Missouri Valley Conference

For the related football-only conference, see Missouri Valley Football Conference.

The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwest though with substantial extension into the South in states like Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas.

Missouri Valley Conference

Association	NCAA
Founded	1907; 118 years ago (1907)
Commissioner	Jeff Jackson (since 2021)
Sports fielded	18 men's: 8 women's: 10
Division	Division I
Subdivision	non-football
No. of teams	11
Headquarters	St. Louis, Missouri
Region	Midwestern & Southern United States
Official website	mvc-sports.com
Locations

Missouri Valley Conference

220km
137miles

Miami

Ball State

Bowling Green

Western Michigan

Northern Illinois

Little Rock

Murray State

UIC

Belmont

Valparaiso

Southern Illinois

Northern Iowa

Indiana State

Illinois State

Evansville

Drake

Bradley

   

Location of MVC members:
full member affiliate member

History

The MVC was established in 1907 (its charter member schools: the University of Kansas, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, and Washington University in St. Louis) as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA), 12 years after the Big Ten Conference, the only Division I conference that is older. It is the fourth-oldest college athletic conference in the United States, after the Big Ten Conference and the NCAA Division III's Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) and Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC).^[1][2]

The MVIAA split in 1928, with most of the larger schools (the University of Kansas, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University), Kansas State University, and University of Oklahoma) forming a conference that retained the MVIAA name; this conference evolved into the Big Eight Conference. The Big Eight merged with four Texas schools of the Southwest Conference to form the Big 12 Conference in 1996.^[3]

The smaller MVIAA schools (Drake, Grinnell and Washington University in St. Louis), plus Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University, which joined the Big Eight in 1957), were joined by Creighton to form the MVC, which retained the old MVIAA's administrative staff.

To this day, it has never been definitively established which conference was the original and which was the spinoff, though the Big Eight would go on to become the more prestigious of the two. During the Big Eight's run, both conferences claimed 1907 as their founding date, and the same history through 1927.

MVC teams held a 74–27 non-conference record during the 2006–07 college basketball season, including a record of 44–1 at home. The Valley finished in the top six of the RPI and ahead of a BCS conference for the second consecutive year, while also garnering multiple NCAA bids for the ninth straight year and 12th of 14.^[4]

The MVC has not sponsored football since 1985, when it was a hybrid I-A/I-AA (now FBS and FCS, respectively) conference. However, five members have football programs in the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) (known as the Gateway from 1985 to 2008) of Division I FCS, and two others compete in another FCS conference, the Pioneer Football League. The Missouri Valley Conference shares its name with the MVFC, and all three conferences operate from the same headquarters complex in St. Louis; however, the three are separate administratively.

After weeks of speculation,^[5][6] Wichita State announced on April 7, 2017, that it would leave the conference to join the American Athletic Conference starting with the 2017–18 season.^[7] The conference announced it extended an invitation to Valparaiso University on May 9, 2017;^[8] and on May 25, the MVC announced that Valparaiso would officially join the following July 1.^[9]

The most recent changes to the core MVC membership were announced during the 2021–22 school year. On September 28, 2021, the MVC and Belmont University jointly announced that the school would leave the Ohio Valley Conference for the MVC effective July 1, 2022.^[10] Then, on November 16, Loyola University Chicago announced it would leave the MVC at the same time, joining the Atlantic 10 Conference.^[11] On the same day Loyola announced its departure, CBS Sports reported that the MVC was actively pursuing further expansion, having entered into talks with the University of Missouri–Kansas City (known athletically as Kansas City), Murray State University, and the University of Texas at Arlington (UT Arlington). The report indicated that the latter two were considered the strongest candidates, but that all three were likely to receive invitations in the coming months.^[12] On January 7, 2022, the MVC announced that Murray State would officially join the conference on July 1 of that year.^[13] UT Arlington would soon remove itself from the list of candidates by announcing a 2022 move to the Western Athletic Conference.^[14]

Shortly before Murray State was officially announced as an incoming MVC member, Matt Brown of the Extra Points college sports blog reported that the MVC was also in membership discussions with the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), then a member of the Horizon League. On the same weekend that Murray State's arrival was officially announced, MVC officials made a site visit to UIC. Brown's sources indicated that an invitation to UIC was likely. Brown noted that with the MVC losing Loyola, league officials believed that maintaining a presence in the city was a top priority, stating (emphasis in original):^[15]

Throughout this process, multiple administrators at MVC institutions stressed the importance of getting access to new urban areas to recruit more students, not just athletes. With so many schools depending heavily on Chicago, and especially Chicago's suburbs, for enrollment, continuing to have a presence in the city was seen as a major priority.

