Athletic Club Boise

History

Boise emerged as a possible home for a United Soccer League team during the 2010s, following several exhibition games that proved local fans were interested. Jeff Eiseman, who owned the minor-league Boise Hawks baseball club, mentioned that talks with the league had been happening for years, but no franchise rights were ever secured. A friendly match in July 2015 between Spain’s Athletic Bilbao and Mexico’s Tijuana brought in 21,948 people to Albertsons Stadium, the home of Boise State Broncos football.

Another USL Championship game in 2016, between Portland Timbers 2 and Swope Park Rangers, filled Rocky Mountain High School in Meridian, Idaho, with a sold-out crowd of 4,352. A plan called the “Boise Sports Park” was introduced in 2017. It aimed to build a combined baseball and soccer stadium near downtown Boise for the Hawks and a new USL team. The soccer configuration would hold between 7,000 and 8,000 fans on a turf field.

In January 2019, the Hawks’ ownership group, Agon Sports & Entertainment, signed a deal with USL to start a USL Championship team once the stadium was finished, with a target completion date of 2021 if money from a public development corporation came through. The first proposed location faced pushback from nearby residents, so a new spot in the West End neighborhood was chosen. But a voter-approved rule that required a citywide vote on any sports stadium using public funds, combined with financial problems, caused the project to be abandoned in December 2019.

On October 30, 2024, USL officially announced the expansion team, using the temporary name Boise Pro Soccer. The ownership group included former NBA executive Brad Stith, real estate developer David Wali, ex-U.S. Soccer Federation official Bill Taylor, and stadium developer Steve Patterson. Former U.S. national team goalkeeper and broadcaster Kasey Keller joined the ownership in July 2025. Nate Miller was named head coach in October 2025.

The club signed its first player, former MLS defender Blake Bodily, on January 6, 2026. Athletic Club Boise won its first regular season match on March 7, 2026, beating fellow expansion side Sarasota Paradise 1–0 on the road. Midfielder Denys Kostyshyn netted the first goal in the club’s history.

Club identity

Athletic Club Boise was revealed as the team's name on June 27, 2025. The crest features a lightning bolt shaped like a Peregrine falcon, representing local raptor conservation organizations, and its shape references the Treasure Valley geography. A star on the crest represents the star garnet, Idaho's state gemstone. The club uses a dark green called "Basque green" and its name references Athletic Club Bilbao, drawing on the city's Basque heritage.