Did Boise State approve its Dollar Loan Center sponsorship? That’s in dispute

Boise State University told the Idaho Statesman on Tuesday that it hasn’t found any record showing it provided the necessary approval for a controversial sponsorship deal with Dollar Loan Center.

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 month. The payday lender has opened four stores in Boise this fall — including one less than a mile down Broadway Avenue from Albertsons Stadium. It 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.

In a statement to the Statesman last month, Boise State said that its Office of General Counsel was looking into the matter.

“An employee failed to conduct the due diligence expected by the university and failed to consult with critical decision makers when assessing this agreement,” according to the emailed statement. “Boise State takes very seriously its responsibility to our community and to our students and their well-being. The university is committed to ensuring that the companies and organizations with which we associate act in ways that are consistent with our values.”

The university is now questioning whether the sponsorship deal was handled correctly.

According to Boise State’s contract with Learfield, which was obtained by the Statesman via a public records request, “Learfield must seek and receive University’s written approval of any and all partnerships prior to entering into any agreement or contract, express or implied, and shall not enter into any partnerships without the express written consent of the University in its sole discretion.”

That language was included in the first amendment to the contract, agreed to in 2014.

The Statesman last month requested the written approval provided by Boise State to Learfield. No document was produced.

“The Office of General Counsel has not identified any record with express written approval,” Boise State Director of Media Relations Mike Sharp wrote Tuesday in an email to the Statesman.

In 2018, in a second amendment to the original contract, Learfield agreed to provide Boise State with funding to employ a full-time staff member dedicated to assisting with sponsorship activation. According to the contract, “this employee will be staffed within the University Athletic Department.” It is unclear whether that employee was involved in the Dollar Loan Center deal.

The Statesman also requested the contract between Boise State and/or Learfield and Dollar Loan Center. No document was returned for that, either. Learfield, a national company that operates as Bronco Sports Properties in Boise, is not subject to public records law.

Boise State withheld some records related to the Dollar Loan Center deal, citing attorney-client privilege and “personnel information.” The university revised its response twice after further questions from the Statesman.

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.

Learfield and Kirvin Doak Communications — the company that runs public relations for Dollar Loan Center — did not respond to the Statesman’s requests for comment.

Part of the Statesman’s records return included an email from General Counsel Matt Wilde to Boise State President Marlene Tromp and others, with Wilde’s comments redacted. Wilde was forwarding information provided by Bronco Sports Properties from Dollar Loan Center explaining how its business works.

Critics of payday lenders, like Dollar Loan Center, point out that the companies charge exorbitant interest rates to people already struggling to make ends meet. That often includes college students.

A typical payday loan has an annual percentage rate of just under 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 says new loan customers borrow, on average, $680 and they keep that loan for an average of 34 days, costing them $159 in interest, which is 23.4% of the principal balance. According to DLC, the maximum that any one customer could pay, even if the loan was kept out for the entirety of one year, is 164%.

In response to the university’s partnership with Dollar Loan Center, Tromp received emails from community members asking that the deal be revoked. Those emails were obtained by the Statesman in the public records request.

“The sponsorship dollars pledged by DLC have been secured at the cost of the disadvantaged, the financially illiterate, the undereducated, and the working poor,” Travis Dryden wrote in an email to Tromp. “By accepting them directly or indirectly through the work of your leaders and staff you’ve defacto condoned these illegitimate and unethical business practices. You’ve made a leadership judgment error. You’ve made an ethical misstep. You’ve failed our community.”