Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Monday announced the formation of a new College Athletics Working Group tasked with finding ways to keep the state’s public university athletic programs on solid competitive footing — a move that comes amid sweeping changes to college sports driven by Name, Image and Likeness rules and revenue-sharing debates.
The group, which will spend the coming months gathering input from each Idaho public university’s athletic department, is charged with identifying policy solutions and investment opportunities tailored to each institution. Members are expected to deliver their findings and formal recommendations to Little in September.
Who Is on the Working Group
Little tapped Cortney Liddicar, an Idaho Falls businessman and former CEO of Ball Ventures, to chair the group. The full membership brings together a mix of business leaders, lawmakers, and higher education figures with ties to institutions across the state.
Kurt Liebich, president of the Idaho State Board of Education, and two of the Legislature’s top leaders — Senate Majority Leader Lori Den Hartog (R-Meridian) and House Majority Leader Jason Monks (R-Meridian) — round out the group’s policy-connected membership. Their inclusion signals that any recommendations carrying a legislative price tag or requiring statutory changes will have advocates already positioned within the Capitol.
Other members include Troy V. Bell, president and CEO of TanaBell Health Services and founder of Black Label Supplements, who is an Idaho State University alumnus and former ISU football student-athlete. Mark Miller, CEO of Miller Family Holdings and former chairman of Idaho First Bank, also serves, as does Debbie Hetherington, a retired insurance executive who previously sat on the University of Idaho Foundation Board.
Rounding out the group is Mike Tatko, community relations manager at Avista Utilities and a Lewis-Clark State College Foundation Board member based in Lewiston — a nod to the smaller institutions in northern Idaho that often face different competitive pressures than the state’s larger Division I programs.
“Idaho’s colleges and universities deliver real value to students, communities, our economy, and our athletics programs are a meaningful part of that,” Little said in announcing the group.
NIL Uncertainty Driving Action
The working group arrives at a pivotal moment for college athletics nationally. The NCAA instituted its Name, Image and Likeness policy in 2021, allowing student-athletes to profit from their personal brands for the first time. That shift, combined with ongoing litigation and evolving revenue-sharing arrangements, has created an uneven landscape where state-level rules — or the absence of them — can put universities at a disadvantage in recruiting and roster retention.
Idaho is among more than a dozen states that have not enacted statewide NIL rules, leaving its universities to navigate a patchwork of NCAA guidelines and court decisions without the clarity that dedicated state law could provide.
During the 2026 legislative session, Idaho lawmakers approved Senate Joint Memorial 114, which urged Congress to step in and establish a uniform federal framework governing NIL. Boise State athletic director Jeramiah Dickey made the case for that approach, arguing that fragmented state-by-state regulation was not a workable long-term solution. “We need a single uniform national framework for NIL, revenue sharing and eligibility status to preempt state laws and litigation,” Dickey said.
That federal action has yet to materialize, however, leaving Idaho — and dozens of other states — in a holding pattern while college athletic departments try to compete in a rapidly changing environment. The working group appears designed, in part, to give Idaho a strategy that does not depend solely on Washington moving first.
The group’s membership reflects a deliberate attempt to bring together stakeholders from across the state’s higher education landscape, from the University of Idaho in Moscow to Idaho State in Pocatello and Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston. Latah County and northern Idaho residents have a direct stake in the outcome, given the ongoing debates over state investment in higher education that have surfaced in recent political forums across the region.
What Comes Next
The College Athletics Working Group will meet with athletic departments at each of Idaho’s public universities over the coming months to assess needs and competitive challenges unique to each campus. The group is expected to present its full findings and a set of actionable recommendations to Gov. Little in September. Those recommendations could inform future legislative proposals, state budget priorities, or guidance to the Idaho State Board of Education as it oversees the state’s public university system.