Location of MVC members: full member departing member current affiliate member future affiliate member
The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest.
The smaller MVIAA schools (Drake, Grinnell and Washington University in St. Louis), plus Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, which joined the Big Eight in 1957), were joined by Creighton to form the MVC, which retained the old MVIAA's administrative staff.
To this day, it has never been definitively established which conference was the original and which was the spinoff, though the Big Eight would go on to become the more prestigious of the two. During the Big Eight's run, both conferences claimed 1907 as their founding date, and the same history through 1927.
MVC teams held a 74–27 non-conference record during the 2006–07 college basketball season, including a record of 44–1 at home. The Valley finished in the top six of the RPI and ahead of a BCS conference for the second consecutive year, while also garnering multiple NCAA bids for the ninth straight year and 12th of 14.[4]
The MVC has not sponsored football since 1985, when it was a hybrid I-A/I-AA (now FBS and FCS, respectively) conference. However, five members have football programs in the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) (known as the Gateway from 1985 to 2008) of Division I FCS, and two others compete in another FCS conference, the Pioneer Football League. The Missouri Valley Conference shares its name with the MVFC, and all three conferences operate from the same headquarters complex in St. Louis; however, the three are separate administratively.
After weeks of speculation,[5][6]Wichita State announced on April 7, 2017, that it would leave the conference to join the American Athletic Conference starting with the 2017–18 season.[7] The conference announced it extended an invitation to Valparaiso University on May 9, 2017;[8] and on May 25, the MVC announced that Valparaiso would officially join the following July 1.[9]
The most recent changes to the core MVC membership were announced during the 2021–22 school year. On September 28, 2021, the MVC and Belmont University jointly announced that the school would leave the Ohio Valley Conference for the MVC effective July 1, 2022.[10] Then, on November 16, Loyola University Chicago announced it would leave the MVC at the same time, joining the Atlantic 10 Conference.[11] On the same day Loyola announced its departure, CBS Sports reported that the MVC was actively pursuing further expansion, having entered into talks with the University of Missouri–Kansas City (known athletically as Kansas City), Murray State University, and the University of Texas at Arlington (UT Arlington). The report indicated that the latter two were considered the strongest candidates, but that all three were likely to receive invitations in the coming months.[12] On January 7, 2022, the MVC announced that Murray State would officially join the conference on July 1 of that year.[13] UT Arlington would soon remove itself from the list of candidates by announcing a 2022 move to the Western Athletic Conference.[14]
Shortly before Murray State was officially announced as an incoming MVC member, Matt Brown of the Extra Points college sports blog reported that the MVC was also in membership discussions with the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), then a member of the Horizon League. On the same weekend that Murray State's arrival was officially announced, MVC officials made a site visit to UIC. Brown's sources indicated that an invitation to UIC was likely. Brown noted that with the MVC losing Loyola, league officials believed that maintaining a presence in the city was a top priority, stating (emphasis in original):[15]
Throughout this process, multiple administrators at MVC institutions stressed the importance of getting access to new urban areas to recruit more students, not just athletes. With so many schools depending heavily on Chicago, and especially Chicago's suburbs, for enrollment, continuing to have a presence in the city was seen as a major priority.
On January 22, 2022, Matt Norlander of CBSSports.com reported that UIC's July entry to the MVC was "a done deal", with his sources indicating that the MVC wanted to announce the move before the Conference Commissioners Association held its annual meeting in Naples, Florida in early February.[16] UIC's entry was officially announced on January 26.[17]
On May 10, 2024, Missouri State announced they would leave the MVC to transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and join Conference USA, effective for the 2025-26 season.[18]
^Belmont had been an MVC affiliate in men's soccer for the 2000 fall season (2000–01 school year).
^ abBradley and Drake both withdrew from the MVC during the 1951–52 school year in protest over the Johnny Bright incident, a racially motivated on-field attack by an Oklahoma A&M football player against Drake player Johnny Bright in a 1951 game. Bradley returned to the MVC for non-football sports in the 1955–56 school year, with Drake doing the same a year later (1956–57 school year). However, Bradley never returned to MVC football, dropping the sport after the 1970 fall season (1970–71 school year), and Drake did not return for football until the 1971 fall season (1971–72 school year).