On January 22, 2022, Matt Norlander of CBSSports.com reported that UIC's July entry to the MVC was "a done deal", with his sources indicating that the MVC wanted to announce the move before the Conference Commissioners Association held its annual meeting in Naples, Florida in early February.^[16] UIC's entry was officially announced on January 26.^[17]

On May 10, 2024, Missouri State announced it would leave the MVC to transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and join Conference USA, effective for the 2025–26 season.^[18]

The MVC's decades-long ties with the MVFC were formalized when the latter announced a new conference structure on May 5, 2025, taking effect that July. Under the new structure, the MVFC's top two administrative positions will be filled by the commissioners of the MVC and the also non-football Summit League, and both multisport conferences will share administrative operations. The MVC and Summit are the full-time conference homes of all but one of the MVFC's 10 members in the 2025 season.^[19]

Member schools

Current full members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Type	Enrollment[20]	Endowment (millions)	Nickname	Colors
Belmont University	Nashville, Tennessee	1890	2022[a]	Private (Christian)	8,700	$356.8	Bruins
Bradley University	Peoria, Illinois	1897	1948, 1955[b]	Private	5,451	$350	Braves
Drake University	Des Moines, Iowa	1881	1907, 1956[b]	Private	5,270	$219.8	Bulldogs
University of Evansville	Evansville, Indiana	1854	1994	Private (UMC)	2,526	$157	Purple Aces
University of Illinois Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	1946	2022	Public	30,539	$3,380[c]	Flames
Illinois State University	Normal, Illinois	1857	1981	Public	20,683	$240	Redbirds
Indiana State University	Terre Haute, Indiana	1865	1976[d]	Public	13,584	$102.9[21]	Sycamores
Murray State University	Murray, Kentucky	1922	2022	Public	10,495	$100.2	Racers
University of Northern Iowa	Cedar Falls, Iowa	1876	1991	Public	12,273	$163	Panthers
Southern Illinois University	Carbondale, Illinois	1869	1975	Public	11,695	$171.8	Salukis
Valparaiso University	Valparaiso, Indiana	1859	2017[e]	Private (Lutheran)	2,900	$254.2	Beacons[f]

Notes

1. Belmont had been an MVC affiliate in men's soccer for the 2000 fall season (2000–01 school year).
2. Bradley and Drake both withdrew from the MVC during the 1951–52 school year in protest over the Johnny Bright incident, a racially motivated on-field attack by an Oklahoma A&M football player against Drake player Johnny Bright in a 1951 game. Bradley returned to the MVC for non-football sports in the 1955–56 school year, with Drake doing the same a year later (1956–57 school year). However, Bradley never returned to MVC football, dropping the sport after the 1970 fall season (1970–71 school year), and Drake did not return for football until the 1971 fall season (1971–72 school year).
3. Entire U of I system.
4. The Indiana State men's basketball team joined the MVC a year after becoming a full member for other sports (1977–78).
5. Valparaiso had been an MVC affiliate in women's soccer from the 1996 to the 1998 fall seasons (1996–97 to 1998–99 school years).
6. Valparaiso officially adopted the "Beacons" nickname shortly before the start of classes in the 2021–22 school year after abandoning its previous nickname of Crusaders due to unfavorable connotations.

Affiliate members

Note: In the case of spring sports, the year of joining is the calendar year before the start of competition.

