The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwest though with substantial extension into the South in states like Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas, along with one affiliate university in Massachusetts.
History The MVC was established in 1907 (its charter member schools: the University of Kansas, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, and Washington University in St. Louis) as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA), 12 years after the Big Ten Conference, the only Division I conference that is older. It is the fourth-oldest college athletic conference in the United States, after the Big Ten Conference and the NCAA Division III's Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) and Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC).
The MVIAA split in 1928, with most of the larger schools (the University of Kansas, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University), Kansas State University, and University of Oklahoma) forming a conference that retained the MVIAA name; this conference evolved into the Big Eight Conference. The Big Eight merged with four Texas schools of the Southwest Conference to form the Big 12 Conference in 1996.
The smaller MVIAA schools (Drake, Grinnell and Washington University in St. Louis), plus Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University, which joined the Big Eight in 1957), were joined by Creighton to form the MVC, which retained the old MVIAA's administrative staff.
To this day, it has never been definitively established which conference was the original and which was the spinoff, though the Big Eight would go on to become the more prestigious of the two. During the Big Eight's run, both conferences claimed 1907 as their founding date, and the same history through 1927.
MVC teams held a 74–27 non-conference record during the 2006–07 college basketball season, including a record of 44–1 at home. The Valley finished in the top six of the RPI and ahead of a BCS conference for the second consecutive year, while also garnering multiple NCAA bids for the ninth straight year and 12th of 14.
The MVC has not sponsored football since 1985, when it was a hybrid I-A/I-AA (now FBS and FCS, respectively) conference. However, five members have football programs in the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) (known as the Gateway from 1985 to 2008) of Division I FCS, and two others compete in another FCS conference, the Pioneer Football League. The Missouri Valley Conference shares its name with the MVFC, and all three conferences operate from the same headquarters complex in St. Louis; however, the three are separate administratively.
After weeks of speculation, Wichita State announced on April 7, 2017, that it would leave the conference to join the American Athletic Conference starting with the 2017–18 season. The conference announced it extended an invitation to Valparaiso University on May 9, 2017; and on May 25, the MVC announced that Valparaiso would officially join the following July 1.
The most recent changes to the core MVC membership were announced during the 2021–22 school year. On September 28, 2021, the MVC and Belmont University jointly announced that the school would leave the Ohio Valley Conference for the MVC effective July 1, 2022. Then, on November 16, Loyola University Chicago announced it would leave the MVC at the same time, joining the Atlantic 10 Conference. On the same day Loyola announced its departure, CBS Sports reported that the MVC was actively pursuing further expansion, having entered into talks with the University of Missouri–Kansas City (known athletically as Kansas City), Murray State University, and the University of Texas at Arlington (UT Arlington). The report indicated that the latter two were considered the strongest candidates, but that all three were likely to receive invitations in the coming months. On January 7, 2022, the MVC announced that Murray State would officially join the conference on July 1 of that year. UT Arlington would soon remove itself from the list of candidates by announcing a 2022 move to the Western Athletic Conference.
Shortly before Murray State was officially announced as an incoming MVC member, Matt Brown of the Extra Points college sports blog reported that the MVC was also in membership discussions with the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), then a member of the Horizon League. On the same weekend that Murray State's arrival was officially announced, MVC officials made a site visit to UIC. Brown's sources indicated that an invitation to UIC was likely. Brown noted that with the MVC losing Loyola, league officials believed that maintaining a presence in the city was a top priority, stating (emphasis in original):
On January 22, 2022, Matt Norlander of CBSSports.com reported that UIC's July entry to the MVC was "a done deal", with his sources indicating that the MVC wanted to announce the move before the Conference Commissioners Association held its annual meeting in Naples, Florida in early February. UIC's entry was officially announced on January 26.
On May 10, 2024, Missouri State announced it would leave the MVC to transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and join Conference USA, effective for the 2025–26 season.
The MVC's decades-long ties with the MVFC were formalized when the latter announced a new conference structure on May 5, 2025, taking effect that July. Under the new structure, the MVFC's top two administrative positions will be filled by the commissioners of the MVC and the also non-football Summit League, and both multisport conferences will share administrative operations. The MVC and Summit are the full-time conference homes of all but one of the MVFC's 10 members in the 2025 season.
