Boise State officials testify over legislative memorial, NIL ‘war’ in athletics
Boise State rolled out the big guns early Friday morning at the Idaho Legislature, testifying at a hearing on a Senate Joint Memorial asking Congress to take action to provide clarity and consistency in college athletics regarding Name, Image and Likeness and revenue sharing.
Senate Joint Memorial 114, a nonbinding message sent to a governmental body, was introduced by Sen. Ben Adams, R-Nampa, last week.
The memorial asks that Congress “establishes a single, uniform national framework for NIL and revenue sharing that preempts conflicting state laws and allows universities to operate under clear, predictable rules rather than through an ever-expanding patchwork of mandates and litigation.”
Adams worked closely with members from the Boise State athletic department in crafting the memorial, and as a result, the school is mentioned several times throughout the document.
“I’m not only a Bronco, but I’m a huge college sports fan,” Adams told reporters after the hearing. “And watching athletics over the last few years turn into something that I didn’t recognize anymore. ... It’s soul-crushing.”
The memorial went to a hearing before the Senate State Affairs Committee on Friday. Boise State Interim President Jeremiah Shinn, Athletic Director Jeramiah Dickey, head football coach Spencer Danielson and women’s golf coach Kailin Downs all testified.
Lewis-Clark State College Athletic Director Jim Klemann and Jennifer White, executive director of the Idaho State Board of Education, also spoke in favor of the memorial.
“We don’t just want to be a transactional institution that has people, and then when they’re done with their talent, we move on,” Danielson said during his testimony.
“We serve their heart, not their talent, and that is at war right now. And that’s where we need the help from the state and from the federal level to create really good rules, guidelines that are upheld so that we can continue to transform players’ lives and not live in insanity.”
The Senate State Affairs Committee moved the memorial to the Senate floor with a do-pass recommendation.
Boise State is at the forefront of the push to stop the dubbed “Power Two” conferences — the SEC and Big Ten — from possibly consolidating power and excluding the majority of Football Bowl Subdivision schools from conversations surrounding NIL and revenue sharing.
Shinn said that of Boise State’s $2.2 billion economic impact on the state, $350 million comes from athletics. He went on to say that despite the university’s nationally recognized brand, the underlying financial model of college athletics is unstable and the “math no longer works.”
Reports have shown that some schools are going into debt to keep up with the rapidly rising NIL standards at the top level of the sport. Florida State faces $437 million in debt in fiscal year 2025, while Sportico reported that Penn State faces $535 million in athletics-related debt.
Sen. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, asked Shinn whether the intent of the memorial would impact all NCAA-affiliated schools in Idaho.
“FBS is the division that Boise State exists in, and certainly that’s where a lot of the challenges are,” Shinn responded. “But those challenges waterfall into other divisions, and that would certainly begin to impact schools at the FCS level — Idaho (Vandals), Idaho State, and beyond. And so the challenges are at the top, but those impacts will be felt across the industry.”
The Idaho Vandals and Idaho State both play football at the Football Championship Subdivision, which is a step below the FBS, but they compete in basketball and other sports at the highest level.
If the memorial is passed by the Idaho Senate, it will be adopted and sent to Congress.
Boise State officials and Idaho legislators have said that a patchwork of new state laws affecting NIL are causing confusion for universities, athletes and all involved.
“We need help from the federal level. We need help from the NCAA to a certain extent. We need unity in our industry,” Dickey said after the hearing. “ ... If we continue to go down this road, it’s going to hurt, and we may not get it back.”
