North Dakota State has only played one Mountain West Conference game, but speculation of the Bison moving on from the conference has already surfaced.
On3’s Wilson Alexander predicted the Bison as one of four teams to join the Big 12 amid projected “conference realignment if the college sports bill’s 20-team cap limit becomes law.” Congress has yet to vote on the Protect College Sports Act, but that is on the horizon after the U.S. Senate passed it on Tuesday.
That said, conference realignment doesn’t happen instantly, and there would be many factors to consider on both NDSU’s end and the Big 12’s. Alexander also predicted that UNLV, San Diego State and Boise State would also join the Big 12.
NDSU has enjoyed success against Big 12 teams before with wins over Kansas in 2010, Kansas State in 2013 and Iowa State in 2014. The Bison came up short by a score against Colorado in 2024 and Arizona, formerly in the Pac-12 at the time, in 2022.
Based on past success and the early going of the season, the Bison legitimately could make the move to the Big 12 on the field. Finances and facilities will be the bigger questions, the same that faced the Herd during the FCS dynasty before the Mountain West finally came calling.
New Stadium Hurdle
NDSU would need a new stadium since the Fargodome only seats 19,000, and an expansion would still make it much smaller than Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium. That venue seats 38,088.
Houston has the next-smallest stadium with a 40,000-seat venue at TDECU Stadium. Baylor, Kansas, UCF and TCU are all in the 40,000s and K-State, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Oklahoma State and Arizona State are all in the 50,000s.
That said, no Big 12 team has a capacity above 65,000, as BYU, Iowa State, Texas Tech and West Virginia are in the low 60,000s. NDSU and likely the city of Fargo would need to pull together far north of $400 million for a new stadium, and that’s the low end based on USF’s stadium in Tampa that has 35,000 seats. Make it more like Northwestern’s Ryan Field, which cost $870 million and seats only 35,000.
Since NDSU just spent $17.5 million between joining the FBS and Mountain West, the program is already pouring in millions for growth. Whether or not that includes a new stadium in the next decade is a whole other question.
‘Bold Prediction’ For Bison
UNLV podcaster Jason Kelly aired his thoughts on the On3 projections, and really thought it was a lot for the Bison.
“As much as I love seeing someone in the industry put unlv into the big 12, NDSU would be an insane leap from FCS to p4 member,” Kelly wrote via X. “Bold prediction.”
To Kelly’s point, the Bison competing with Big 12 teams in the past shows signs of being able to make the move, but it would make major upgrades in recruiting and building depth on the roster. The top G6 programs usually rank in the high 50s and 60s at best for recruiting, so NDSU would have quite the climb in the department to move into a Power 4 league.
NDSU Predicted to Make Major Conference Move