Missouri State To Join The FBS And Conference USA In 2025

Missouri State is the newest FCS program to join the FBS.

The Bears will join Conference USA as a full-league member, effective July 1, 2025, departing the Missouri Valley Football Conference and the Missouri Valley Conference.

Missouri State football averaged 9,143 fans last fall and has finished 4-7 and 5-6 in the last two seasons after an 8-4 record in 2021. The Bears have reached the FCS playoffs just two times in the last 30 years.

How Many Teams Are In Conference USA?

Missouri State will be the 12th member of CUSA, a conference that has added four other FCS teams in the last few years (in bold below):

• FIU
• Jacksonville State
• Liberty
• Louisiana Tech
• Middle Tennessee State
• New Mexico State
• Sam Houston
• UTEP
• Western Kentucky
• Kennesaw State (joining July 1, 2024)
• Delaware (joining July 1, 2025)
• Missouri State (joining July 1, 2025)

“We are so excited for the opportunities that CUSA membership will bring to our university, our student-athletes, our coaches and our fans,” said Director of Athletics Kyle Moats. “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.”

The move comes with a newly implemented $5 million FCS-to-FBS transition fee.

“We are extremely excited to welcome Missouri State University as the 12th member of Conference USA,” said CUSA Commissioner Judy MacLeod. “The institution boasts a great tradition in athletics and academics that will strengthen and further position our membership for long term success in the national landscape. We look forward to our partnership with President Clif Smart, incoming President Dr. Biff Williams, Director of Athletics Kyle Moats, and their entire leadership team.”

Missouri State’s Football Conference History

Missouri State has been a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, though it went by a different name, since its inception in 1985. Now the Bears will be playing in Conference USA a year from now.

The Gateway Conference began in 1985, and Missouri State was a founding member. Then in 1992, it became the Gateway Football Conference. In 2008, the league changed names again to the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

Since 1997, Missouri State has had overall winning records five times and has been above .500 in conference play three times. Two of those winning seasons in Missouri Valley play have been since the 2021 spring season.

Missouri State-Conference USA Football Dynamic

Conference USA will have now added five members between 2023 and 2025, assuming the league doesn’t add any more until next year.

UTSA, North Texas, UAB, FAU, Rice, and Charlotte all went to the AAC before the 2023 season. But CUSA added Liberty and New Mexico State, which were both previously independent, as well as Sam Houston and Jacksonville State, both previously of the FCS, going into last year. 

That made it nine teams in the league in 2023. Last season, Liberty went undefeated in the regular season, won the CUSA Championship in its first year in the conference, and was the Group of Five team selected to play in a New Year’s Six bowl. The Flames fell to Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl.

Kennesaw State will begin play in Conference USA this year, and now Delaware and Missouri State will compete in the league in 2025. That means five of CUSA’s 12 members in 2025 were all in the FCS just two years ago.

Just two CUSA teams play in a state that shares a border with Missouri – Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee – but Missouri State is still fairly centrally located compared to the rest of the league with the likes of NMSU, FIU, and Delaware being in the league.

2024 Missouri State Bears Football Schedule

Bold indicates Missouri Valley contests