Missouri Valley Football Conference

U.S. college football-only conference

For the related multi-sport conference, see Missouri Valley Conference.

Missouri Valley Football ConferenceCurrent season, competition or edition:
2025 Missouri Valley Football Conference season

Formerly| Gateway Football Conference (1992–2008)
Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference (1982–1992)
Association| NCAA
Founded| 1982 (chartered)[1]
1985 (began football)
Commissioner| Patty Viverito (since 1982)
Sports fielded|

* 1 (football)
* men's: 1
* women's: 0

Division| Division I
Subdivision| FCS
No. of teams| 11 (10 in 2025)
Headquarters| St. Louis, Missouri
Region| Midwest
Official website| www.valley-football.org
Locations

The Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), formerly the Gateway Football Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a football-only conference.

## History

[edit]

Gateway Conference logo

The Missouri Valley Football Conference has a complex history that involves three other conferences:

* Missouri Valley Conference (MVC): A long-established conference, in existence since 1907, that sponsored football until 1985. In its last years as a football conference, it was a hybrid league that included teams in NCAA Divisions I-A (today's FBS) and I-AA (now FCS).
* Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference (Gateway): A women's sports conference founded in 1982 by MVC member schools.[1][2]
* Association of Mid-Continent Universities (AMCU): An all-sports conference, also founded in 1982, that sponsored football at the I-AA level through the 1984 season. The AMCU had absorbed the Mid-Continent Athletic Association, a football-only league founded in 1978. (After dropping football, the AMCU later became the Mid-Continent Conference, and is now The Summit League.)

In 1985, the MVC stopped sponsoring football. At that time, the two remaining I-AA members from the MVC (Illinois State and Southern Illinois) joined Eastern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Southwest Missouri State, and Western Illinois from the AMCU and together became a football conference under Gateway's auspices.[3] Indiana State, which had left MVC football after the 1981 season to become a Division I-AA independent while remaining a full MVC member, would join the next year.[4]

Illinois
State

Indiana
State

Missouri State

Murray State

North Dakota State

North Dakota

Northern Iowa

South Dakota

South Dakota State

Southern Illinois

Youngstown State

class=notpageimage|

Locations of Missouri Valley Football Conference Members
– Horizon League member
– Missouri Valley Conference member
– Summit League member

In 1992, when the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference merged with the MVC,[1] the football conference kept the Gateway charter, with a minor name change to Gateway Football Conference. After Eastern Illinois joined the Ohio Valley Conference for football in 1996, Youngstown State joined in 1997 and was followed by Western Kentucky University in 2001. Southwest Missouri State changed its name to Missouri State in 2005.

Western Kentucky moved to the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division I-A) after the 2006 season,[5] leaving the GFC with seven members for the 2007 season. Great West Football Conference members North Dakota State and South Dakota State[6] were invited to join the conference beginning with the 2008 season.[7] Subsequently, the Gateway Football Conference changed its name to the Missouri Valley Football Conference in June 2008. This change aligned the conference with the Missouri Valley Conference, a conference in which five of the nine Missouri Valley Football schools were (and still are) all-sports members. The conferences continue to share the "Missouri Valley" name, and space in the same building in St. Louis, but remain separate administratively.[8]

The University of South Dakota joined as the 10th member in 2012. The University of North Dakota joined as the 11th member in 2020, bringing back the yearly rivalries among North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota and South Dakota State which had existed under the Division II North Central Conference that NDSU and SDSU left in 2004–05.[9][10][11]

On April 4, 2022, Murray State University, who had previously been announced as a new MVC member effective in July 2022, joined the MVFC in 2023, bringing the league up to a record high of 12 active members.[12] This was short-lived however, as on May 12, 2023, founding member Western Illinois announced that they would be leaving the MVFC and their full time conference, the Summit League, for the Ohio Valley Conference beginning in fall 2023 and 2024. They would leave the Summit beginning in fall 2023, and would leave the Valley after the conclusion of the 2023 football season.[13] Almost exactly a year after that, on May 10, 2024, fellow founding member Missouri State announced that they accepted an invitation to join Conference USA in all sports, beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.[14]

On May 5, 2025, the conference announced a new governance structure that will begin on July 1, 2025 following longtime commissioner Patty Viverito's retirement on June 30. The new structure will place current Missouri Valley Conference commissioner Jeff Jackson as the new MVFC commissioner and current Summit League commissioner Josh Fenton as an executive advisor to the conference. This move marks the conference's only leadership change in its 40-year history.[15] With this move, there will now be a formal connection to both primary conferences for 9 of the 10 conference members (Youngstown State is a member of the Horizon League).

