For one of those programs where fans' roots (and therefore their pockets) tend to be a little shallower than those of the well-heeled backers at your friendly neighborhood behemoth, Boise State's window for on-field success has been open for an unusually long time: The Broncos have the best winning percentage in the nation this decade, are well on their way to an eighth WAC championship in nine years, routinely draw overflowing crowds for home games and could be headed for another major payday from their second BCS bowl game (and the third for the WAC as a conference, which splits the money among all its members) in four years.

Still, Boise has always struggled to get marquee opponents on the blue turf, and these days can't find a big name willing to take the risk of playing the Broncos even on its on field. So even one of the most competitive programs in the country is having to get a little creative by selling off its most valuable possession -- the program itself:

Boise State University announced today it will form a new corporation and sell shares to the public.

For $100 per share, anyone can buy stock in the new corporation, and will have the ability to vote on a board of directors that will oversee and make decisions related to the school's athletics programs - including football and other programs. The initial share offering will be $20 million.

Money raised will go to facilities, not staff or coaches.
[...]
Bleymaier says the stock doesn't earn a dividend and it doesn't provide seating privileges, but it's for pride. The board of directors will report to BSU President Bob Kustra and Bleymaier. They will provide direction and have influence of the direction for facilities.

Some bigger schools (Florida's University Athletic Association, Inc., for example) operate their athletic departments as a self-sustaining, nonprofit corporation run by a board of directors that reports to the university, but the idea of a literal shareholder in college sports is an innovative one, even if you can't actually make money off your stake. Boise's plan is modeled not on any existing university structure but on the Green Bay Packers, which has been community-owned for virtually the entire history of the franchise (otherwise, it would certainly have moved decades ago from Green Bay, the smallest market in major pro sports). Boise State Broncos, Inc. has already sold 1,200 shares and hired a CEO; a Web site or the stock is expected to be up by the end of the week.

Two big questions come immediately to mind: a) Will the influence that accompanies a "share" in the program buy any more actual influence than the unofficial power already wielded everywhere by boosters? And b) Can a single person accumulate a majority share that makes him the de facto "owner" of the department? And even if so, would that person's role be any different in effect than a mega-booster along the lines of T. Boone Pickens at Oklahoma State or Phil Knight at Oregon? Every school has a deep-pocketed backer who likes to throw his weight around a little.

If money is power, then, Boise's experiment sounds a lot less like a "professional" model, a la the Packers, than applying the rhetoric of the market to a system that already plays very much by the same rules.

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Hat tip: One Bronco Nation Under God.