North Dakota State football on verge of FCS-altering conference decision

North Dakota State football on verge of FCS-altering conference decision originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

North Dakota State is on the verge of a shocking move that will change everything about college football at the FCS level.

The national powerhouse Bison are approaching a move to the Mountain West, an FBS conference, according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports.

“The Mountain West is in serious dialogue to add the FCS powerhouse as a football-only member starting this coming season, and a deal could be finalized as soon as this weekend, sources tell Yahoo Sports,” Dellenger writes.

NDSU has won 10 of the last 15 national championships at the FCS level, which was formerly known as Division I-AA. The FCS schools are all Division I, but they compete outside of the top-tier, which is the FBS level.

FBS features the more well known College Football Playoff and approximately 130 schools (compared to the 350-plus D-I basketball schools). Any other Division I school that competes in football but isn’t an FBS program competes in FCS.

North Dakota State has won 10 conference titles in the Missouri Valley Conference since 2011, as well.

“North Dakota State and the Mountain West — in a courtship for more than a year now — are nearing the completion of a more permanent marriage,” Dellenger writes. “The move comes at a price for the Bison. The school is expected to pay a substantial entry fee to join the conference — an offer that is becoming more standard for those schools wanting a promotion in conference affiliation.”

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North Dakota State athletic director Matt Larsen, via Dellenger, said he wants the Bison to compete at “the highest level” of D-I football.

Outside of football, North Dakota State competes in the Summit League, and that seemingly wouldn’t change.

But in football, it’s a landscape-altering decision.

“Mountain West presidents recently agreed to grant the school an invitation to the league,” Dellenger writes. “However, the price to join — an entrance fee that could jump into the eight figures — has been a subject of negotiation over the last several days. The school would also owe $5 million in a separate NCAA entry fee. Executives increased that figure three years ago from $5,000 — a whopping jump that is indicative of the desire from many power conference leaders to slow a rapidly growing FBS group that now stands at 136 universities.”

The Mountain West recently lost schools to the newly formed Pac-12, but getting NDSU would be a coup, at least as far as the strength of the program is concerned.

This won’t start a rush of schools from FCS to FBS, because not every program is North Dakota State.

But it’s a major move, one that sets back the FCS level a bit and adds some new intrigue to FBS.

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