## Member schools

[edit]

### Current members

[edit]

Institution  | Location  | Founded  | Joined  | Type  | Enrollment  | Endowment  | Nickname  | Colors  | Current
primary
conference

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Illinois State University | Normal, Illinois | 1857  | 1985  | Public | 20,989  | $204 million  | Redbirds |  | Missouri Valley
Indiana State University | Terre Haute, Indiana | 1865  | 1986  | 12,144  | $103.1 million  | Sycamores |
Missouri State University | Springfield, Missouri | 1905  | 1985  | Public  | 23,502  | $193 million  | Bears |  | Missouri Valley
Murray State University | Murray, Kentucky | 1922  | 2023  | Public  | 9,427  | $90.8 million  | Racers |  | Missouri Valley
University of North Dakota | Grand Forks, North Dakota | 1883  | 2020  | 15,019  | $422.1 million  | Fighting Hawks |  | Summit
North Dakota State University | Fargo, North Dakota | 1890  | 2008  | 11,952  | $457 million  | Bison |
University of Northern Iowa | Cedar Falls, Iowa | 1876  | 1985  | 10,497  | $163 million  | Panthers |  | Missouri Valley
University of South Dakota | Vermillion, South Dakota | 1862  | 2012  | 10,619  | $328.5 million  | Coyotes |  | Summit
South Dakota State University | Brookings, South Dakota | 1881  | 2008  | 11,331  | $213 million  | Jackrabbits |
Southern Illinois University | Carbondale, Illinois | 1869  | 1985  | 11,366  | $190.1 million  | Salukis |  | Missouri Valley
Youngstown State University | Youngstown, Ohio | 1908  | 1997  | 12,155  | $321.5 million  | Penguins |  | Horizon

### Former members

[edit]

Institution  | Location  | Founded  | Joined  | Left  | Type  | Nickname  | Colors  | Primary
conference
during
tenure
in the MVFC  | Current
primary
conference

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Eastern Illinois University | Charleston, Illinois | 1895  | 1985  | 1995  | Public  | Panthers |  | Mid-Continent | Ohio Valley
Western Illinois University | Macomb, Illinois | 1899  | 1985  | 2024  | Leathernecks |  | Summit | Ohio Valley
Western Kentucky University | Bowling Green, Kentucky | 1906  | 2001  | 2007  | Hilltoppers |  | Sun Belt | CUSA

### Membership timeline

[edit]

Current members Former members Dual members (list additional conferences)

## Conference champions

[edit]

See also: List of Missouri Valley Football Conference champions

12 different teams have won MVFC championships. The most recent champions are South Dakota State, North Dakota State, and South Dakota. The school with the most championships is Northern Iowa, with 16 (10 of them outright).

## NCAA Football Championship Subdivision national championships

[edit]

Team | Titles | Title Years | Finals | Runner-up

|
|
|
|

North Dakota State | 10 | 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2024 | 11 | 2022
Youngstown State | 4 | 1991, 1993, 1994, 1997 | 7 | 1992, 1999, 2016
South Dakota State | 2 | 2022, 2023 | 3 | 2020
Southern Illinois | 1 | 1983 | 1 |
Western Kentucky♯ | 1 | 2002 | 1 |
Northern Iowa | 0 |  | 1 | 2005
Illinois State | 0 |  | 1 | 2014

♯ Now a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

## Records

[edit]

### Overall winning streaks

[edit]

#  | Team  | Streak  | Spoiler  | Season(s)

|
|
|
|

1. | North Dakota State | 39 † | Southern Illinois[16] | 2017–2020
2. | North Dakota State | 33 | Northern Iowa | 2012–2014
3. | South Dakota State | 29 | Oklahoma State[17] | 2022–2024
4. | North Dakota State | 14 | South Dakota State | 2015–2016
5. | Western Kentucky | 13 | Auburn | 2002–2003
Northern Iowa | 13 | Delaware | 2006–2007

† FCS Record [18]

#### Consecutive conference wins

[edit]

1. North Dakota State, 19 (2017–2020)
2. South Dakota State, 19 (2022–2024)
3. North Dakota State, 18 (2012–2014)

## Facilities

[edit]

School  | Stadium  | Capacity

|
|

Illinois State [19] | Hancock Stadium | 13,391
Indiana State [20] | Memorial Stadium | 12,764
Missouri State [21] | Robert W. Plaster Stadium | 17,500
Murray State [22] | Roy Stewart Stadium | 16,800
North Dakota  [23] | Alerus Center | 12,283
North Dakota State  [24] | Fargodome | 19,000
Northern Iowa [25] | UNI-Dome | 16,324
South Dakota [26] | DakotaDome | 9,100
South Dakota State [27] | Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium | 19,300
Southern Illinois [28] | Saluki Stadium | 15,000
Youngstown State [29] | Stambaugh Stadium | 20,630

