What I'm hearing about the WCC, WAC, MVC and other conference realignment updates

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Last Friday was a huge news day on the Extra Points beat. Not only did Sony accidentally leak one of the covers for EA Sports College Football 25, but two different mid-major conferences announced big membership changes.

Missouri State announced they will leave the Missouri Valley and Missouri Valley Football Conference to reclassify to FBS and join Conference USA, effective July 1, 2025. The school will add STUNT and Acrobatics and Tumbling as scholarship programs to offset the additional football scholarships the school will add as part of the FBS transition.

Then, the WCC announced the addition of both Grand Canyon and Seattle, also effective on July 1, 2025. Both schools are currently members of the WAC.

The timing of both announcements surprised me a little bit, and I’ve spent the last few days working the phones and trying to catch up on what I missed and what happens next. Here’s what I’m hearing.

So where does the MVC go from here?

Back in 2022, when the conference needed to find a replacement for Loyola-Chicago, the league added two schools: Murray State and UIC. The league also added Belmont a few months earlier.

But those weren’t the only institutions the conference considered. In addition to those three schools, the league also had conversations with UMKC and UT-Arlington, among other institutions.

Now the league is down another member, could they restart conversations with either of those schools? Or will the conference cast a wider potential net?

It’s early, but none of the industry folks I’ve spoken to so far expect UMKC to be a likely candidate to join the conference. Don’t be surprised if the conference ends up talking to more folks outside their more traditional midwestern-ish geographic footprint.

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