Remember Boise State’s controversial Dollar Loan Center partnership? Here’s the latest

Rachel Roberts
·2 min read
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Boise State University told the Idaho Statesman on Monday that it no longer has any sponsorship deal with Dollar Loan Center.

The announcement came after Learfield, which purchased the Broncos’ multimedia and marketing rights beginning in 2010, named Las Vegas-based Dollar Loan Center as “the official short-term lender of the Broncos” last October. Learfield is a national company that operates as Bronco Sports Properties in Boise.

“Boise State University has no relationship with Dollar Loan Center,” Boise State Director of Media Relations Mike Sharp wrote in an email to the Statesman. “While Bronco Sports Properties (BSP) previously worked with the company, it is the university’s understanding that BSP no longer has a relationship with Dollar Loan Center.”

The sponsorship deal was first announced in conjunction with the payday lender expanding to Idaho and opening four stores in Boise last fall — including one less than a mile down Broadway Avenue from Albertsons Stadium. Dollar Loan Center has more than 50 locations throughout Nevada, Utah and Idaho, while also lending online in Wisconsin and Oklahoma.

Dollar Loan Center also has partnerships with USC, Nevada, UNLV and BYU, according to the company.

Boise State and its president, Marlene Tromp, received pushback from the community when the deal was announced, and the university later questioned whether it had given “express written approval” of the deal as required by the contract between Boise State and Learfield, which was obtained by the Statesman in a public records request.

Dollar Loan Center, which has locations in Meridian now as well, has taken down the prominent Boise State logos in its stores and on television ads.

The Statesman asked when the Bronco Sports Properties relationship with Dollar Loan Center was officially dissolved, but Sharp said he did not have a timeline.

Short-term lenders receive criticism for charging exorbitant interest rates on loans, anywhere from 200% to 400%, according to the Center for Responsible Lending. According to the center’s most recent study in each state, the average payday lender interest rate in Idaho was 475%. Dollar Loan Center’s rates range from 196% to 388%.

Boise State’s contract with Learfield states that Learfield will not sell sponsorship or advertising rights to businesses “that may bring discredit to the purposes, values, principles or mission of the NCAA or University or may negatively impact the interests of intercollegiate athletics or higher education.”

Learfield, which has more than 150 clients in college athletics, is scheduled to pay Boise State at least $4.8 million in royalties this school year. The contract runs through 2027-28.