Nampa council presses CWI, Oak View Group options as Ford Idaho Center budget shortfall grows

The Nampa City Council spent a special public workshop weighing how to address mounting operating losses and deferred-maintenance needs at the Ford Idaho Center, and discussed options that range from a formal sale or lease to a conveyance to the College of Western Idaho (CWI) paired with private investment in the amphitheater.

Council members met in a workshop setting and focused on three linked areas: the center’s recent operating results and capital spending, the financial capacity and audited statements of a potential public transferee (CWI), and the terms of a proposed Oak View Group (OVG)/Live Nation investment and operating agreement for the amphitheater. City staff and outside partners also outlined use, revenue and cost drivers at the horse park, RV park and arena.

The discussion matters because Nampa has absorbed more than $20 million in city-funded subsidies to the center over roughly two decades and faces multi‑million-dollar deferred‑maintenance needs. Those costs, and recent state budget actions, have sharpened the council’s choices about whether to keep operating the facility, pursue private partnership terms, or convey the property with deed restrictions.

City finance staff and operators told the council the center has historically run at a loss after city support. “For the last 4 years, they’ve lost money each year, but the amount…