Member schools
Current full members Institution Location Founded Type Enrollment Endowment Nickname Joined Colors Belmont University Nashville, Tennessee 1890 Nondenominational 8,700 $356.8 Bruins 2022 Bradley University Peoria, Illinois 1897 Nonsectarian 5,451 $350.0 Braves 1948 1955 Drake University Des Moines, Iowa 1881 Nonsectarian 5,270 $219.8 Bulldogs 1907 1956 Evansville, Indiana 1854 United Methodist 2,526 $157.0 Purple Aces 1994 Chicago, Illinois 1946 Public 30,539 $527.9 Flames 2022 Illinois State University Normal, Illinois 1857 Public 20,683 $270 Redbirds 1980 Indiana State University Terre Haute, Indiana 1865 Public 13,584 $102.9 Sycamores 1976 Murray State University Murray, Kentucky 1922 Public 10,495 $100.2 Racers 2022 Cedar Falls, Iowa 1876 Public 12,273 $163.0 Panthers 1991 Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Illinois 1869 Public 11,695 $171.8 Salukis 1974 Valparaiso University Valparaiso, Indiana 1859 Lutheran 2,900 $254.2 Beacons 2017
Notes
Affiliate members Note: In the case of spring sports, the year of joining is the calendar year before the start of competition.
Institution Location Founded Type Enrollment Nickname Joined MVCsport(s) Primaryconference Ball State University Muncie, Indiana 1918 Public 21,597 Cardinals 2024 Men's swimming & diving Mid-American (MAC) Bowling Green, Ohio 1910 Public 18,142 Falcons 2023 Men's soccer Mid-American (MAC) Amherst, Massachusetts 1863 Public 27,420 Minutemen 2025 Men's swimming & diving Mid-American (MAC) Miami University Oxford, Ohio 1809 Public 18,880 RedHawks 2024 Men's swimming & diving Mid-American (MAC) Springfield, Missouri 1905 Public 26,000 Bears &Lady Bears 2025 Men's swimming & diving Conf. USA (CUSA) Women's swimming & diving Kalamazoo, Michigan 1903 Public 19,887 Broncos 2023 Men's soccer Mid-American (MAC)
Notes
Former members Former full members Institution Location Founded Type Nickname Joined Left Currentconference Butler University Indianapolis, Indiana 1855 Nonsectarian Bulldogs 1932 1934 Big East Cincinnati, Ohio 1819 Public Bearcats 1957 1970 Big 12 Creighton University Omaha, Nebraska 1878 Catholic Bluejays 1928 1948 Big East 1976 2013 Detroit, Michigan 1877 Catholic Titans 1949 1956 Horizon Grinnell College Grinnell, Iowa 1846 Nonsectarian Pioneers 1918 1939 Midwest (MWC) Houston, Texas 1927 Public Cougars 1951 1959 Big 12 Iowa City, Iowa 1847 Public Hawkeyes 1907 1908 Big Ten (B1G) Iowa State College Ames, Iowa 1858 Public Cyclones 1907 1928 Big 12 Lawrence, Kansas 1865 Public Jayhawks 1907 1928 Big 12 Kansas State College Manhattan, Kansas 1863 Public Wildcats 1913 1928 Big 12 Louisville, Kentucky 1798 Public Cardinals 1963 1975 Atlantic Coast (ACC) Loyola University Chicago Chicago, Illinois 1870 Catholic Ramblers 2013 2022 Atlantic 10 (A10) Memphis State University Memphis, Tennessee 1912 Public Tigers 1968 1973 The American Columbia, Missouri 1839 Public Tigers 1907 1928 Southeastern (SEC) Springfield, Missouri 1905 Public Bears &Lady Bears 1990 2025 Conf. USA (CUSA) Lincoln, Nebraska 1869 Public Cornhuskers 1907 1919 Big Ten (B1G) 1921 1928 New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New Mexico 1888 Public Aggies 1970 1983 Conf. USA (CUSA) North Texas State University Denton, Texas 1890 Public Mean Green 1957 1975 The American Norman, Oklahoma 1890 Public Sooners 1919 1928 Southeastern (SEC) Oklahoma A&M College Stillwater, Oklahoma 1890 Public Aggies &Cowboys 1925 1956 Big 12 Saint Louis University St. Louis, Missouri 1818 Catholic Billikens 1937 1974 Atlantic 10 (A10) Tulsa, Oklahoma 1894 Nonsectarian Golden Hurricane 1935 1996 The American Washburn University Topeka, Kansas 1865 Public Ichabods 1935 1942 Mid-America (MIAA) Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, Missouri 1853 Nonsectarian Bears 1907 1942 University (UAA) West Texas State University Canyon, Texas 1910 Public Buffaloes 1970 1986 Lone Star (LSC) Wichita State University Wichita, Kansas 1895 Public Shockers 1949 2017 The American
Notes
Former affiliate members This list does not include current full members Belmont and Valparaiso. As noted above, the Bruins played men's and women's soccer in the MVC for the 2000 fall season (2000–01 school year); and the Beacons, then known as the Crusaders, played women's soccer in the MVC from the 1996 to 1998 fall seasons (1996–97 to 1998–99 school years).