If you’ve spent more than a few hours on the west side of the Albertsons Stadium this summer, you’ve likely seen a group of men hauling large cardboard boxes in and out of a space labeled “Bronco Shop”. But don’t be fooled; they’re not stocking alumni sweatshirts, footballs or Buster themed stuffed animals.
Welcome to Bronco Studios — Boise State Athletics’ new in-house media production team and studio. Nestled in the former Bronco Shop, the under-construction office space is set to launch by the start of this year’s college football season, offering free, live and on-demand programming that will share the stories of Bronco Nation’s favorite athletes.
“We are constantly in a cycle of news where people want to know more,” Chris Kutz, associate athletic director of external affairs, said. “When you talk about storytelling in college athletics and sports, it’s all about connection.”
The idea behind Bronco Studios began several years ago when Jeramiah Dickey, director of athletics, and Cody Gougler, deputy athletic director, toured the Memphis Grizzlies’ professional video studio.
“It has been in the back of their heads ever since,” Kutz said of Dickey and Gougler touring the Grizzlies’ studio. “When I was hired last summer, one of the first conversations I had with Cody was ‘If we ever did this, how can we make it work?’”
As the 2024 football season came to a close, the team began having in-depth discussions about turning the vision into a reality. While local outlets like Idaho Statesman and KTVB provide local coverage of a variety of sports, Bronco Studios aims to offer something new: intimate, behind-the-scenes access to coaches and athletes, Kutz explained.
The emphasis on those behind-the-scenes moments is what drew Jay Tust to the team. Now the Director of Live and Digital Shows at Bronco Studios, Tust is known for his award-winning sports journalism as KTVB’s former sports director, where he previously worked for nearly 14 years.
For Tust, his passion for storytelling comes from highlighting the hearts behind the jerseys.
“It’s about humanizing them and the way people show up on game day,” he said. “They’re not just cheering for a guy that makes a tackle, they’re cheering for a human they connect with. That, by far, is the most enjoyable part about this whole thing. Getting to know these guys as humans, more so than even just as players.”
He’s equally excited about the potential within the budding studio and the team surrounding him.
“I have so much confidence in the people that surround me,” he continued. “Boise State is a national brand, and finding a way to better tell their stories is going to be good for Bronco Nation, not only for those here locally, but all across America. I’m really excited about it. There are a ton of stories that need to be told and a lot of great people here that people don’t know about. This is going to be a platform to expose all of that.”
When asked how his new role differs from his previous one, Tust noted the biggest shift will be narrowing his focus. While he is thrilled to fully embrace the blue turf, he will miss covering local high school sports the most — something he deems as the “heartbeat of our community.”
“In my role at KTVB, it was covering Boise State, Idaho, the Olympics and all of our high schools. Now, I get to narrow that focus a little bit,” Tust said. “I get to find those connections here at Boise State. There are so many stories every year that I don’t necessarily have time to tell, but I know they exist, and now I’m being brought here to make sure we don’t miss those opportunities.”
Looking ahead, the team sees potential for on-campus collaboration and student involvement.
As Bronco Studios continues to grow throughout the summer, Kutz envisions the addition of a control room staffed by broadcast operation students, time slots for student athletes to host their own shows and “everything in between”.
“It’s really about developing people for the jobs they want,” Kutz explained. “As an institution of higher education, you should be responsible and have a duty to provide opportunities for students to grow and get those internships or experiences. That is definitely part of the build out for Bronco Studios. There are so many components, but that is a huge one for us.”
One component is what Kutz describes as a “powerful collaboration” with Dr. Chris Haskel, the head coach of Boise State University’s Esports team.
“Esports already does live streaming. It’s very much part of their model,” Kutz explained. “Their students are going to assist us with producing [shows] on a daily or weekly basis. That’s huge — they already have the process, talent and skill set. These are new students helping us with new programming, they will only grow from there.”
Rae Barnes, broadcast and arena manager for Boise State Esports, noted just last week, Bronco Studios and members of the Esports team completed their first mock broadcast of what a typical episode would look like.
“It gives our students a much more traditional experience [broadcasting] traditional sports,” Barnes said of the collaboration. “Esports can be very niche in the broadcasting world, but a lot of it transfers over. The storytelling piece, the clips and the social media aspects of it. I really want these students to take those tools we’ve cultivated here and bring them to the Bronco Studios to show what they can do.”
Bronco Studios is set to launch in August of 2025 with daily and weekly live shows. Fans can access these shows for free on YouTube, as well as on BroncoSports.com.
