Including WIU, the Ohio Valley now has seven football programs. In miles from Macomb, the shortest trip among the Big South schools is to Gardner-Webb (623 miles) while the longest is to Bryant (1,186). (Photo via )Īccording to an OVC spokesperson, a “joint association” between the two leagues in football, which was announced in December 2022, will exist at least through 2024.Īnd regardless of who wins the conference title this fall – an OVC or a Big South team – that school will earn the combined league’s automatic playoff bid. OVC commissioner Beth DeBauche expressed excitement Thursday about Western Illinois joining the league in all sports. The scheduling wild card is the OVC’s relationship with the four remaining Big South Conference schools – Gardner-Webb (North Carolina), Robert Morris (Pennsylvania), Bryant (Rhode Island) and Charleston Southern (South Carolina). The school announced the following day that it had accepted.īubb also acknowledged that as other Missouri Valley Football Conference and Summit League members have see their revenues and athletic budgets grow, Western has not.Įnrollment issues and fewer dollars of support for higher education in Illinois, according to Bubb, have caused Western’s budget to remain constant or drop, in some cases. The conversations between WIU and the conference ramped up earlier this year, Bubb said, when WIU completed its strategic planning and reached out to seek membership.ĭeBauche said the league’s board of presidents voted unanimously on membership for Western, which was officially offered May 11. Huang said he first met DeBauche two years ago in his office. “The fact that you’ll have reasonable travel, that is so tremendous for the student-athletes, is terrific.” “You can’t deny the geography,” OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche said. The OVC’s smaller geographic footprint features four football member states, including Illinois and two border states – Missouri and Kentucky – along with Tennessee. By comparison, Eastern Illinois – which has been an OVC member since 1996 – has traveled 950 fewer miles. ![]() Over the past five full seasons in the MVFC, Western has logged 7,064 miles. But the travel each fall is one of the main reasons the Leathernecks will play their final season in the league this fall. Macomb is one of the MVFC’s most central points. ![]() Between Vermillion, S.D., to Youngstown, Ohio, there are 935 miles from east to west. The road through the Missouri Valley Football Conference will traverse eight states this fall with the addition of Murray State, a former OVC member.įrom Grand Forks, N.D., to Murray, Ky., the MFVC stretches 1,107 miles from north to south. “We identified close to $250,000 that could be reallocated from travel to other purposes,” he said. Bubb sports an Ohio Valley Conference hat Thursday during the on-campus announcement. Bubb said.ĭuring a recent strategic planning phase for the athletic department, Bubb discovered the potential savings in the OVC, which currently includes football teams in four states. I think we looked at it from a travel standpoint, an athletic budget standpoint,” WIU athletic director Paul A. Those five words summed up one of the biggest reasons that the Leathernecks’ athletic programs will move to the Ohio Valley Conference in football in 2024 – and all other sports from the Summit League on July 1. Western Illinois University President Guiyou Huang glanced at a diagram of the Ohio Valley Conference hanging in Western Hall in Macomb Thursday. ![]() Bubb officially announced the move in a campus ceremony. ![]() On Thursday, the school and athletic director Paul A. Western Illinois University will move to the Ohio Valley Conference in football in 2024.
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