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Some news on Conference Realignment

North Dakota State joins the Mountain West for football only. Their football program, which has been dominant in the FCS division, will jump to the FBS division-
www.cbssports.com

North Dakota State joins Mountain West: FCS powerhouse moving up to FBS league in 2026

The move marks one of the most significant FCS-to-FBS transitions in recent history and comes amid major realignment shifts inside the Mountain West
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com

Will others like Illinois State, South Dakota, and South Dakota State follow?
 
Da Coach said:
North Dakota State joins the Mountain West for football only. Their football program, which has been dominant in the FCS division, will jump to the FBS division-
www.cbssports.com

North Dakota State joins Mountain West: FCS powerhouse moving up to FBS league in 2026

The move marks one of the most significant FCS-to-FBS transitions in recent history and comes amid major realignment shifts inside the Mountain West
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com

Will others like Illinois State, South Dakota, and South Dakota State follow?
Click to expand...
I hear Ill.St. to the Mac makes more sense.
 
basketball nut said:
Northern Illinois left the MAC so Illinois State taking their place wouldn't be a big surprise
Click to expand...
I saw yesterday, on fbschedules.com, that Sacramento State and the MAC might be interested in each other, now that NIU is in the MWC. Cal, Stanford, SMU, and the ACC teams can afford to fly to each other's locations, even though these three in the ACC is a bit of a head scratcher. Not the same for the MAC and Sac State, however.
 
64NIT said:
I saw yesterday, on fbschedules.com, that Sacramento State and the MAC might be interested in each other, now that NIU is in the MWC. Cal, Stanford, SMU, and the ACC teams can afford to fly to each other's locations, even though these three in the ACC is a bit of a head scratcher. Not the same for the MAC and Sac State, however.
Click to expand...
That is a shocker. With the exception of 3 seasons from 2019-2022 (the 2020 season was cancelled), they have been perpetually mediocre.
Here is Sacramento State's history-

Football Year-by-Year Results - Sacramento State

hornetsports.com hornetsports.com
 
Sac State is paying $23 million ($18 million to MAC, $5 million to NCAA) and foregoing media revenue.
 
Mikovio said:
Sac State is paying $23 million ($18 million to MAC, $5 million to NCAA) and foregoing media revenue.
Click to expand...
Yep, just for the "luxury" of flying to the eastern time zone four times during football season to play MAC road games, while four MAC teams will fly just once each to play at Sac State.
 
NCAA Division I just shrunk by one member.....

Saint Francis Red Flashes (of Pennsylvania)- a member of the Northeast Conference (NEC) had already announced that beginning in 2026-27
they were dropping down to Division III.
But just a few minutes ago, they lost their final regular season game and their record does NOT qualify them for their
post-season tournament - thus their current season has ended, and they will no longer play in DI.

They joined Division I in 1955 (then termed University Division) so their 78 year run in DI has ended.
They won their tournament last year (2025) with a losing record, and made just their 2nd ever NCAA Tourney appearance (also made it in 1991)

Currently there are four schools that are in various stages of transitioning up to Division I. They are already considered DI and playing
other DI schools but during the transition period, they are not eligible for post-season play. (Mercyhurst, Univ of West Georgia, Univ of New Haven, LeMoyne) Lemoyne's transition is complete in a few weeks at the end of the 2025-26 season, and they will become full DI members
with the beginning of the 2026-27 season.
 
Last edited:
yoda said:
Utah Valley has failed to comply with the agreements, thus they will be excluded from the conference tournaments...
...LINK
Click to expand...
The agreement that Utah Valley has not complied with called for a $1 million exit fee, which they were to put in escrow pending their exit from the WAC.
 
this year there are potentially two schools exiting Division I

St Francis of Pennsylvania will drop down to DIII, citing the "complexity based on realities like the transfer portal, pay-for-play,
and other shifts that move athletics away from love of the game".

and Queens University will merge with Elon, and their proposal as submitted to NCAA is to continue to operate their
athletic programs separately & independently. However, there's speculation that NCAA may not allow that any more than
they would allow Bradley or any other school to have two separate DI teams playing basketball. It all waits to be seen...
 
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