MSU to join Conference USA

Missouri State University athletics is moving into a higher level of competition starting in summer 2025.

The university this morning announced its acceptance of an invitation to join Conference USA as a full-league member. The transition from the Missouri Valley Conference is slated to become effective on July 1, 2025, according to a news release.

The move means the Bears football team will move into the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the first time. The Bears will compete in CUSA in football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, women's soccer, women's cross country, men's and women's golf, women's tennis, women's track and field, and beach volleyball.

"The opportunities associated with membership in an FBS conference allows us to continue to expand as a university and raise our reputation to the next level," MSU President Clif Smart said in the release. "We have valued our membership in the Missouri Valley Conference – a premier conference in the NCAA – and look forward to a final year in the league before we transition to CUSA.”

MSU is slated to become the 12th full-time member of CUSA, which also includes Florida International University in Miami, New Mexico State University and, in 2025, the University of Delaware.

Kyle Moats, director of athletics at MSU, said in the release that the transition to CUSA would elevate MSU's reputation.

"This move represents a transition to a national brand and a platform that will help raise the profile of Missouri State University and the city of Springfield. The steps we have taken over the past 15 years to invest in a successful broad-based athletics program have prepared us for this long-awaited moment," he said in the release. "This move will absolutely open doors for us."

The move to FBS football requires 22 additional scholarships, according to the release.

The MSU Board of Governors approved the university's invitation to CUSA at its meeting yesterday. CUSA was founded in 1995.

As members of the Missouri Valley Conference since 1990, MSU has claimed 117 Valley regular-season and post-season tournament titles, university officials say. The Bears have won five MVC All-Sports Trophy awards.