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "This is the Missouri Valley Conference". Missouri Valley Conference. Archived from the original on September 15, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
2. ^ "Gateway Conference Adding Six Teams in Men's Football". Los Angeles Times. St. Louis, Missouri. August 25, 1985. Retrieved July 29, 2012.
3. ^ "Universities plan new football conference". St. Joseph Gazette. St. Joseph, Missouri. Associated Press. July 9, 1985. p. 2G. Retrieved March 23, 2024 - via Google News.
4. ^ "Indiana State Historical Data". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on October 13, 2012. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
5. ^ "WKU Regents Approve Move To Division 1-A (sic) Football". Western Kentucky University. November 2, 2006. Archived from the original on January 15, 2008. Retrieved November 3, 2006.
6. ^ "Gateway Eyes Dakotas For Expansion". ESPN. October 26, 2006. Retrieved November 19, 2006.
7. ^ "Gateway Expands to Nine Members". Gateway Football Conference. March 7, 2007. Archived from the original on April 6, 2023. Retrieved March 9, 2007.
8. ^ "Gateway Football Conference Changes Its Name". Gateway Football Conference. June 6, 2008. Archived from the original on November 21, 2020. Retrieved June 7, 2008.
9. ^ "North Dakota to Join Summit League, Missouri Valley Football Conference". Espn991.com. January 24, 2017. Archived from the original on March 20, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
10. ^ "Sources: North Dakota set to leave Big Sky Conference | Big Sky Conference". billingsgazette.com. January 24, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
11. ^ "Report: UND to join Summit League in 2018, MVFC in 2020". Argusleader.com. January 24, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2017.[permanent dead link]
12. ^ "Murray State Football To Join Missouri Valley Football Conference July of 2023" (Press release). Missouri Valley Football Conference. April 4, 2022. Archived from the original on April 4, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
13. ^ "Leatherneck Athletics Moving to Ohio Valley Conference for All Sports". goleathernecks.com. Western Illinois Leathernecks. May 12, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
14. ^ "Missouri State Accepts Invitation to join Conference USA". missouristatebears.com. Missouri State Bears Athletics. May 10, 2024. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
15. ^ "Missouri Valley Football Conference, Summit League Forge Partnership". valley-football.org. Missouri Valley Football Conference. May 5, 2025. Retrieved May 5, 2025.
16. ^ "NDSU's 39-game winning streak ends with lopsided loss at Southern Illinois". February 27, 2021.
17. ^ "Oklahoma State snaps South Dakota State's 29-game winning streak". siouxfallslive.com. Forum Communications. August 31, 2024. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
18. ^ "North Dakota State University Athletics - Bison at Missouri State Saturday in Valley Football Game of the Week". Archived from the original on November 11, 2018. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
19. ^ Facilities at GoRedbirds.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.
20. ^ Facilities at GoSycamores.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.
21. ^ Facilities at MissouriStateBears.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.
22. ^ Facilities at GoRacers.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.
23. ^ Facilities at FightingHawks.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.
24. ^ Facilities at GoBison.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.
25. ^ Facilities at UNIPanthers.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.
26. ^ Facilities at GoYotes.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.
27. ^ Facilities at GoJacks.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.
28. ^ Facilities at SIUSalukis.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.
29. ^ YSU Athletics Facilities at YSUSports.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.

## External links

[edit]

Media related to Missouri Valley Football Conference at Wikimedia Commons

* v
* t
* e

Missouri Valley Football Conference

Teams|

* Illinois State Redbirds
* Indiana State Sycamores
* Missouri State Bears (leaving in 2025)
* Murray State Racers
* North Dakota Fighting Hawks
* North Dakota State Bison
* Northern Iowa Panthers
* South Dakota Coyotes
* South Dakota State Jackrabbits
* Southern Illinois Salukis
* Youngstown State Penguins

Championships & awards|

* All-time standings
* Conference champions

Seasons|

* 1985
* 1986
* 1987
* 1988
* 1989
* 1990
* 1991
* 1992
* 1993
* 1994
* 1995
* 1996
* 1997
* 1998
* 1999
* 2000
* 2001
* 2002
* 2003
* 2004
* 2005
* 2006
* 2007
* 2008
* 2009
* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018
* 2019
* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023
* 2024
* 2025

* v
* t
* e

NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision conferences

Current conferences|

* Big Sky
* CAA (AmEast/CAA)
* Ivy
* MEAC
* MVFC (MVC/Summit)
* NEC
* OVC–Big South (OVC/Big South)
* Patriot
* Pioneer
* SoCon
* Southland
* SWAC
* UAC (ASUN / WAC)

Previous conferences|

* American West (defunct 1996)
* Great West (non-football 2012; defunct 2013)
* Gulf Star (defunct 1987)
* MAAC (non-football 2008)
* Yankee (became A10 1997)

Independents
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*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template