Gordo: Missouri State takes leap of faith while moving up to major college football (2024)

Football drives the ever-evolving college sports industry— and it drove Missouri State out of the home its kept for decades in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The chase for greater gridiron revenues pushed conference realignment to illogical extremes, creating coast-to-coast superleagues and destroying regional rivalries. That chase could lead elite football schools out of the NCAA and into their own professional league.

These seismic changes in the college sports landscape reverberate down into mid-level athletic programs. What are schools to do amid this craziness?

Missouri State made a brave choice: The Bears will climb from the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly NCAA Division I-AA) to the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly NCAA Division I) after accepting an offer to join Conference USA in 2025.

“The time has come for us to think big and be bold,” Missouri State Athletics Director Kyle Moats proclaimed during the news conference trumpeting the move.

“This will put us on the national stage in a national conference,” Missouri State President Clif Smart said. “It also puts us in a league with universities more like us and those we aspire to be like.”

This is quite a leap. Sustaining the support needed to compete at the FBS level will be challenging, especially for a school which hasn't enjoyed much football success.

Moving from the regional Missouri Valley Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference to the far-flung Conference USA will create logistical challenges for every sports team at the school.

CUSA extends from Miami, Florida, to El Paso, Texas, and from Delaware to New Mexico. Missouri State is moving from a bus league to an airplane league.

Missouri State built storied basketball rivalries during its decades in the MVC. After this coming season, those rivalries will diminish or end entirely.

For hoops fans, that stinks.

The school is hoping the return of coach Cuonzo Martin for another run will revive interest in the men's team, but will the Bears draw big crowds to see CUSA schools like Sam Houston, Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State?

Although the Valley has struggled to get at-large berths to the NCAA Tournament recently, it has remained one of the top mid-major basketball conferences.

Had Missouri State stayed put, Martin could have used his regional connections to great advantage while recruiting. He could have sold the “Arch Madness” postseason tourney in St. Louis and the league's strong regional media coverage.

That all ends after the coming season.

The 2025-26 iteration of CUSA will be a hodgepodge blend of schools bearing no resemblance to its 1990s glory days with St. Louis University, Cincinnati, Marquette, Louisville, Memphis and Houston, among others. CUSA had to scramble after losing a half-dozen schools to the American Athletic Conference in the realignment chain reaction.

But again, Missouri State’s move was all about football. FCS is a competitive netherworld, costlier to run than in Division II but lacking the revenue potential of FBS.

If the elite college football programs pull away from the NCAA— which seems more likely by the day— then the FCS would become the third tier.

That was untenable to Missouri State’s leadership, given the school’s ambition. The university is celebrating this move up as a crowning achievement for Smart, who is retiring after this academic year.

The Sun Belt Conference is staying at 14 schools for now, so it was CUSA or bust as Missouri State explored its path upward.

“This was likely the last opportunity for an FCS school to move into an FBS conference in the short term,” Smart said.

Smart expects the school’s athletics budget to grow from $31 million to $36 million with the move.

“That will put us right in the middle of the league, which is a good place to be, and allow us to be competitive," he said.

The school has pony up $5 million to the NCAA to make the move. Another $4 million will be invested in upgrading the locker rooms at the 17,500-seat Plaster Stadium. Donors are stepping up to cover these costs.

Missouri State’s largest home crowds during its 4-7 2023 season were 11,388 for a game against Murray State and 11,002 vs. Utah Tech, so the school must build a bigger fan base.

Further investment will be needed, but boosters have been eager to see the Bears aim higher in football.

“For years, we have heard from our fans that they want to play at the highest level we can in all of our sports,” Moats said. “This transformational change allows us to do that.”

Those folks celebrated the hiring of former FBS and NFL coach Bobby Petrino to lead the football program in 2020 and relished the attention he created during his two seasons at the helm.

Shared CUSA revenues will help the school increase its budget. And Missouri State will have better opportunities to schedule fundraising “buy” games with major powers.

But ... can the Bears build a viable program at the next level? They have played in the second tier since 1981 and earned just four playoff excursions.

The school is dreaming big, which is great. Now let’s see if it can actually go big and emerge as one of the realignment winners.