BOISE, Idaho — On Friday night, Boise State officials released a statement about the Mountain West Conference's new TV deal, essentially saying they're upset with the conference and will weigh their options moving forward.
The statement said that the deal between the school and the conference has a provision that Boise State's games will always be negotiated separately and "cannot be changed by any vote of the membership or conflicting agreement."
After the TV deal was announced, Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson said it might be the time that the Broncos' games are negotiated separately from the rest of the conference. This is how Boise State gets more TV deal revenue than other MWC teams and how CBS got rights to all Boise State road games, while Fox got rights to their home games.
At the time, Boise State AD Curt Aspey said he had no comment on Thompson's statement. Now, Boise State said that there is a legal agreement between them and the conference that ensures that their games will always be negotiated separately.
"The Mountain West stated that this was the last time our deal would be negotiated separately," the statements reads. "However, Boise State’s decision to join the conference was predicated on a number of negotiated provisions, including the right to separately negotiate material terms of media rights relating to our home games. This is stated in our conference agreement and cannot be changed by any vote of the membership or conflicting agreement. We will not support any change to this provision and are in the process of weighing our options to move forward."
If Boise State is "weighing our options to move forward," that means either litigation will take place since the agreement appears to be crystal clear, or Boise State will leave the Mountain West Conference.
This spat between the university and the conference is still early, but it is clear that their relationship isn't getting any better.
However, officials also commented on what they did like about the new TV deal, saying "We feel that our new partner is committed to helping Boise State continue to grow our brand and raise our institutional profile across the nation."
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Read the full statement below:
The new television agreement brings many benefits to the Mountain West, and we are looking forward to a new relationship with CBS and FOX. When the league set out to negotiate a new television deal, it was looking for three things – additional revenue for its member institutions, earlier kick times and exposure for both the league and its schools.
From a revenue standpoint, equal share tripled for all members of the conference, including Boise State. Due to our location, later kickoffs are going to be a part of any TV deal. FOX agreed to kick no later than 7:45 p.m., and between the two partners, they have agreed to move a maximum of 10 games per season off of Saturday.
ESPN has been a great partner of Boise State – and the Mountain West – for a long time, and we had some hesitation about moving away from that relationship. However, the terms and value offered to the Mountain West by FOX were better. We feel that our new partner is committed to helping Boise State continue to grow our brand and raise our institutional profile across the nation.
The Mountain West stated that this was the last time our deal would be negotiated separately. However, Boise State’s decision to join the conference was predicated on a number of negotiated provisions, including the right to separately negotiate material terms of media rights relating to our home games. This is stated in our conference agreement and cannot be changed by any vote of the membership or conflicting agreement. We will not support any change to this provision and are in the process of weighing our options to move forward.
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Devin Ramey is a digital producer and reporter for KTVB since 2018 and is a graduate of Boise State University. You can find him scrolling through memes and the news on Twitter at @KTVBDevin.