^The Indiana State men's basketball team joined the MVC a year after becoming a full member for other sports (1977–78).
^In beach volleyball, a sport not sponsored by the MVC, Missouri State uses Beach Bears instead of Lady Bears.
^Valparaiso had been an MVC affiliate in women's soccer from the 1996 to the 1998 fall seasons (1996–97 to 1998–99 school years).
^Valparaiso officially adopted the "Beacons" nickname shortly before the start of classes in the 2021–22 school year after abandoning its previous nickname of Crusaders due to unfavorable connotations.
^Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan's full-time home of the Mid-American Conference suspended men's soccer as a conference sport after the conclusion of the 2022 season.[21][22]
^The New Mexico State football team joined the MVC a year after becoming a full member for other sports (1971–72); while its men's basketball team joined the MVC two years after (1972–73).
^Currently known as the University of North Texas.
^Currently known as Oklahoma State University–Stillwater.
^During Oklahoma A&M's tenure in the MVC, the nicknames "Aggies" and "Cowboys" were used interchangeably. When the school adopted its current name in 1957, the "Cowboys" nickname was exclusively adopted.
This list does not include current full members Belmont and Valparaiso. As noted above, the Bruins played men's soccer in the MVC for the 2000 fall season (2000–01 school year), and the Beacons, then known as the Crusaders, played women's soccer in the MVC from the 1996 to 1998 fall seasons (1996–97 to 1998–99 school years).
^Hartford dropped men's tennis after the 2015–16 school year.
^Marshall will be an MVC affiliate for the 2022–23 season only. Marshall's full-time home of the Sun Belt Conference will add women's swimming & diving in 2023–24.[25]
^UMBC dropped men's tennis after the 2015–16 season.
^Stony Brook dropped men's tennis after the 2016–17 season. The school's women's tennis team remained an MVC affiliate, but left when it joined the CAA in July 2022.[27]
^TCU dropped men's soccer after the 2002 fall season (2002–03 school year).
^Tulsa was a full member from 1935–36 to 1995–96, but re-joined the MVC as a men's soccer associate from the 2000 to 2004 fall seasons (2000–01 to 2004–05 school years).
^Vanderbilt dropped men's soccer after the 2005 fall season (2005–06 school year).
^Western Kentucky dropped men's soccer after the 2007 fall season (2007–08 school year).
The Missouri Valley Conference sponsors championship competition in seven men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports.[34]Little Rock and Marshall are affiliates for swimming and diving and SIU Edwardsville is an affiliate in men's soccer.
The next change to the roster of sports will come in the 2024–25 school year, when the MVC will reinstate men's swimming & diving after a 22-year absence. There will be 7 sponsoring members in the inaugural season, with full members Evansville, UIC, Missouri State, Southern Illinois, and Valparaiso being joined by new affiliates Ball State and Miami (OH)— previously, all these programs were housed in the Mid-American Conference.[35]
The Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament is often referred to as Arch Madness, in reference to the Gateway Arch at the tournament's present location of St. Louis, Missouri, and a play on "March Madness". The women's tournament is currently promoted as Hoops in the Heartland.
The Valley is well known for having some of the most dedicated fanbases in all of college basketball, with several members regularly selling out their large arenas on a nightly basis throughout the year. Former member (Creighton) had the sixth highest attendance for Division I in 2012–13 while Bradley, Illinois State, Missouri State, and Indiana State were all among the NCAA's top 100 teams in home attendance.
In 2010–11, 2011–12, and 2012–13, the Valley maintained its position as the eighth ranked conference in average attendance.
The Valley made history in March 2007 with record attendance for four days at St. Louis' Scottrade Center as 85,074 fans turned out to watch the five sessions of the tournament. The two sellout crowds of 22,612 for the semifinals and final of the 2007 State Farm Tournament set an all-time attendance record for basketball at the arena and also gave The Valley the distinction of having the largest championship crowd for any of the 30 NCAA conference tournaments in 2007.[41]