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

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. 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. 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.

In 1992, when the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference merged with the MVC, 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, leaving the GFC with seven members for the 2007 season. Great West Football Conference members North Dakota State and South Dakota State were invited to join the conference beginning with the 2008 season. 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 remained separate administratively until 2025, and are still separate legal entities.

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.

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. This was short-lived however, as on May 12, 2023, founding member Western Illinois University 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. Almost exactly a year after that, on May 10, 2024, fellow founding member Missouri State University announced that they accepted an invitation to join Conference USA in all sports, beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

On May 5, 2025, the conference announced a new governance structure that took effect on July 1, 2025 following longtime commissioner Patty Viverito's retirement on June 30. The new structure placed 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 marked the conference's only leadership change in its 40-year history. With this move, the MVFC was then formally connected to both primary conferences for 9 of the 10 conference members (Youngstown State is a member of the Horizon League) at the time.

On February 9, 2026, North Dakota State University announced they were leaving the conference to join the Mountain West Conference effective July 1, 2026 after 18 years in the MVFC.

Member schools

Current members Illinois State University Normal, Illinois 1857 1985Public 20,989 $270 million Redbirds Missouri Valley Indiana State University Terre Haute, Indiana 1865 1986 12,144 $103.1 million Sycamores Murray State University Murray, Kentucky 1922 2023 9,427 $90.8 million Racers Grand Forks, North Dakota 1883 2020 15,908 $510.7 million Fighting Hawks Summit Cedar Falls, Iowa 1876 1985 10,497 $163 million Panthers Missouri Valley Vermillion, South Dakota 1862 2012 10,040 $328.5 million Coyotes Summit South Dakota State University Brookings, South Dakota 1881 2008 11,901 $308.2 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 InstitutionLocationFoundedJoinedLeftTypeNicknameColorsPrimaryconferenceduringtenurein the MVFCCurrentprimaryconferenceCurrentfootballconference Eastern Illinois University Charleston, Illinois 1895 1985 1995Public Panthers Mid-Continent Ohio Valley Missouri State University Springfield, Missouri 1905 1985 2025 Bears Missouri Valley CUSA North Dakota State University Fargo, North Dakota 1890 2008 2026 Bison Summit Mountain West 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

Conference champions

12 different teams have won MVFC championships. The most recent champion is North Dakota State, their 12th. 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 Illinois State 0 2 2014, 2025 Northern Iowa 0 1 2005 ♯ Now a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

Records Overall winning streaks # TeamStreak Spoiler Season(s)1. North Dakota State 39 † Southern Illinois 2017–20202. North Dakota State 33 Northern Iowa 2012–20143. South Dakota State 29 Oklahoma State 2022–2024 4. North Dakota State 16 Illinois State 2024–2025 5. North Dakota State 14 South Dakota State 2015–2016 6. Western Kentucky 13 Auburn 2002–2003 Northern Iowa 13 Delaware 2006–2007 † FCS Record

Former member

Consecutive conference wins

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

Facilities Facilities at GoRedbirds.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.Hancock Stadium13,391 Facilities at GoSycamores.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.Memorial Stadium12,764 Facilities at GoRacers.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.Roy Stewart Stadium16,800 Facilities at FightingHawks.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.Alerus Center12,283 Facilities at UNIPanthers.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.UNI-Dome16,324 Facilities at GoYotes.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.DakotaDome9,100 Facilities at GoJacks.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium 19,300 Facilities at SIUSalukis.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.Saluki Stadium15,000 YSU Athletics Facilities at YSUSports.com, URL accessed July 1, 2024.Stambaugh Stadium20,630

References

External links