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Primary conference	MVC sport(s)
University of Arkansas at Little Rock (Little Rock)	Little Rock, Arkansas	1927	2013–14	Public	13,167	Trojans	OVC	women's swimming
Ball State University	Muncie, Indiana	1918	2024–25		21,597	Cardinals	MAC	men's swimming and diving
Bowling Green State University	Bowling Green, Ohio	1910	2023–24[a]		18,142	Falcons		men's soccer
University of Massachusetts Amherst	Amherst, Massachusetts	1863	2025–26		27,420	Minutemen		men's swimming and diving
Miami University	Oxford, Ohio	1809	2024–25		18,880	RedHawks		men's swimming and diving
Missouri State University	Springfield, Missouri	1905	2025–26[b]		26,000[24]	Bears/Lady Bears	CUSA	men's and women's swimming & diving
Northern Illinois University	DeKalb, Illinois	1895	2023–24		16,769	Huskies	MAC	men's soccer
Western Michigan University	Kalamazoo, Michigan	1903	2023–24		19,887	Broncos	MAC	men's soccer

Notes

1. Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan's full-time home of the Mid-American Conference suspended men's soccer as a conference sport after the conclusion of the 2022 season.^[22][23]
2. Measured from Missouri State's departure from full MVC membership.

Former members

Former full members (26)

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Left	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Current conference
Butler University	Indianapolis, Indiana	1855	1932	1934	Private	4,667	Bulldogs	Big East
University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati, Ohio	1819	1957	1970	Public	42,421	Bearcats	Big 12
Creighton University	Omaha, Nebraska	1878	1928, 1976[a]	1948, 2013	Private	7,730	Bluejays	Big East
University of Detroit[b]	Detroit, Michigan	1877	1949	1956	Private	5,450	Titans	Horizon
Grinnell College	Grinnell, Iowa	1846	1918	1939	Private	1,688	Pioneers	Midwest[c]
University of Houston	Houston, Texas	1927	1951	1959	Public	39,820	Cougars	Big 12
University of Iowa	Iowa City, Iowa	1847	1907	1908	Public	30,328	Hawkeyes	Big Ten
Iowa State College[d]	Ames, Iowa	1858	1907	1928	Public	29,887	Cyclones	Big 12
University of Kansas	Lawrence, Kansas	1865	1907	1928	Public	29,462	Jayhawks	Big 12
Kansas State College[e]	Manhattan, Kansas	1863	1913	1928	Public	23,863	Wildcats	Big 12
University of Louisville	Louisville, Kentucky	1798	1963[f]	1975	Public	19,743	Cardinals	ACC
Loyola University Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	1870	2013	2022	Private	16,437[25]	Ramblers	Atlantic 10
Memphis State University[g]	Memphis, Tennessee	1912	1968	1973	Public	23,031	Tigers	The American
University of Missouri	Columbia, Missouri	1839	1907	1928	Public	33,805	Tigers	SEC
Missouri State University	Springfield, Missouri	1905	1990	2025	Public	26,000[26]	Bears/Lady Bears[h]	CUSA
University of Nebraska	Lincoln, Nebraska	1869	1907, 1921	1919, 1928	Public	24,593	Cornhuskers	Big Ten
New Mexico State University[i]	Las Cruces, New Mexico	1888	1970	1983	Public	18,497	Aggies	CUSA
North Texas State University[j]	Denton, Texas	1890	1957	1975	Public	35,694	Mean Green	The American
University of Oklahoma	Norman, Oklahoma	1890	1919	1928	Public	30,303	Sooners	SEC
Oklahoma A&M College[k]	Stillwater, Oklahoma	1890	1925	1956	Public	21,419	Aggies/Cowboys[l]	Big 12
Saint Louis University	St. Louis, Missouri	1818	1937	1974	Private	13,785	Billikens	Atlantic 10
University of Tulsa	Tulsa, Oklahoma	1894	1935	1996	Private	4,165	Golden Hurricane	The American
Washburn University	Topeka, Kansas	1865	1935	1942	Public	7,303	Ichabods	MIAA[m]
Washington University in St. Louis	St. Louis, Missouri	1853	1907	1942	Private	14,070	Bears	UAA[c]
West Texas State University[n]	Canyon, Texas	1910	1972	1986	Public	7,843	Buffaloes	Lone Star[m]
Wichita State University	Wichita, Kansas	1895	1949	2017	Public	14,495	Shockers	The American

