Northern Illinois University (NIU) will join the Mountain West Conference in 2026, it was announced Tuesday.
NIU will officially join the Mountain West on July 1, 2026 and will compete in the conference as a football-only member. The Huskies’ remaining sports will either remain in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) or will move to another conference in the future.
“This is a truly exciting day for Northern Illinois University, for the NIU football program and for Huskie fans throughout the country,” said NIU President Lisa C. Freeman. “We are extremely pleased to accept the invitation for the Huskie football program to join a prestigious group of universities to compete in the Mountain West Conference. This move will open new opportunities for our student-athletes, expand the reach and strengthen the national brand of Huskie Football as they represent NIU and compete for championships the hard way, and the right way.”
The addition of NIU will bring the rebuilding Mountain West’s membership roster up to nine football-playing schools. NIU (football only) will join Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV, UTEP, and Wyoming.
“What a great opportunity for NIU Athletics as we expand our horizons, adapt to this new national model of college athletics and prepare to start a new chapter in the history of NIU Football,” said Sean T. Frazier, NIU Vice President and Director of Athletics and Recreation. “We are grateful to Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez and the membership of the Mountain West Conference for this invitation and to NIU President Lisa Freeman for her support as we navigated this process. The impact of this move to the Mountain West is going to be felt throughout our entire department and university. Our fans are going to enjoy the heightened competition, the media coverage and the additional opportunities the relationship with this conference and these great institutions provides.”
NIU has played in the MAC since 1997 and has won six conference championships and played in 15 FBS bowl games.
“We are excited about adding the Northern Illinois University football program to the Mountain West,” said MW Commissioner Gloria Nevarez. “In evaluating NIU, the MW Board of Directors and Directors of Athletics carefully considered and were impressed by its history of football success and its commitment to academic excellence. NIU shares the Mountain West’s vision of balancing academic performance with athletic competitiveness and prioritizing opportunities for an outstanding student-athlete experience both on and off the playing field.”
Hawaii will no longer football-only beginning in 2026
seriously?
Well, that seals Texas State going to the PAC-404.
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NIU might put non-football sports back in the Horizon League to minimize travel. Clearly the MW wanted a ninth school to maintain eight conference games. If NIU is the best they can pull, they’d have been better taking NMSU as a natural and nearby UNM and UTEP rival. What a lousy MW commissioner.
David, I 100% agree with you. I can’t comprehend why they didn’t add New Mexico St. in all sports, instead.
I remember hearing on another forum that NIU has a low budget compared to other MAC schools, with football the only one they really invest in or largely a profit, could I see them Horizon League or Summit bound?
Horizon or Ohio Valley are my thoughts. They definitely only prioritize football they are never good at any of the other sports in the MAC
Lowest budget in the MAC in fact and near bottom 10 of all FBS schools. Rumor is they are Horizon bound.
@Phil MVC wouldn’t want them, they got UIC and probably wouldn’t want 2 Chicago schools. I could see them Horizon bound to fill the void UIC left.
I predict that NIU will join the Missouri Valley Conference in all other sports. They are already an affiliate in men’s soccer, and are very close to other MVC schools like UIC, Valpo, Illinois State, and Bradley.
Speaking of the MVC, it’s funny how its membership has shifted over the years, that it might as well be called the Mississippi Valley Conference, or even the Wabash since none of its remaining schools are in the Missouri River watershed.
I was thinking about the Horizon League due to the proximity of the schools, but the Missouri Valley has a higher TV money and better TV listings. The MVC has games on CBS network and the conference tournament on CBS. It also is a league that can get multiple teams in the NCAA basketball tournament.
Looking at the schools the MVC has added recently, I see zero interest from them in adding NIU. The MVC cares about basketball, NIU hasn’t shown they care about it. The conference has higher TV money and better TV listings because the schools invest and care about basketball. Horizon League would be my guess. While DeKalb is an hour west of Chicago, the Horizon currently has no presence in greater Chicago. NIU could fill that
To Phil NIU would be Excellent with Horizon for all Athletics excluding Football.
Have a safe & happy 2025.
Horizon and MVC will each have 11 members next year. NIU was a member of the Horizon from 1994-97, and the league no longer has a school in Illinois since the departure of UIC a couple years ago to the MVC. I imagine the Horizon would like to get back into the Greater Chicago area.
