Yahoo Finance Report: MWC votes to keep Boise State's TV money bonus while BSU drops complaint against conference
It looks like Boise State is getting to keep its Mountain West TV bonus for the foreseeable future.
The school was upset that a provision in the conference’s new TV deal with CBS and Fox ended a home game bonus for the Broncos in 2026 when the contract expires. In return, it filed a legal complaint against the conference expressing its displeasure with the deal and claimed it didn’t approve the new TV deal and its provision to end the bonus.
It looked like things could get messy. Instead, that complaint has reportedly been rescinded as the conference has voted to keep the provision in place past the expiration of the new deal. From the San Diego Union-Tribune:
The Mountain West Board of Directors has quietly voted to rescind a decision that would end Boise State’s additional slice of revenue from the conference’s TV contract, several sources told the Union-Tribune.
In exchange, Boise State will drop a legal complaint filed last month against the conference and agree to terms of the new TV contract that begins this summer.
Essentially, the two sides are back to square one.
Boise State has been getting an extra $1.8M
Boise State has been getting extra cash for the broadcasts of its home games from the Mountain West ever since its dalliance with the then-Big East in 2012. The Broncos were going to be a football-only member of the Big East but that ended up falling through during the conference realignment carousel and the Broncos stayed in the Mountain West.
As a result, Boise State was able to negotiate an extra $1.8 million per year from the TV deal on top of its regular share. The extra $1.8 million on its own is more than what other members of the conference have been getting from their regular shares ($1.1 million) in the previous TV deal. And it’s existed because Boise State has been the best — and most marketable — member of the conference.
The new TV deal was announced in January and Fox replaces ESPN as a primary TV broadcaster. Because of its status as the preeminent program in the conference, Boise State said in its legal filing that it was partially responsible for bringing Fox on board. And thus why the bonus shouldn’t have an expiration date. The school said MWC commissioner Craig 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.”
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