South Dakota
North Dakota State Football to Pay Hefty Price to Make Jump to FBS, Mountain West
North Dakota State, the most successful football program at the FCS level, will move up to the FBS, joining the Mountain West Conference ahead of the 2026 season. In totality, the move will cost the university $17 million, with a Mountain West entrance fee of $12 million in addition to the $5 million that it now costs for programs to move up in the NCAA, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger previously reported on talks between the two sides, stating that the eight-figure entrance fee was a major negotiation point.
The Bison have been a force at every level in which they’ve competed on the gridiron. The program won eight national championships at the Division II level from 1965 to 1990. NDSU jumped to Division I and the FCS football level in 2004, claiming its first national title at that level in 2011. It was the first of five consecutive FCS national titles for the Bison, who would add to the trophy case in ‘17, ‘18, ‘19, ‘21 and ‘24.
Alongside rivals like North Dakota, South Dakota, South Dakota State and this year’s upstart Illinois State, North Dakota State helped make the Missouri Valley Conference one of the most competitive in college football. Now, they’ll look to take a leap as member of the Mountain West, a league looking to establish an identity after losing many of its most impressive members to the rebuilding Pac-12 conference. Adding a dynastic program like the Bison, who have proven they can compete with FBS programs numerous times over the last few years, is a solid step forward.
The move is expected to be a football-only jump for North Dakota State, with the rest of the Bison programs expected to remain in the Summit League.
How the Mountain West Conference football membership looks with addition of North Dakota State
NDSU will become the 10th football-playing member of the Mountain West, joining eight existing programs and Northern Illinois, which has a similar arrangement after leaving the MAC and parking the rest of its sports in the Horizon League. With many of the Mountain West’s existing members leaving for the Pac-12, here is what the league looked like in 2025, and what league membership will be in ‘26.
(Teams in italics are leaving for the Pac-12, teams in bold are new additions for 2026, * indicates football-only members.)
|
2025 |
2026 |
|---|---|
|
Air Force |
Air Force |
|
Boise State |
Hawai’i |
|
Colorado State |
Nevada |
|
Fresno State |
New Mexico |
|
Hawai’i |
North Dakota State* |
|
Nevada |
Northern Illinois* |
|
New Mexico |
San José State |
|
San Diego State |
UNLV |
|
San José State |
UTEP |
|
UNLV |
Wyoming |
|
Utah State |
|
|
Wyoming |
UTEP is the only school joining as a full-time member from a different FBS league, leaving Conference USA—its home since 2005—to join the Mountain West.
What Pac-12 membership will look like in 2026 after poaching from the Mountain West
The Pac-12 was hollowed out by the last major round of conference realignment. The Big Ten was the initial aggressor, grabbing UCLA and USC and later Oregon and Washington. The Big 12 added Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah in the wake of those moves, while Cal and Stanford made the geographically confounding jump to the ACC.
Oregon State and Washington State, sitting on a pile of exit fee money from their former conferencemates, reformed the Pac-12, with the league to be reborn as a Group of 6 conference in 2026. Most of the new members come from the MWC, but the Pac-12 also added fast-growing Texas State from the Sun Belt and brings in basketball power Gonzaga as a non-football-playing member.
(Teams in bold are new additions for 2026, * indicates basketball-only member.)
|
2026 Pac-12 membership |
|---|
|
Boise State |
|
Colorado State |
|
Fresno State |
|
Gonzaga* |
|
Oregon State |
|
San Diego State |
|
Texas State |
|
Utah State |
|
Washington State |
Other affiliate Pac-12 members for non-revenue sports as of 2026 include Arkansas-Little Rock, Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield and Northern Illinois (men’s wrestling), Dallas Baptist (baseball) and Southern Utah (women’s gymnastics).
More College Football on Sports Illustrated
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South Dakota
Republican businessman Toby Doeden advances to primary runoff in South Dakota governor’s race
Republican businessman Toby Doeden has advanced to a runoff in South Dakota governor’s race, NBC News projects.
Gov. Larry Rhoden, who replaced Kristi Noem last year when President Donald Trump nominated her to lead the Department of Homeland Security, was battling with Rep. Dusty Johnson and former state House Speaker Jon Hansen for a second spot in the July 28 runoff. The primary will go to a runoff because no candidate eclipsed 35% of the vote.
Trump did not issue an endorsement in the race. Doeden branded himself on his campaign website as “a total political outsider who’s tired of the government’s failure to deliver on its promises” and one of Trump’s “fiercest supporters.”
Rhoden, a former lieutenant governor, agriculture secretary and lawmaker, campaigned on property tax cuts and lowering crime in his bid for a four-year term.
Johnson is the state’s lone representative in the House, where he previously was chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus. Hansen, who was elected to the South Dakota House in 2010, held several leadership positions before he became speaker.
The Republican nominee will be the favorite to win the general election in the solidly red state this fall. A Democrat has not served as governor in South Dakota since the 1970s, and Trump carried the state by 29 points in 2024.
News
Agronomist: eastern South Dakota crops hit and miss
An agronomist in eastern South Dakota says corn and soybeans are hit and miss as the growing season begins.
Steven Zemlicka with AgTegra Cooperative tells Brownfield, “We’ve got corn anywhere from V1 all the way up to V4. Biggest stuff’s maybe touching V5. Corn’s coming right along, looks pretty good. A little bit of hail here too, but I don’t think it’s going to be much of an issue. Stands for the most part are pretty good, pretty solid.”
Zemlicka says soybean emergence has been slow due to the wet, cool conditions, and there are a few fields that still need planted.
“People were still working on planting soybeans when we got the recent rain.”
He says recent rain totals ranged from a half inch to as much as four inches in the northeast part of South Dakota; the southern part of the state has been drier.
South Dakota’s corn is rated 61 percent good to excellent, with soybean conditions rated 57 percent good to excellent, according to USDA’s first condition ratings of the season.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The South Dakota Community Foundation is encouraging nonprofits to apply for funding this June.
Beth Massa and Ginger Niemann joined us live with what you need to know before applying.
Watch the full interview above.
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