Boise State men's and women's basketball, as well as an office suite for both programs and a new video board in the Broncos' practice gym.
ExtraMile Arena is also included in Boise State's vision as the fourth priority. Recommendations include a premium seating renovation, new Mezzanine Level Sideline Club, Event Level Club renovation, enhanced Premium Seating Donor Entrance, new club and loge seating and opportunities to expand restrooms, concessions and create a new grand entrance lobby.
Beach volleyball, gymnastics, soccer and volleyball will receive new offices, locker rooms and support spaces as Boise State announced its plan includes a new Olympic Sports Arena.
The venue plans to have a capacity of 5,000 seats. The new facility will include the increased space for Boise State Olympic sport programs, as well as a shared concourse with the Broncos' Indoor Tennis Complex.
The new Indoor Tennis Complex is the sixth priority in Boise State's Athletics Master Village vision. The complex will include six courts and the shared concourse with the New Olympic Arena, described above.
The seventh priority in the plan focuses on a new facility for Boise State soccer. The 'BOAS Soccer Complex & Future Soccer Complex' plans to have LED lighting, future video board installation and shared seating and concessions with the Broncos' new beach volleyball courts.
Boise State's soccer program is also set to receive increased office spaces and a locker room in the new Olympic Arena.
As for Boise State football, the athletic department announced it plans to centralize all football operations along the Boise River Greenbelt.
The Broncos plan to move football's outdoor practice field to the program's zone along the river. Boise State's Bleymaier Football Center will be expanded with increased office and programming space.
Over at Dona Larsen Park, Boise State's ninth priority of the Athletics Master Village features dedicated programming space for track and field and cross county. Huber Field at Dona Larsen Park will also include covered, indoor hitting bays, as well as a turf playing surface and new LED lighting.
Boise State also plans to install a new video board and upgrade fan amenities at Dona Larsen Park.
As mentioned earlier in this article, Boise State beach volleyball is set to receive a new beach court in the Athletics Master Village, with shared seating and concessions with the Broncos' New Soccer Complex.
Lastly, Boise State's 10th and 11th recommendations included in the vision of the Athletics Master Village deal with 'brand consistency' and integrated with Boise State University's Master Plan.
The Broncos plan to maintain an updated and consistent brand within all of its athletic facilities. Boise State hopes to the new Athletics Master Village will create flexibility to meet modern-day demands and reinforce a "pedestrian campus environment."
The recommendation for an Athletics Master Village was introduced to include all four elements of Boise State Athletics' 'What's Next Initiative' - infrastructure, student-athlete experience, marketability and revenue generation.
"We aim for excellence in all of our programs—academic and athletic—at Boise State," Boise State University President, Dr. Marlene Tromp, said. "We want to provide the best experience we can for every student and every student-athlete. We see an exciting future for Boise State University on all fronts, and this work provides a vision of which our fans and our state can be proud."
The athletic department's goal is to move soccer, beach volleyball and indoor tennis to centralized locations on campus.
Boise State's entire 48-page 'Playbook for Success' can be viewed by clicking here.
"We said in August that this would be our first step in determining what our programs need in order to be successful, and to be able to recruit and compete at a national level across the board," Dickey said. "Now, our mission is to prioritize AECOM's recommendations and determine what the future of Bronco Athletics is going to look like.
"We now have our playbook for success, but the work is only just beginning. This assessment, in totality, will impact each of our 18 sports programs while significantly enhancing the experience for our loyal fans and stakeholders. With the help of Bronco Nation, now is the time to position our department for sustainable excellence and assure we are providing an elite student-athlete experience."
Boise State partnered with AECOM's sports practice in August 2021 to evaluate the Broncos' current athletic facilities. AECOM's sports practice is the only fully-integrated sports consultancy in the industry, according to Boise State Athletics' news release.
In an interview with KTVB's Jay Tust in October, Boise State director of athletics Jeramiah Dickey discussed the idea of the Broncos adding an athletes' village on campus to be on par with many Power 5 programs.
At the time, Dickey said the university still had a ways to go before the vision could be put on paper and before any shovels break ground.
"We're going to operate as a Power 5, so we have to dig into some of these spaces in how we how we positively impact, you know, the student-athlete event experience, and so I do think that it's possible," Dickey said. "I do think that we have the necessary space, and my job is to go out to find the resources to make it happen."
On March 31, Boise State Athletics announced the largest video board in the Mountain West Conference is coming to The Blue and Albertsons Stadium, following a $4.5 million donation from Melaleuca, a health products manufacturer based in Idaho Falls.
Boise State Athletics' plan certainly lays the groundwork for the Broncos to potentially maintain facilities that are at the level of Power 5 programs nationwide.
Watch more on Boise State Football:
See all of our Boise State football coverage in our YouTube playlist: