Why does Nampa want to give the Ford Idaho Center to CWI? Why is CWI interested?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- CWI plans to acquire Ford Idaho Center to expand campus and academic programs.
- Nampa supports transfer to focus city resources on safety and infrastructure.
- Venue could host future CWI sports teams, including basketball and rodeo.
Barely a week ago, the College of Western Idaho broke ground on a $38 million academic building in Boise’s West End. Now the college has another target in its sights: the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.
The college could soon take control of the 100-acre center from the city of Nampa, a move the city supports. The center, which can seat nearly 23,000 people, includes an outdoor amphitheater and the Ford Idaho Horse Park and Sports Center.
Why? To Nampa, the center is a problem: It needs money to stay up to date. To CWI, it’s an opportunity: a chance for the growing community college to expand its adjoining Nampa campus.
The move would require the approval of Nampa’s City Council and CWI’s Board of Trustees, with an expected transfer taking place in September, according to Nampa Mayor Debbie Kling.
The transfer would be from a public entity to another public entity with no money changing hands, according to CWI spokesperson Ashley Smith. There would be no increase in taxes for Nampa residents or increases in tuition for CWI students.
The center, built in 1997, is managed by the Denver-based Oak View Group, Kling said by phone, and the company would continue to manage it under CWI.
Oak View Group has a worldwide portfolio of 400 venues, including the Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas; Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, home of the Seattle Kraken NHL team; and Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Eagles MLB team.
“If (residents) didn’t know the transition was happening, they wouldn’t see a change,” Kling said. “The public won’t see changes, but we’ll add opportunities on top of that.”
According to CWI President Gordon Jones, the college wouldn’t shift support away from the offerings already at the venue, such as the Snake River Stampede, high school graduations and basketball tournaments.
“All of those we’re committed to preserving,” Jones said in a video interview.
In almost any other scenario where the property is sold into private hands or to a developer, those offerings could be put at risk, Jones said. Keeping the property public by transferring it to the college would protect it from being turned into warehouses, he said.
Re-focusing on what Nampans want
According to Kling, the city has surveyed its citizens for the last eight years, and their highest priority is regularly safety and transportation. The venue splits the city’s focus.
“With our incredibly tight budget and our limited resources, it really caused us to consider how we could maximize that property,” Kling said. “Cities were initially formed to provide public safety and infrastructure needs, and really, that’s where we need to have our focus right now.”
Kling said when she was first elected to office, the city was subsidizing the venue up to $1 million per year. Through her tenure, Oak View Group and the city reduced that deficit to where they have seen revenue break even or slight profits over the last several years.
“It isn’t that we’re handing off something that isn’t doing well,” Kling said. “It’s actually doing well, but it is something that needs ongoing infrastructure investment.”
Kling didn’t have immediate access to how much revenue the venue brings in per year. But according to city spokesperson Amy Bowman, the Horse Park alone had an average annual direct economic impact of $14.7 million between 2015 and 2021, and an average community impact of $29.5 million.
“We have a great property there,” Kling said. “We just want to ensure that it continues to move forward.”
A growing Idaho college for a growing area
According to Jones, CWI is the largest community college in the state and now, in its 16th year, serves over 31,000 students. Much of CWI, however, is spread across leased properties in Canyon and Ada counties.
“We’re actually trying to establish our campus,” Jones said. “It’s kind of a backwards thing. Most schools build and then they try to get students, or they build as they go. We already have students.”
Taking control of the Ford Idaho Center, which is next to CWI’s Nampa campus, is a natural extension of having 31,000 students, Jones said. Of their enrollment, 98% are from Idaho and 82% live in Canyon County.
“It’s really contiguous campus growth,” he said. “It’s not like we’re grabbing a parcel 10 miles away.”
According to Jones, the college is coming up on its 10th consecutive semester of growing enrollment, and the venue is a “once in a presidency, if not lifetime” moment to design for the size of school they imagine.
“We’re trying to design for 40,000 to 50,000 students, not just 31,000,” he said. “This is being smart and prudent.”
According to Jones, the property could help CWI expand academic offerings, such as by using the horse park for livestock and farrier training; and extracurricular activities. Kling and Jones said the property could act as a venue for new agricultural-focused certifications, internships or academic programs.
More college hoops in SW Idaho?
CWI has no sports programs, but that could change with the new arena.
Jones said that it wasn’t lost on him that CWI is one of two among Idaho’s eight public colleges that have no venue space. Nearly all other colleges have a basketball arena, a theater and/or some type of venue for events.
Taking control of the Ford Idaho Center, Jones said, could help CWI establish a basketball or rodeo team — which would fill a gap after Boise State University disbanded its own rodeo team.
“With the Snake River Stampede rodeo and the equestrian facilities, that opens the door for a possible rodeo team with CWI,” Kling said.
With sports, “it certainly makes it easier to see how we start that,” Jones said. “I think that’s a pathway that is far more promising if this were to go through.”
What’s next?
The city of Nampa is scheduled to host a town hall with Kling and Jones from 4 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 15, at the Ford Idaho Center’s Les Schwab Corral near the Horse Park arena. Those interested can also provide feedback at Nampa City Hall during a public hearing starting at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 11, at 411 3rd St. S. before the Nampa City Council votes on the transfer.
If the City Council approves the transfer, it would then head to the CWI Board of Trustees for a vote to take control of the property.
The city posted more information on the transfer, and a comment form, at https://www.cityofnampa.us/1765/Ford-Idaho-Center-Consideration.
This story was originally published July 2, 2025 at 4:05 PM.
