Seems to me the late start in football might have something to do with the MVFC. My guess is that they don't want to have 11 schools and are either going to allow a Wichita St start up program to start up or anticipating losing Missouri St by then.

This has some other interesting implications for the Summit. UND will be their 5th football program; I think it puts them in a place to where they could leverage the MVFC if they ever felt they needed to. Two Minnesota D2 call ups and you potentially have both an FCS autobid but also hockey sponsorship. Northern Colorado is also out there as an option too.

Meanwhile back in the Big Sky I think NMSU gets the right of first refusal. It could also set off race for any western D2 football programs with aspirations or a GCU or a Utah Valley to jockey for inclusion.