Boise State sues Mountain West over new TV contract, future plan to end Broncos’ bonus
Boise State University has filed a legal complaint against the Mountain West Conference over the new TV contract announced earlier this month.
Boise State claims that the Mountain West breached its contract with the school and “violated, nullified and significantly impaired Boise’s State’s rights” by signing the deal without the Broncos’ approval. The complaint also says that the conference has decided to put an end to two benefits the school negotiated as part of its 2012 deal to stay in the Mountain West, including a $1.8 million annual bonus.
Boise State and the Mountain West released a joint statement late Wednesday afternoon through the university.
“The university and the Mountain West are currently in discussions in hopes of bringing this matter to a resolution without litigation,” the statement read.
The complaint was filed in Idaho district court on Friday, the same day that Boise State released a statement about the TV deal. That was the first time the school addressed the deal that was announced eight days earlier.
That statement focused on Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson’s comments in a media teleconference that this would be the last time that Boise State’s home football games were sold separately from the rest of the Mountain West’s games.
“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,” the university said in the statement distributed to the media by a spokesman. “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.”
The Boise State-Mountain West terms sheet dated Dec. 31, 2012, that governed Boise State’s future relationship with the conference spells out the Broncos’ rights and obligations with regards to the TV contract. The 2012 deal convinced Boise State to renege on plans to join the Big East in football and the Big West in most other sports.
“Boise State shall provide the MWC the exclusive television broadcast rights to its intercollegiate athletic events, including but not limited to home football games, each season,” the terms sheet reads. “In return, MWC will ensure such Boise State home football games are not part of, nor granted under, any current or future MWC conference-wide television rights contract … . MWC will ensure that the Boise State home football games are sold as a separate package. Boise State and MWC must mutually agree to whom such Boise State home football game rights are licensed and to the material terms of such license … .”
The terms sheet also states that the terms supersede “any contrary, conflicting or inconsistent provision of the MWC constitution, articles of incorporation, bylaws, policies … or any subsequent vote of the conference members.”
Most of the conference’s schools have undergone leadership changes since that agreement was made. Nevada’s Marc Johnson is the only president who was in office when it was signed. He was appointed in 2012 and announced in November 2019 that he will step down in June. Wyoming Athletic Director Tom Burman has been with the program since 2006.
TV bonus could end
Boise State says in the complaint that the Mountain West plans to end the school’s TV bonus at the conclusion of the new six-year deal with Fox and CBS Sports. The original contract between Boise State and the Mountain West spelled out a TV bonus structure based on appearances, which worked in Boise State’s favor. That was scrapped in November 2016 and replaced with an agreement that Boise State would be paid $1.8 million annually from TV revenue, plus get the same equal share as the rest of the full-time members.
The new TV deal is valued at $270 million over six years, according to Thompson. Boise State’s TV share should go up from $2.9 million to somewhere in the neighborhood of $5.7 million. Other members will see their shares increase from $1.1 million to about $3.9 million, depending on how much money football-only member Hawaii receives.
However, Boise State says in the complaint that President Marlene Tromp wants the Mountain West to increase Boise State’s bonus in recognition of the role it played in drawing the interest of Fox, which will air Boise State home football games.
The complaint alleges that Boise State suffered damages as a result of the Mountain West’s actions, though the precise amount of damages was not provided. Boise State is requesting a jury trial and said it would provide more information on damages at that trial.
More ‘equal’ TV deals?
Earlier this month, Thompson said conference members met in December to try to create a blueprint for “more germane and equal” future television deals. At that same meeting, the board of directors approved the six-year CBS/Fox contract and also voted to terminate Boise State’s $1.8 million bonus after this TV contract, according to the complaint.
Tromp and Athletic Director Curt Apsey met with Thompson in early December when the commissioner was in Boise for the Mountain West football championship game, the complaint says. During that meeting, “Thompson acknowledged that Boise State and, in particular, its football team, was the driving force behind the new, and much more favorable and profitable, deal with Fox,” the complaint says.
“Mr. Thompson also admitted that the increase in revenue to the MWC and, therefore, to its members, that would result from the new agreement with CBS/Fox was dependent in large part on Fox’s expressed interest in Boise State’s games and, as such, he understood why Boise State expected to, and should, receive more money than the other member institutions, even double the amount,” the complaint continues.
Tromp, Apsey and Thompson discussed not only retaining Boise State’s $1.8 million bonus, but also giving Boise State a larger share of the revenue from the new deal because the school was integral to that deal, the complaint says.
According to the complaint, the three then strategized on the best way to bring that proposal to the Mountain West’s board of directors during its Dec. 15-16 meeting. Thompson allegedly proposed having Dean Jordan, the consultant who negotiated the deal, broach the topic with the board due to his in-depth knowledge of the deal. Jordan was to emphasize the role Boise State’s viewership played in brokering the deal.
That discussion never happened at the December meeting of the board of directors, which is the university presidents. In contrast, Jordan and Thompson presented several different payout methods for the board to consider. Each method proposed phasing out Boise State’s existing $1.8 million bonus, and none of the methods offered a proportionate distribution of revenue to Boise State.
Jordan declined to comment on this story.
The board of directors voted to accept the CBS/Fox deal and terminate Boise State’s $1.8 million bonus after six more years (on the date the CBS/Fox deal would end). Tromp, who represents Boise State on the board, voted against both measures.
Tromp’s dissent is key to the complaint, which claims breach of contract on the grounds that, per its agreement with the Mountain West, Boise State must consent to the terms of any broadcast deals concerning its home football games.
“Based on these votes … the MWC could not adopt either course of action,” the complaint says.
The outcome of both votes is not public, though the complaint said two directors voted to terminate Boise State’s bonus effective immediately.
Boise State included with the complaint a letter from then-President Bob Kustra to Thompson consenting to the previous TV contract with ESPN, which began with the 2013 football season and ran for seven years. That deal brought $7 million per year to the conference, for Boise State’s home football games and select other Mountain West events.
Audrey Dutton of the Idaho Statesman contributed.
This story was originally published January 22, 2020 at 12:54 PM.
