Presented by ZAMZOWS.
This Day In Sports…May 22, 2019:
Boise State’s Taco Bell Arena becomes ExtraMile Arena with the announcement of a 15-year, $8.4 million agreement with ExtraMile Convenience Stores, a joint venture between Chevron USA and Jacksons Food Stores. The previous 15-year deal with Taco Bell in 2004 brought the university $4 million. The facility opened in 1982 as the BSU Pavilion, the home arena for Boise State men’s and women’s basketball and eventually women’s gymnastics. Broncos women’s volleyball will return to the arena this fall for some of its home matches.
ExtraMile Arena has hosted nine NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournaments, as well as the 2002 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Sweet 16 and the 2000 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships. It was also the site of the 2013 Davis Cup semifinals between the U.S. and Serbia (and Novak Djokovic). And, of course, all those graduations—and record-breaking concerts, from the first one, Iron Maiden in September, 1982, to the facility’s highest-grossing comedy show ever, Nate Bargatze last December.
The arena hosted its first sporting event, a closed-circuit telecast of the Larry Holmes-Gerry Cooney heavyweight bout from Caesar’s Place in Las Vegas, in June, 1982 (Holmes won it on a 10th-round technical knockout). The first basketball game in the Pavilion was an NBA exhibition in October of that year. In November, 1982, Boise State hoops made its Pavilion debut with a 71-59 loss to Michigan State.
Now, ExtraMile Arena enters a new phase. After the arena became a part of the Boise State athletic department last October, the department announced on Thursday the creation of Boise State Sports & Entertainment Group, calling it a full-service unit that will book unique events year-round at the arena and at Albertsons Stadium. That comes on the heels of Boise State’s new partnership with MMQ Group to undergo a feasibility study on improving the fan experience at both Albertsons Stadium and ExtraMile Arena. The work by MMQ Group is expected to be completed this year.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
