The official approval will come tomorrow at the Board of Regents meeting. Murray State is one of the charter members of the OVC.

Murray State joins Belmont in departing for the MVC. The MVC is still looking to add another team to get to 12.

Not sure what the future will hold for football. You got to think the OVC is about ready to dissolve.

Official. The Racers will join the MVC July 1st and begin play in the Valley for all sports (except football and rifle) at that time.

Apparently the MVC football conference is vetting Murray State for a potential invitation, so there is an understanding if they offer, Murray State would accept and join the MVC football conference in 2023. I'm not holding my breath on that one.

I think this is a good move for Belmont and Murray, their current conference is weak. 

2 hours ago, bugatti said:

Official. The Racers will join the MVC July 1st and begin play in the Valley for all sports (except football and rifle) at that time.

Apparently the MVC football conference is vetting Murray State for a potential invitation, so there is an understanding if they offer, Murray State would accept and join the MVC football conference in 2023. I'm not holding my breath on that one.

For those that don't know, the Missouri Valley Conference and the Missouri Valley Football Conference are two separate entities. The basketball league has been around for more than a century while the football league started in the 1980s as the Gateway Conference before changing names. Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Northern Iowa, and Southern Illinois participate in both the football and basketball league. North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State, and Western Illinois participate as football members but house their other sports in the Summit League. Youngstown State plays football in the MVFC but all other sports in the Horizon League.

2 minutes ago, gchs_uk9 said:

For those that don't know, the Missouri Valley Conference and the Missouri Valley Football Conference are two separate entities. The basketball league has been around for more than a century while the football league started in the 1980s as the Gateway Conference before changing names. Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Northern Iowa, and Southern Illinois participate in both the football and basketball league. North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State, and Western Illinois participate as football members but house their other sports in the Summit League. Youngstown State plays football in the MVFC but all other sports in the Horizon League.

I am glad someone can explain it to the rest of us. 

On 1/6/2022 at 9:52 AM, bugatti said:

Not sure what the future will hold for football. You got to think the OVC is about ready to dissolve.

This leaves the OVC with seven current members (Eastern Illinois, Morehead State, Southeast Missouri State, SIUE, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, and Tennessee-Martin) and one expected to join (Arkansas-Little Rock). Only five play scholarship football (a sixth, Morehead State, is in the non-scholarship Pioneer League). I've heard Western Illinois batted around as a potential expansion school which would solidify an automatic bid for football but I'm not sure if they would make the move. There have also been a handful of D-II schools mentioned but I don't know if there is much validity.

1 hour ago, gchs_uk9 said:

For those that don't know, the Missouri Valley Conference and the Missouri Valley Football Conference are two separate entities. The basketball league has been around for more than a century while the football league started in the 1980s as the Gateway Conference before changing names. Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Northern Iowa, and Southern Illinois participate in both the football and basketball league. North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State, and Western Illinois participate as football members but house their other sports in the Summit League. Youngstown State plays football in the MVFC but all other sports in the Horizon League.

Good synopsis. It's confusing if you aren't in it.

And for those that don't follow FCS, the MVC football conference is the equivalent of the SEC in football. NDSU is Alabama, Auburn, and LSU all wrapped into one. ? Tomorrow they play for their ninth title in eleven years.

Murray will need to spend some more money to be competitive in football!