Missouri Valley Football Conference

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

File:GatewayFootballConference 1.png

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.<ref name="This is The Valley"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1992, when the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference merged with the MVC,<ref name="This is The Valley"/> 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,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> leaving the GFC with seven members for the 2007 season. Great West Football Conference members North Dakota State and South Dakota State<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> were invited to join the conference beginning with the 2008 season.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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

Current members

Template:CollegePrimaryHeader

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

Former members

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	Template:College color boxes	Mid-Continent	Ohio Valley
Western Illinois University	Macomb, Illinois	1899	1985	2024		Leathernecks	Template:College color boxes	Summit	Ohio Valley
Western Kentucky University	Bowling Green, Kentucky	1906	2001	2007		Hilltoppers	Template:College color boxes	Sun Belt	CUSA

Membership timeline

<timeline>

DateFormat = yyyy

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20

Period = from:1985 till:2027

TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal

PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#

Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7)

         id:line     value:black

         id:bg       value:white
         id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a current member
         id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a former member
         id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member of two conferences for the same sport (consider identifying in legend or a footnote)
         id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
         id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two

PlotData=

  width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

  bar:1 color:AssocF  from:1985 till:1996 text:Eastern Illinois (1985–1995)
  bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:2023 text:OVC
  bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:2023 till:end text:OVC-Big South

  bar:2 color:AssocOS  from:1985 till:1986 text:Illinois State (1985, MVC; 1986–present)
  bar:2 color:Full  from:1986 till:end

  bar:3 color:Full  from:1985 till:end text:Northern Iowa (1985–present)

  bar:4 color:AssocOS  from:1985 till:1986 text:Southern Illinois (1985, MVC; 1986–present)
  bar:4 color:Full  from:1986 till:end

  bar:5 color:Full  from:1985 till:2005 text:Southwest Missouri State (1985–2025)
  bar:5 color:Full  from:2005 till:2025 text:Missouri State
  bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2025 till:end text:C-USA

  bar:6 color:AssocF  from:1985 till:2024 text:Western Illinois (1985–2024)

  bar:7 color:Full  from:1986 till:end text:Indiana State (1986–present)

  bar:8 color:Full  from:1997 till:end text:Youngstown State (1997–present)

  bar:9 color:AssocF  from:2001 till:2007 text:Western Kentucky (2001–2007)
  bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:2007 till:2008 text:FCS Ind.
  bar:9 color:OtherC2 shift:25 from:2008 till:2009 text:FBS Ind.
  bar:9 color:OtherC1 shift:50 from:2009 till:2014 text:Sun Belt
  bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:2014 till:end text:C-USA

  bar:10 color:Full  from:2008 till:end text:North Dakota State (2008–present)

  bar:11 color:Full  from:2008 till:end text:South Dakota State (2008–present)

  bar:12 color:Full from:2012 till:end text:South Dakota (2012–present)

  bar:13 color:Full from:2020 till:end text:North Dakota (2020–present)

  bar:14 shift:(-35) color:Full from:2023 till:end text:Murray State (2023–present)

  bar:N color:powderblue  from:1985 till:1992 text:Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference
  bar:N color:yellow  from:1992 till:2008 shift:35 text:Gateway Football Conference
  bar:N color:pink  from:2008 till:end text:Missouri Valley Football Conference

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1986

TextData =

   fontsize:L
   textcolor:black
   pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center)
   text:^"MVFC membership history"

1. > If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. Template:Font color Template:Font color Template:Font color Template:Font color Template:Font color Template:Font color <# </timeline>

Conference champions

Template:See also 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

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

Overall winning streaks

#	Team	Streak	Spoiler	Season(s)
1.	North Dakota State	39 †	Southern Illinois<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 2017–2020
2.	North Dakota State	33	Northern Iowa	2012–2014
3.	South Dakota State	29	Oklahoma State<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 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 <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Consecutive conference wins

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

Facilities

Template:CollegePrimaryHeader

style="text-align:center; Template:CollegePrimaryStyle"| [[Illinois State Redbirds football|Template:Ifsubst style="color:white">Illinois State ]]<ref name="FacilitiesAthleticsIllinoisState">Facilities at GoRedbirds.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.</ref>	Hancock Stadium	13,391
style="text-align:center; Template:CollegePrimaryStyle"| [[Indiana State Sycamores football|Template:Ifsubst style="color:white">Indiana State ]]<ref name="FacilitiesAthleticsIndianaState">Facilities at GoSycamores.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.</ref>	Memorial Stadium	12,764
style="text-align:center; Template:CollegePrimaryStyle"| [[Missouri State Bears football|Template:Ifsubst style="color:white">Missouri State ]]<ref name="FacilitiesAthleticsMissouriState">Facilities at MissouriStateBears.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.</ref>	Robert W. Plaster Stadium	17,500
style="text-align:center; Template:CollegePrimaryStyle"| [[Murray State Racers football|Template:Ifsubst style="color:white">Murray State ]]<ref name="FacilitiesAthleticsMurrayState">Facilities at GoRacers.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.</ref>	Roy Stewart Stadium	16,800
style="text-align:center; Template:CollegePrimaryStyle"| [[North Dakota Fighting Hawks football|Template:Ifsubst style="color:white">North Dakota ]]<ref name="FacilitiesAthleticsNorthDakota">Facilities at FightingHawks.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.</ref>	Alerus Center	12,283
style="text-align:center; Template:CollegePrimaryStyle"| [[North Dakota State Bison football|Template:Ifsubst style="color:white">North Dakota State ]]<ref name="FacilitiesAthleticsNorthDakotaState">Facilities at GoBison.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.</ref>	Fargodome	19,000
style="text-align:center; Template:CollegePrimaryStyle"| [[Northern Iowa Panthers football|Template:Ifsubst style="color:white">Northern Iowa ]]<ref name="FacilitiesAthleticsNorthernIowa">Facilities at UNIPanthers.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.</ref>	UNI-Dome	16,324
style="text-align:center; Template:CollegePrimaryStyle"| [[South Dakota Coyotes football|Template:Ifsubst style="color:white">South Dakota ]]<ref name="FacilitiesAthleticsSouthDakota">Facilities at GoYotes.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.</ref>	DakotaDome	9,100
style="text-align:center; Template:CollegePrimaryStyle"| [[South Dakota State Jackrabbits football|Template:Ifsubst style="color:white">South Dakota State ]]<ref name="FacilitiesAthleticsSouthDakotaState">Facilities at GoJacks.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.</ref>	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium	19,300
style="text-align:center; Template:CollegePrimaryStyle"| [[Southern Illinois Salukis football|Template:Ifsubst style="color:white">Southern Illinois ]]<ref name="FacilitiesAthleticsSouthernIllinois">Facilities at SIUSalukis.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.</ref>	Saluki Stadium	15,000
style="text-align:center; Template:CollegePrimaryStyle"| [[Youngstown State Penguins football|Template:Ifsubst style="color:white">Youngstown State ]]<ref name="FacilitiesAthleticsYoungstownState">YSU Athletics Facilities at YSUSports.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.</ref>	Stambaugh Stadium	20,630