North Dakota State Must Win or Spend More, Per Mountain West Deal

North Dakota State University’s deal to join the Mountain West Conference as a football-only member next season includes a general commitment to maintain a level of football spending “reasonably comparable to” the league average. However, if NDSU struggles on the field, it will have to increase its football expenditures the following season to match or exceed the average of its new Mountain West peers.

That requirement is spelled out in the membership agreement NDSU signed Monday, which will take effect July 1. Sportico obtained a copy of the agreement via a public records request. The move enables NDSU—long dominant at the Football Championship Subdivision level—to move up to the FBS.

The transition includes tens of millions in up-front costs and requires a fundamentally new financial approach for a school that has enjoyed its FCS success on a discount.

NDSU reported $8.4 million in football operating expenses in fiscal year 2025, according to school’s latest financial disclosures to the NCAA, up from $6.5 million it spent in FY24. That figure significantly trails every other school slated to compete in the Mountain West next season: Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Northern Illinois, San Jose State, UNLV, UTEP and Wyoming.

Those schools, excluding NDSU, averaged roughly $15 million in FY24 football spending, ranging from $11.6 million at Northern Illinois to $21.2 million at UNLV.

The budgetary terms for NDSU differ from those for NIU, which will also join the MWC as a football-only member on July 1. NIU, which signed its membership agreement early last year, committed to specified increases in its football budget during its first two years in the conference, regardless of performance.

Under its membership agreement, NDSU will pay a $12.5 million entry fee in six installments, with an initial payment of $7 million due upon admission, followed by five annual payments of $1.1 million. The school will pay $5 million to the NCAA reclassification fee to move from FCS to FBS, plus any exit penalties owed to the Missouri Valley Football Conference, of which NDSU has been a member since 2008.

Financially, the membership agreement phases in NDSU’s Mountain West media-rights distributions. In the first year, NDSU can receive at most 75% of a full member’s linear media rights revenue share; that number increases to a max of 85% in year two. By 2032-33, the school is guaranteed at least 85% of a full member’s overall media rights revenue. 

Earlier this month, the Mountain West announced a new six-year media rights agreement with CBS, FOX, The CW and new streaming platform Kiswe, though financial terms were not disclosed.

From the outset, NDSU will receive a full share of MWC bowl expense reimbursements and revenue from the conference championship game, estimated at $50,000 to $75,000 annually. The conference will also invest approximately $400,000 in technology upgrades to support replay, in-game video, and coach-to-player communication. 

NDSU is exempt from annual conference dues—currently about $220,000 per school—through 2031-32. Beginning in 2032-33, it will pay 30% of a full member’s dues and assessments. Per NCAA bylaws, NDSU will be ineligible for bowl games and the College Football Playoff until the 2028-29 season.