VALLEY CITY, ND (NewsDakota.com) Valley City State University will be joining the Frontier Conference, along with it’s remaining former North Star Athletic Association colleagues, in 2025.
The Vikings will join Mayville State, Dakota State, and Bellevue University in joining the league, which will now span seven states from Mayville, North Dakota, to LaGrande, Oregon, to Glendale, Arizona.
The Frontier Conference will now have 11 full-time members, six in Montana, three in North Dakota, one in South Dakota, and one in Nebraska.
“The most significant change for the conference since it’s founding in 1934, and make it one of the most competitive in the NAIA,” said Chairman of the Frontier Conference Council of Presidents John Cech, who represents Carroll College.
“Even though the idea of distance is challenging, the conference is using scheduling to limit impacts on travel budgets and missed class time,” Cech added.
The teams joining the Frontier Conference were left without a home after the closure of Presentation College of Aberdeen, SD and Iowa Wesleyan after the 2022-23 season. The NSAA announced that it would disband after the 24-25 season, adding the University of Jamestown, but losing Waldorf University of Forest City, IA for the 24-25 season.
“This really is about creating the best opportunity for our student athletes
Dr. Alan LaFave, President of Valley City State University, spoke positively about the development.
“The process has been a long process, and a robust process. A number of scheduling items had to be addressed, and it’s come to a point of agreement. I believe this is really going to be a plus for our students, a plus for our fan base. We will be able to elevate our level of competitiveness,” said LaFave.
“This really begins the next chapter of Mayville State Athletics. This move will allow the North Star teams to play together in a geographic area that makes sense,” said Mayville State University President Brian Van Horn.
Dakota State officials stated that they had seen a change coming, and they commissioned a seven-member task force to decide on future affiliations. Their task force felt this would allow the best competitive opportunity to continue at Dakota State.
Mary Hawkins, president of Bellevue University, stated that her institution has spent a lot of time in conferences “teetering on the brink”, and that being a member of an 11-team conference has a sense of confidence in the future. She also stated the conference may be a “12-member” conference option in the future, perhaps hinting at the rumor that Bismarck State College has applied for membership.
Crawford stated that the conference is addressing the absence of baseball and softball, saying that the conference’s intention was to be a “six-member baseball and eight-member softball” conference by 25-26. He said having six schools playing baseball would make it more likely that other schools would add the sport in the future.
Crawford also added that the conference would now be a 13-member football playing school, but added that fans should expect more on football in the future. Adding the four North Star schools would bring football to 13-member schools.
“We’ve agreed to a divisional structure for basketball, playing a double-round robin within your division and two cross-over games in a season. In year one for basketball, there would be 18 games, and in year two there would be a full 22 game schedule. In both years, there would be an evaluation of the model,” Crawford added.
Crawford also specifically name-dropped Bismarck State as a potential basketball-playing school
Matt Stepan with the Frontier Conference addressed football, stating that the NAIA requires if a conference is to receive two automatic playoff bids, one must come from each of two divisions. He said that the process of putting together models for the divisional concept.
Crawford added that they are working to become a 14-member football playing conference for football purposes. Providence, in Great Falls, MT, currently does not offer football. Bismarck State does not play football at present, meaning that a 14th member would either have to come from one of those two schools, or an additional member joining the conference.