Chicago State should join the Horizon League
At least NIU Huskies will be My favorite in Mountain West Football when My longtime favorite Boise State will join PAC 12.
Bowling Green State Falcons will be My favorite MAC Football team.
I really don’t get this, but MAC back to 12
Unless the MAC makes more moves. Some that would make sense are UConn for football only so that every FBS program has easy access to the CFP, Youngstown State for all sports including football, and Cleveland State and Robert Morris as non-football members – CSU doesn’t play it, and RMU would keep their football program FCS (similar to how UC Davis is keeping football FBS while joining the MW). This would give the MAC a monopoly on D1 sports in NE Ohio, and bring it into the Pittsburgh market, which is important as there are many Ohio-Pittsburgh rivalries in sports notably Browns-Steelers.
MAC has such a bad tv deal they don’t want to add any more teams to split the revenue. I assume they saw this coming by adding UMass as a 13th team and not seeking another to get back to an even number. They’ve continued to look east instead of in the midwest. If they wanted to keep expanding they could have added Delaware or MissourinSt which are going to CUSA this season.
Z-Man Enjoy Football & please stop making obscured proposals you are stressing yourself out & I continue to care for you.
Browns-Steelers will dominate more than Cleveland State-Robert Morris.
Minus NIU MAC will be excellent as it is expansion is not necessary.
If NIU remains as a non-FB member of the MAC, I can see Illinois State being added for football only while Richmond also joins for football only to put the MAC at 16 schools for football.
Dan Rakow – Obscured proposals? Says the guy who always says everything is his favorite and gives the most random responses to every post FBSchedules posts. Do us all a favor and do some critical thinking in 2025 before you post going forward.
– Everyone who comments on this board.
Z-Man Go run for Mayor in Green Bay.
NIU is desperate for more revenue, MACtion mid week games have crushed their gameday revenues over the last two decades reduce revenues to a fraction of what they have experienced with fewer midweek games.
The MW also has several schools with a significant Chicago DMA based alumni that could extend fan interest and draw more away fans to NIU hosted games. One would have to presume the increased football travel expenses were worth the additional revenue the MW media deal would bring.
It may only be a short term tenure until the full effects of the house settlement are worked out and the Division landscape is reset, but this move may provide enough financial relief to NIU to stay competitive in football while also gaining access to CA and TX for recruiting opportunities.
FB1 I am trying to get attention of Z-Man to respect & appreciate Football which he unfortunately lacks it so much & Z-Man is a prime candidate to run for Mayor in cities like Green Bay WI, Columbus, OH & South Bend, IN home of all his beloved Football teams that he likes.
I am trying to help him NOT hurt him.
The MAC doesn’t want football only members. If Richmond or Illinois State want to join full time then come aboard. Also even if those two joined for football only it’d only put the MAC at 14 football schools, unless that’s post is part two after everything you said in your first post
Doubt the league lets them stay for the other sports. Pretty sure the league has a rule to be a member you must have certain sports in the league, football being one
The MAC can change the rule
To Z-Man My dream currently is to see your two Beloved CFB Teams Ohio State Buckeyes & Notre Dame Fighting Irish to play in Atlanta for National Championship game so you can finally appreciate new 12 CFB playoff format & please, please no more racist Mason-Dixon format proposals.
They could change the rule, but why do they need to change it for Northern Illinois? Since rejoining the MAC in 1997 they’ve only been good in football, and that’s the sport that is leaving. If they are going to have a school without football in the league I’d rather have schools you mentioned like CSU or RMU closer to the core of the conference and better at the sports the MAC offers than keep the outlier, lone school in the central time zone, that has added nothing to the conference when it comes to the sports that would be staying outside of some decent volleyball years a decade ago
@John Furgele NIU only really cares about football, and is nearly bottom 10 in FBS budget. The MW is more profitable for them and NIU in the Horizon League would fill the void left by UIC’s departure.
Every team in the MW is closer to Northern Illinois than to Hawaii
Meanwhile, the Pac-12 still needs one more football team to be considered an FBS conference. And I agree than New Mexico State would be a good Mountain West addition.
@Pop W. As much as I do not like the new Pac-12, I hope they can get a new grace period. As they now have 8 members in some form rather than 2.
They don’t have much of a history playing against mountain west teams so it will be interesting how their slow methodical style meshes with the league.
This is Bill Belichick, we will gladly play any teams in the MW or MAC. Thank you for reading.