The Sacramento State Hornets will move up from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and join the Mid-American Conference (MAC) in 2026, the school officially announced Monday.
The Hornets will begin competing as a football-only affiliate member of the MAC this fall. Sacramento State has been a member of the Big Sky Conference since the 1996 season.
“Today’s exciting announcement is about strengthening our competitive profile and creating value for the membership,” said MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher. “We were presented with an opportunity to add an institution with demonstrated success in football, a record of investment and commitment to the continued growth of the institution and community. Sacramento State is ready and poised for this next step. I welcome the Hornets to the Mid-American Conference and expect they will become a competitive and contributing member to the long history and legacy of one of the oldest Division I conferences.”
Sacramento State has won seven conference titles, including Big Sky championships in 2019, 2021, and 2022.
“This partnership will immediately strengthen the Mid-American Conference’s competitiveness, and it will provide flexibility for the future,” said Geoffrey S. Mearns, Council of Presidents Chair and President of Ball State University. “In this period of dynamic transformation, we believe we must be proactive and innovative. This relationship demonstrates the enduring viability of our conference, and it provides our member institutions with additional confidence.”
Sacramento State will replace Northern Illinois in the MAC, as the Huskies are moving to the Mountain West. The Hornets will be the 13th member of the MAC, joining returning members Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Ohio, Toledo, UMass, and Western Michigan.
“This is a historic moment for Sacramento State — a bold leap into the future,” said Dr. Luke Wood, President of Sacramento State. “Our move to the FBS represents more than a change in classification; it is a declaration of who we are and where we’re going. We are elevating our university, our student-athletes, and the entire Greater Sacramento region onto the national stage — committed to competing, leading, and winning at the highest level.
“This is bigger than football. It’s about opportunity, visibility, and momentum. It’s about attracting the next generation of students, fueling enrollment and innovation, and building partnerships that will transform Sacramento State for decades to come. Together, we are proving that belief, vision, and hard work can redefine what’s possible.
“We extend our sincere gratitude to the MAC Commissioner and the MAC university presidents for their leadership, trust, and confidence in our program. The future is bright, the mission is clear, and the climb continues.”
“This is a special day for Sacramento State. I am ecstatic for our football student-athletes, coaches, and staff who work so hard to represent our University,” said Sacramento State Director of Athletics Mark Orr. “Our student athletes will now have the opportunity to showcase their talent on the highest level of college football in front of national audiences. I am grateful to Commissioner Steinbrecher, the University Presidents, and all the dedicated staff that played a pivotal role in making this possible. The support for our football program continues to expand, and we are so proud to bring FBS football to Sacramento.”
The MAC’s deal with Sacramento State – now officially announced – is a 5-year agreement in which the school will take no conference distribution, cover air travel costs of visiting MAC teams and pay $6 million of the $18 million entry fee in Year 1, sources tell @YahooSports.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) February 16, 2026
Key points on SAC to the MAC 🏈
1. Entrance fee paid by game guarantees, and other football revenue. Football is paying for football. No student fees and no general fund.
2. An estimated economic impact of 975M and national broadcast value of 675M over the next five years.
3.… pic.twitter.com/2clo5OIFu8— Dr. Luke Wood (@DrLukeWood) February 16, 2026
Sac St already had 8 games scheduled. They gonna cancel half of them now?
Of course, they will have eight MAC games.
I doubt if they keep more than one FCS team on the schedule, but they have to drop at least half of what they have. They have Fresno State, so that will likely stay.
If this addition strengthens the MAC, it truly indicates how bad off the conference is when a team that went 7-5 a year ago in the FCS makes you better. Luke Wood is a sick man.
Seems kinda lame but they had to plan ahead in case they didn’t get into a conference. Bunch of teams now need another opponent. Good kuck.
Sac State will be just fine. They only have 4 MAC road games, they will be fine flying. You guys make way too big of a deal of this. They have Fresno, that’s 9 games; they’ll play an FCS team for ten and can probably find a MWC or Pac 12 team to play for 12.
Easy!
There are only three FBS teams with spots on their schedule at this point, USC, Jacksonville St and Ohio. Everyone else already has their schedules done. North Dakota St is in the same situation. N Dakota St may have to keep what they have schedule and then the 8 MWC games for the upcoming season.
Sac St is going to have to drop some of the games they signed which then starts a change reaction with other FBS teams as some had their schedules set with Sac St part of it.
Listen my friends Sac State heading to MAC is about money not making us fans staying up late & I am confident MAC will work around it.
Re-schedule to 2027, 2028, etc. TBD TBA non-conference
@John, I don’t believe its making too much out of $23 million buy in to a dying conference for football only, or the that they aren’t getting any revenue from the MAC and they’re paying four teams to travel to play them in their four home conference games. You obviously are aware of just what a bad plan this is, but they’re paying for it, so enjoy!
UCF was also briefly a football-only member of the MAC in the early 2000s.
Sac St should be in the Mountain West and NIU should have stayed in the MAC.
Sac State should not be in the MWC or the MAC. The MWC didn’t want them and rightfully so. They were offering the same ridiculous amount of money to the MWC and PAC 12, but soon enough Sac State will be in the same conference in football with Fullerton State and CSUN and celebrating home coming against the Banana Slugs. One of the reasons they complained about the Big Sky was the travel to Montana, which just shows what a brilliant move this is.
They’re joining the Big West for all other sports, which will save a ton on travel. Every school will be within a 2 hour flight, and Cal Poly is just a bus trip away.
Joining the MAC for football only is not terrible since they’ll only need to take 4 trips to the Midwest per year.
@Evan, they complained about traveling to Montana twice every three years. This is hardly a tradeoff. This is the dumbest move in sports, ever, hands down.
Can’t wait for the first ball-sac game!
Nothing says Mid America like Sacramento, CA
“An estimated economic impact of 975M and national broadcast value of 675M over the next five years.”
Hmmm
Those numbers sound sketchy/inflated to me, too.
@JM for sure they will cancel the trips to Texas Alabama and Maine. Maybe they can play USC?
They really need some games close to home since they are coving the visiting MAC teams’ traveling expenses and no revenue sharing. The more you look at this deal you have to wonder just what they are thinking. At least when SMU did this deal with the ACC, they got full membership, these guys worked this out for football only, so they need to find some money games to make something out of the season.
you are all embarassments to the game, all we had left was maction and now they took this from us too
Tuesday LATE NIGHT MAC-tion
For some reason I wasn´t as mad to see this as I thought I would be.
Keep the Causeway Classic going!
That would be nice but since they weren’t playing each other this year, that is probably another rivalry series that will be tossed away for now.
Had to love that their schedule for 2026 had zero Big Sky teams on it. NO ONE wanted to help them and their clown show and don’t tell me, ‘oh they had Southern Utah.’ That was scheduled before those guys made the deal to come back to the Big Sky. Why can’t anyone just accept this is a horrible plan. This program is not FBS material, but someone just chipped in $23 million on a really dumb idea that is doomed to fail.
Thrilled for Sacramento State! California now has the 2nd most schools in FBS.
This means that there will now be 138 teams in NCAA Division I FBS.