North Dakota State is preparing to petition the NCAA for immediate access to the College Football Playoff and all competition as a new member of the Football Bowl Subdivision, the school’s athletics director told CBS Sports.
The FCS powerhouse finalized an agreement Sunday to move to the FBS on July 1, joining the Mountain West as a football-only member beginning next season. Under current NCAA rules, programs transitioning to the FBS must complete a two-year probationary period that bars them from postseason play, including conference championship games and the CFP.
The Mountain West is aware of NDSU’s plans and will support the school’s petition to the NCAA, a conference spokesperson told CBS Sports.
North Dakota State intends to argue that the bylaw is outdated, crafted before the transfer portal allowed programs to rapidly upgrade rosters and accelerate competitive timelines. The school intends to ask the NCAA for a waiver next season and also push the organization to permanently revise the rule to allow future transitioning programs immediate postseason eligibility.
“It’s a very antiquated rule,” NDSU athletics director Matt Larsen told CBS Sports. “A lot of things have changed in our industry, and you could argue that’s an overly punitive rule now.”
NDSU enters the FBS as the most dominant program in modern FCS history, having won 10 national championships over the past 15 years. The Bison are 9-5 all-time against FBS opponents, including five wins over power conference teams. Their arrival comes during a period of upheaval for the Mountain West, which is rebuilding its membership ahead of the departure of five schools to the Pac-12. The league’s reset coincides with NDSU’s arrival as a potential immediate contender in the conference, though it is handcuffed by rules written for a different era.
The conference’s competitive landscape will look markedly different this fall. The Mountain West’s last four championships were won by departing members Boise State and Fresno State, leaving the league without its recent standard-bearers. Under current rules, NDSU would be ineligible for the Mountain West Championship in 2026 and 2027, though that would change if the NCAA grants a waiver or alters the bylaw.
Financially, NDSU will not receive a full revenue share from the Mountain West through the 2031-32 season, the length of the conference’s current media rights deal. However, the Bison would receive 50% of the CFP and bowl revenue distributed to full members beginning in 2026 if they reach the postseason, and 100% after their second postseason appearance, according to the conference’s membership agreement obtained by CBS Sports through an open-records request. NDSU would also earn a $1 million bonus for reaching the CFP before 2032.
NDSU is paying the Mountain West a $12.5 million entry fee over six years, in addition to the NCAA’s $5 million reclassification fee, which increased from $5,000 to $5 million in 2023. The NCAA’s probationary period was designed to give transitioning programs time to meet FBS benchmarks, including scholarship expansion and facility upgrades.
Larsen contends that many modern programs already meet or exceed those standards upon entry. NDSU opened a $54 million football facility in 2022, funded solely by private gifts.
Four of the last six teams to transition to the FBS reached the six-win threshold for bowl eligibility in their first season, including Delaware and Missouri State in 2025. Three programs transitioning in 2023 were denied postseason waivers, most notably James Madison, which started 10–0 under Curt Cignetti that season and two years later reached the CFP after its transition period ended.
Still, there is a workaround: if fewer than 82 teams reach bowl eligibility, postseason games can pull transitioning programs to fill vacancies. But that does little to address NDSU’s broader concern: how a CFP-caliber team could be ranked by the selection committee while being barred from competing, even if it were to go undefeated in the Mountain West in 2026 or 2027.
“I would argue whether I’m spending $5 million on football or $50 million on football, if my team is good enough, that shouldn’t matter,” Larsen said. “… If you’re truly trying to allow that program to be the most successful they can be, well, let them compete for championships. That’s going to help keep your players and maintain your roster.”
NDSU’s football operating budget is roughly $7.5 million, though Larsen expects that figure to double in the near future. The school opened a $54 million football facility in 2022, funded entirely through private donations.
By comparison, the average operating budget among Mountain West football programs next season is at least $13.5 million, according to 2023 data submitted to the Department of Education.
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