VALLEY CITY, ND  (NewsDakota.com)  While weighing out the options for football in 2025, the Barnes County North school district seems to have settled on a couple of potential paths.

Andrew Currie, the superintendent of the district, says staff at BCN will look at the enrollment numbers at the end of August to firm up their approaches, but two things seem to stand out in narrowing the choices available.

The Bison are in football limbo after this season due to adjustments made in the classification process for football.  The cutoff for the top two, and bottom two, divisions was moved from 162.5 males to 150.

At 150, a co-op of Valley City and Barnes County North, an arrangement both districts have found favorable for the past handful of years, would be a AA enrollment, meaning games against, as it sits now, Minot High, Minot North, and a handful of larger traditionally Class A schools in North Dakota.

Valley City’s school board has voted to end the co-op after this season if an appeal is unsuccessful, an appeal that would allow the co-op to play Class A, the next level below AA.  With the co-op, the numbers are just above 150, without it, Valley City is comfortably below the line.

That leaves the Bison to try to find a football option for their students.

While the decision has not been made, Andrew Currie, the Superintendent of Barnes County North, seems to have settled one part of the equation.

Going it alone is not an option.

The options for BCN to have their own team would be either at the sponsored 9-man level, or the independent 6-man level.

“As of now, we do not feel we have or would have enough numbers to start our own 9-man team.  Also, the cost to start up a program would be significant, especially if the numbers aren’t there and, even if they were for next year, what’s the sustainability?”, said Currie Monday.

He added, simply, that, “There is no interest in 6-person football.”

Part of the complication for a stand-alone program would likely be facilities.  With co-ops in place with Griggs-Midkota and, then, Valley City, the idea that Barnes County North would need to maintain fields may have seemed a lower priority, if needed at all.  Both fields the Bison traditionally used, in Wimbledon and at the North Central site near Rogers, are now fields, with a small amount of maintenance, with either outdated or no seating, and no infrastructure for lights, scoreboards, or game operations.

The lack of interest in 6-man football may be a bit of a surprise, as the sport has had some momentum as of late.  But, with opponents spread throughout North Dakota, and a format that is very different than the traditional game, it can be a tough sell for players and families alike.

The quickest solution would be to find a workable co-op that the Bison can join, and Currie says those options will be purused.

“We plan on contacting a couple local small districts about a possible co-op, but we’re not holding our breath on those, as it would bump them into Division A 11 man.  Jamestown could possibly be an option, but it would be a commitment on our student/athletes, in the summer, to get to workouts.”

For now, the Bison are willing to employ a “wait-and-see” approach.

“We are going to look at new adjusted numbers the end of August and see how close we are to the cut-off of 150 with Valley City.  We will also look at the projected number for year two, and if close of falling below, I would then go to football realignment committee and see if they would allow us to co-op with Valley City again,” said Currie.

Currie adds that, if all options are exhausted, BCN would approach the North Dakota High School Activities Association and inquire about a hardship.  The hardship would attempt to show the NDHSAA that the district has explored all options, and it is pursuing varsity eligibility for it’s athletes.

This would likely bring the Bison back to an agreement with Valley City, but could scatter their athletes to different teams, based on where they would like to play.  Hardships are usually a situation that are asked for by individual athletes in a transfer situation.

The NDHSAA will meet to finalize plans in November during the Dakota Bowl.  Schools like Barnes County North will feel pressure to have a roadmap of their 2025-27 football plans by that deadline.