Report: North Dakota State joining Mountain West for 2026
FCS powerhouse North Dakota State will join the Mountain West conference in football only for the 2026 season, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel.
The school will pay nearly $12 million to join the league and an additional $5 million to the NCAA to make the jump from FCS, Thamel adds. The Mountain West conference will now have 10 football schools with Northern Illinois also joining for next season.
North Dakota State is one of the most dominant programs in the history of the FCS. The Bison have claimed 10 of the last 15 national championships and were the No. 1 seed in the playoffs this year before being upset by Illinois State in the opening round.
The Bison have won at least 11 games in every season since 2011 outside of the Covid-shortened 2020 campaign when the program posted a 7-3 record.
It's a key addition for the Mountain West as the conference is losing Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State to the new-look Pac-12. The conference announced a media rights deal this week with Fox Sports and CBS Sports.