NIU to Mountain West: A Bold Move That Could Shift Mid-Major College Football

Is Northern Illinois University (NIU) heading to the Mountain West Conference? 🤯

This conference realignment could reshape college football! 🏈 We break down the potential move, discuss the impact on the Mountain West, and explore the possibility of Texas State joining the conference as well. 🔍 Don't miss this!

Timestamps

00:28 - NIU to the Mountain West?
00:55 - Why NIU in the Mountain West Makes Sense
01:50 - Breaking News: NIU Board Expected to Vote
02:30 - Texas State: A Potential Mountain West Contender
03:45 - The Future of Realignment: NIU, Texas State, and Beyond

#CollegeFootball #Realignment #NIU #MountainWest #TexasState

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[jkh]

Those mid-week maction games were killing NIU. Ticket sales, viewership, all of it. Those games are killing the MAC

[perrystevenson]

I luv the addition of NIU to the MW. I also would luv to add TEXAS ST. and SAM HOUSTON ST. for even more exposure not only in texas but that other time zone.

[bp]

The Mountain West is the NCAA's best coed volleyball league.

[thatcollegefootballguy]

Once the Mountain West gets their new media deal, they will resume expansion talks in the background.

I see them talking to Texas State, Sam Houston State, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Louisiana Tech, Arkansas State, Tarleton State, Montana and Montana State.

This definitely isn't over.

[onlinepole]

NIU since 2010 has beaten Fresno twice along with beating BYU, Nebraska Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota Northwestern, Purdue, Notre Dame, BostonCollege & GT. NIzu is snbevetging powerhouse

[stevenvitte]

Contrary to media reports, I don't believe the MWC will be done with expansion after adding NIU.

I can see the MWC expanding all the way to 16 teams by 2030. Some Sun Belt and C-USA teams will be poached along with a few FCS additions. Also, I wouldn't dismiss adding UC Davis for football in a few years. Once they get a new media deal in place, the MWC will aggressively go after more schools in the Central Time Zone and will get more security there.

[tonymartin]

The MWC approached Toledo a few months ago as well. I could see Toledo in play if the NIU deal gets done

[tomgebka]

The huge get that comes with NIU is that it is in the countries 3rd largest media market - Chicago. No one seems to mention that but the networks and advertisers are well aware of that as well as is the MW media team I'm sure. It's all about dollars + eyeballs anymore.

[onlinepole]

This is an excellent move for NIU, Games in Warmer climates & all on the weekends. Mid week maction Gabe’s are exciting to watch on tv 📺 but are terrible for the fanbase. Tough to sell tickets to Games that fans can’t get to. Playing AFA, UNLV, SJ ST & Hawaii are attractive to college football 🏈 fans in a large market. NIU is also starting to recruit heavier in Nebraska, Kansas Iowa Minnesota Wisconsin & other Midwest Central time zone states, all either North and/or west of Illinois. NIU gets more & better talent out of those states and they will be tough to beat in the MWC

[terrencenewman]

I don’t think we will ever see NIU or any other central time zone school added to the Mountain West in all sports. It will be football only because of Hawaii. To stabilize the conference they had to get Hawaii to join in all sports. Hawaii was just a football only member in the Mountain West before. For all the talk about how crazy the Calford travel is in the ACC, just flying from Hawaii to California is the same flight time as flying from California to New York. Adding schools like NIU in the central time zone in all sports will be asking Hawaii to make 8-10 hour flights for non revenue Olympic sports conference games. That’s insane! The plan for the Mountain West long term is football only schools in the Central time zone like NIU, Sam Houston, the Dakotas, offset with non football playing schools in the Pacific and Mountain time zones like Grand Canyon and possibly schools like Long Beach State, UCI, Cal State Fullerton, Saint Mary’s, and University of San Francisco.

[ScottPrestin-yt]

Hoping the MW adds other central time zone members so NIU can massage into a all-sports member.

[terryfox]

I disagree with Mr. McMurphy that NIU is the best football program in the MAC, The conference records conclusively prove that Toledo has the best record, followed by Miami, then Bowling Green, and NIU in 4th. Mr. McMurphy plainly doesn't know the MAC.
Moving to the the MWC in football-only makes sense for NIU, if and only if, they are allowed to join the Missouri Valley Conference as full members, which should be possible. I don't think that this will be a huge financial windfall for NIU, but all in all, it seems to make sense.
With regard to Texas State, they should wait on the Pac12 as I think that they will make an offer to them after they fail to get Memphis, to the great dismay of Memphis basketball fans

[redbagsrambler]

Ahhh, that ol' insulting "Mid-Major" label for FBS schools brought about by some conferences self proclaiming themselves "Power" conferences, a label quickly seized upon by the media. FCS is the true mid-major level of college football.
I dislike NIU going MW. The MAC is one of the most wholesome leagues in this era of college football, a fine example of what a conference should be and geographically sensical. There is nothing wrong with mid-week MAC games if the game announcers wouldn't prattle on endlessly about other teams and using the MAC game as an advertising opportunity for upcoming SEC or Big 10 games. How many times have I watched a MAC game for the announcers to virtually ignore the game on the field and interview an unrelated coach for large chunks of time about his opinions of other schools or upcoming games? Enough already.

[immaculate]

Throw a couple Dakota schools on that map and how does it look? Grab another Texas school and a Louisiana school?

If the MWC is going to truly be competitive with the likes of the PAC then they are probably going to have to build a conference that can entice Private Equity to get involved.

So which schools and their locations could help with that?