NCAA Northern Illinois leaves the MAC in football...implications for the other sports

[nog]

NIU Football Joins Mountain West Conference - NIU Athletics

DeKALB, Ill. – Northern Illinois University has accepted an invitation for the Huskies to join the Mountain West Conference as a football only member beginning in

niuhuskies.com

so what will this mean for all the other sports? Especially gymnastics and wrestling. They seem to be the 2 sports that would not be offered in the proposed conferences they are looking at for the other sports. Some say that they can stay in the MAC, others say no, that there is a rule that you can not leave other sports in the MAC because you can't move your football to a different conference and leave the rest of your sports in that conference (something about football rules) IDK

Anyone have any incite on that possible rule?

 

[irichluck21]

Any of NIU sports that are sponsored by Mountain West would move to Mountain West.

With Boise State and Utah State leaving MW to go to the Pac 12, that leaves just San Jose State and Air Force in Mountain West, not enough to sponsor a conference meet (you need 4). NIU would make the 3rd team, unless a 4th school moves to Mountain West, then no conference sponsored sport.

NIU could become an affiliate of the MAC for gymnastics. Probably for wrestling as well.

For example, Denver is in the Summit League, which does not sponsor gymnastics, so Denver is an affiliate of the Big 12.

Likely San Jose State and Air Force will return to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation if Mountain West discontinues gymnastics, and NIU can stay in the MAC for gymnastics.

 

[nog]

The deal with NIU explicitly states that they are welcoming football only. No other sports from NIU will be joining mountain west

 

[irichluck21]

So if I am reading it correctly, NIU is not joining the Mountain West, football is just joining, which make football an affiliate of MW. Meaning the other sports can stay in MAC, unless other conferences are found. Most likely gymnastics would stay in the MAC.

 

[RedBirdie]

MAC would have to agree to that weird set-up, and they don't have a reason to. There's no benefit for the MAC to allow teams to go to other conferences for football and continue to underwrite the costs of sponsoring non-revenue sports. If they allow NIU to do that, they've opened the door for all their schools to do that. And football is a HUGE deal for the MAC. They will fight tooth and nail to prevent the conference from being cannibalized--and if that means kicking all NIU teams out of the MAC, then they absolutely will.

 

[irichluck21]

It will be interesting to see what happens.

The other option might be the MIC.
Since they are down to 4 members with UIC (2019) and Lindenwood (2024) leaving.

NIU was in the MIC previous to coming to MAC. They won the MIC conference championships in 1992 and 1993.

 

[nog]

it is now beginning of sept - last February they announced that all the other non-football sports would be joining Horizon League (except Wrestling and Gymnastics). Still no announcement for these 2 programs? I had been told there would be an announcement for these 2 programs by Sept. Can they not find one? OR Are they planning to axe both after the 2026 season ? It seems ridiculous for a university to be competing in 3-4 different conferences. Or maybe with their attendance for school down they plan to drop to a D2? Student size is at a low point for sure

 

[irichluck21]

Horizon League does not sponsor gymnastics or wrestling. So they can join a conference as an affiliate.
Likely NIU will stay with MAC for gymnastics and wrestling as affiliates, since MAC will continue to sponsor those sports championships.

It is not uncommon for Universities to be part of a main conference, but have multiple sports in affiliate conferences. Especially for the Olympic sports in which not as many conferences will sponsor a championship (because you need 4 teams in a conference to sponsor a conference championships).

Denver is a prime example.
University of Denver offers many sports.
Their primary conference is The Summit League.
The Pioneers compete in The Summit League in men's and women's basketball, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, and tennis. Additionally, women's volleyball.

Denver has several athletic teams that do not have a Summit League championships.
So they are affiliates in conferences that sponsor a championships.
Women's gymnastics is part of the Big 12.
Lacrosse (M and W) are both part of the Big East.
Skiing is in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Conference (RMISC).
Hockey is in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

If you look at Men's Gymnastics, MPSF conference is made up of:
Oklahoma (SEC), Stanford (ACC), Cal (ACC), Air Force (Mountain West).

In Women's Gymnastics, MPSF is UC Davis (Big Sky-soon to be Mountain West), Sacramento State (Big Sky soon to be Big West), Alaska-A. (Great Northwest Athletic Conference), Southern Utah (Western Athletic Conference soon to be Big Sky).

I think it's a great thing to be able to be an affiliate team should your school choose to sponsor a team, but there are not enough conference teams to sponsor a conference championship.

 

[nog]

that makes sense. It seems like they are dragging their feet though. What is holding up announcing? I am sure the athletes in particular would like to know the future for their programs