Back to BlogHow Boise State University Increased Revenue 65% with Shift4
Boise State University is a public research university serving over 26,000 students and hosting hundreds of high-traffic events every year across its sprawling campus. From football games at Albertsons Stadium — aptly named “The Blue” after the color of its field — to concerts at ExtraMile Arena, the university was looking to make a change in their payment processing. They wanted to adopt a modern, scalable payment system that could handle their diverse operations.
Unifying Campus Payments With a Single Solution
Shift4 understands that when it comes to sporting venues, each case is unique with its own challenges and needs. With the Boise State University Broncos, the majority of their in-venue sales came from their stationary point-of sale terminals.
“The Shift4 team came out and checked out our operations,” said Meaghan Compton, Boise State University’s Enterprise Application Director. “They were able to help us identify the best path forward within the facility and within our infrastructure.”
Together with Shift4’s experts, Boise State University created a plan to supplement the university’s fixed point-of-sale locations with a large amount of mobile payment devices throughout the athletics facilities ahead of the 2024/2025 college football season.
The campus venues they focused on included:
- Albertsons Stadium aka “The Blue” (Football)
- ExtraMile Arena (Basketball, Concerts, etc.)
- Dona Larsen Park (Track)
- BOAS Soccer and Tennis Complex (BOAS)
- Morrison Center for the Performing Arts (Theater)
- Additional satellite locations across the campus
Shift4’s end-to-end payment solution provides more than just devices. It also includes everything from the gateway and processor connection to reporting, analytics, and more. Plus, Shift4 is integrated to more than 1,200 software partners, including point of sale, ecommerce, mobile ordering, inventory, and much more — all from a single unified platform.
With the new mobile strategy built on Shift4’s integrated end-to-end platform, BSU was able to streamline the payment systems across all campus and outside vendor concessions locations. That means tighter control of payment and accounting methods, improved compatibility across systems, and a single point of contact for all their payments needs.
The Operational Improvements Were Instant
With the addition of their fleet of mobile devices, there were several notable improvements that the university saw immediately:
1. The Footprint
The first notable improvement was the simplified tech stack and reduced footprint overall with fewer devices needed to accept payments. For example, BSU’s previous mobile payment solution required each staff member to be carrying four separate devices: a tablet, card reader, receipt printer, and back-up battery. With Shift4, they can have the same functionality with just one device.
“The footprint of it was a huge improvement,” said Compton. “They are so small and sleek, and the devices are very user-friendly. The handhelds were clutch.”
2. The Inventory
Since Shift4 had taken such an in-depth look at the university’s existing operations, BSU was able to get a personalized combination of terminals and mobile devices that not only met their current needs in all their venues, but also accounted for future growth and increased attendance.
“We were previously moving hardware back and forth between each venue because we didn't have enough devices at any given venue for events. We would be taking full-sized registers from the football stadium over to ExtraMile Arena for a concert. Then, we had a football game the next day, so we'd be carting them back over to the football stadium. It was just unsustainable.”
“So it's basically changed how we are collecting and accounting for revenue across our venues,” Compton said to sum up the impact of the new strategy.
Mobility Opened New Revenue Streams
After switching their operations to a handheld-focused payments operation, Boise State University was able to significantly expand the campus's revenue centers.
“These new devices allowed us to be more mobile across the whole institution," said Compton. “We were able to go to where the students and fans were, rather than being limited to where the point-of-sale station was.”
Some of the new initiatives that BSU was able to implement in their first year with Shift4 included:
- Outside Vendors: During football games and other events, the university has long utilized outside vendors. Now vendors are using the university’s new handheld terminals which has ensured tighter controls at the point of sale locations, increasing revenues.
- Catering: BSU was able to create pop-up catering locations across campus, including the library, student union, outdoors, and more. Previously, they were restricted to locations that already had a fixed point-of-sale terminal.
- Club Seat Ordering: During football games, they were able to increase sales by adding more convenient ordering options in club sections of the stadium. Staff are now able to take orders right from the fans’ club seats, with the orders going directly to the receipt printer in the kitchen.
“Another nice thing was that all these new locations we’re accepting payments — even the food trucks — were using our handheld devices, so it really simplified things like data analytics and record-keeping after a game,” Compton said. “So now we are able to have everybody on the same point of sale system so we can run very accurate records of the volume of sales we did.”
“The Numbers Were Astonishing”
When the dust settled on the 2024 football season, Compton and the BSU Broncos staff were thrilled with the impact that Shift4’s end-to-end platform had on the athletic program’s bottom line. Being able to accept more payments with fewer devices wherever their fans were proved to be the winning payments strategy.
“When we looked at our revenue increase after starting with Shift4, the numbers were astonishing across the board,” said Compton.
In the end, Shift4 didn’t just deliver new devices — they delivered a smarter, more agile payments infrastructure that allowed Boise State University to grow revenue, streamline operations, and unify their commerce ecosystem. From stadiums and arenas to food trucks and concert halls, Shift4 helped transform payments into performance.
To learn more about Shift4’s end-to-end sports and entertainment solution, visit shift4.com/sports-entertainment.
To learn more about Boise State University’s Athletics program, visit broncosports.com.