BOISE, Idaho — Signs in the Boise State athletic department pay tribute to the school's growing number of WAC championships, but a towering two-month-old $35.9 million addition to Bronco Stadium says something else entirely.

The Stueckle Sky Club, four stories of luxury suites, club boxes, well-appointed loge seating and financial pillar for the future, says the Broncos have wider aspirations.

Today, at least, the Broncos have their sights set on regaining the WAC title that the University of Hawai'i yanked away 11 months ago. To the winner of the nationally televised ESPN game goes an inside track to the conference championship, something nobody other than the two combatants has held outright since 2001.

But there can be no mistaking No. 15-ranked Boise State views the WAC as another among many pit stops. Eight years ago, Boise State was in the Big West Conference. Thirteen years ago, it was in the I-AA Big Sky Conference. In the 1960s, it was a junior college. So the Broncos aren't used to staying in one place too long, nor do they lack for ambition when it comes to football.

Seven years ago, when Boise State joined the WAC, there was a question of whether the Broncos could be competitive, both on the field and financially. Now, quickly, the question has become: Can anybody else keep up with Boise?

Last season, the first in which the Broncos were separated from at least a share of the trophy in six years, the Warriors showed they could. Now, unless San Jose State is for real, UH might be all that is standing between the Broncos and another run.

The Broncos' WAC success produced Bronco Stadium sellouts and now an expansion to 32,000. The school broke ground just weeks after its January 2007 Fiesta Bowl triumph and, with some of that $3 million as seed money, had 32 Sky Suites (priced at $42,000 each per year), 687 club seats ($2,200) and 43 loges ($3,000 per seat) largely sold and ready to go for the kickoff two months ago.

It has helped make the Broncos the most financially stable and competitive operation in the nine-school WAC. This as they gussie up for and cast eyes at the Mountain West. BSU President Robert Kustra maintains that "we certainly appreciate the role the WAC has played in promoting Boise State," but allows "the (MWC) has always been a conference that has interested our fans ... "

A conference where the Broncos had both rivalries and a more arduous path would be a good thing. That's where you'd like to see UH continue to play a role.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.