Notes

1. Creighton previously withdrew from the MVC from 1948–49 to 1975–76.
2. Currently known as the University of Detroit Mercy.
3. Currently an NCAA Division III athletic conference.
4. Currently known as Iowa State University.
5. Currently known as Kansas State University.
6. The Louisville men's basketball team joined the MVC a year after becoming a full member for other sports (1964–65).
7. Currently known as the University of Memphis.
8. In beach volleyball, a sport not sponsored by the MVC, Missouri State uses Beach Bears instead of Lady Bears.
9. The New Mexico State football team joined the MVC a year after becoming a full member for other sports (1971–72); while its men's basketball team joined the MVC two years after (1972–73).
10. Currently known as the University of North Texas.
11. Currently known as Oklahoma State University–Stillwater.
12. During Oklahoma A&M's tenure in the MVC, the nicknames "Aggies" and "Cowboys" were used interchangeably. When the school adopted its current name in 1957, the "Cowboys" nickname was exclusively adopted.
13. Currently an NCAA Division II athletic conference.
14. Currently known as West Texas A&M University.

Former affiliate members

This list does not include current full members Belmont and Valparaiso. As noted above, the Bruins played men's soccer in the MVC for the 2000 fall season (2000–01 school year), and the Beacons, then known as the Crusaders, played women's soccer in the MVC from the 1996 to 1998 fall seasons (1996–97 to 1998–99 school years).

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Left	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Primary conference	MVC sport(s)
University of Arkansas at Little Rock	Little Rock, Arkansas	1927	1998–99	1999–2000	Public	13,167	Trojans	OVC	women's soccer
University of Central Arkansas	Conway, Arkansas	1907	2010–11	2018–19	Public	13,863	Bears	ASUN	men's soccer
Dallas Baptist University	Dallas, Texas	1898	2013–14	2022–23	Private	5,545	Patriots	Lone Star[a][b]	baseball
Drury University	Springfield, Missouri	1873	1999–2000	2004–05	Private	5,474	Panthers	GLVC[a]	women's soccer
Eastern Illinois University	Charleston, Illinois	1895	1996–97	2010–11	Public	11,651	Panthers	OVC	men's soccer
University of Hartford	Hartford, Connecticut	1877	2014–15	2015–16	Private	6,935	Hawks	CNE[c]	men's tennis[d]
Marshall University	Huntington, West Virginia	1837	2022–23[27][e]	2023–24	Public	11,926	Thundering Herd	Sun Belt	women's swimming
University of Maryland, Baltimore County	Catonsville, Maryland[f]	1966	2014–15	2015–16	Public	13,908	Retrievers	America East	men's tennis[g]
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville[29]	Edwardsville, Illinois	1957	2010–11 2021–22	2017–18 2023–24	Public	14,000	Cougars	OVC	men's soccer
Southern Methodist University	University Park, Texas[h]	1911	2000–01	2004–05	Private	12,000	Mustangs	ACC	men's soccer
Stony Brook University	Stony Brook, New York	1957	2014–15	2022–23	Public	24,594	Seawolves	CAA	men's tennis (until 2016–17), women's tennis[i]
Texas Christian University	Fort Worth, Texas	1873	2000–01	2000–01	Private	9,518	Horned Frogs	Big 12	men's soccer[j]
University of Tulsa[k]	Tulsa, Oklahoma	1894	2000–01	2004–05	Private	4,165	Golden Hurricane	The American	men's soccer
Vanderbilt University	Nashville, Tennessee	1873	1997–98	2005–06	Private	12,714	Commodores	SEC	men's soccer[l]
Western Kentucky University	Bowling Green, Kentucky	1906	1997–98	2007–08	Public	21,048	Hilltoppers	CUSA	men's soccer[m]

Notes

1. Currently an NCAA Division II athletic conference.
2. Dallas Baptist plays baseball in CUSA.
3. Currently an NCAA Division III athletic conference.
4. Hartford dropped men's tennis after the 2015–16 school year.
5. Marshall will be an MVC affiliate for the 2022–23 season only. Marshall's full-time home of the Sun Belt Conference will add women's swimming & diving in 2023–24.^[28]
6. The camous has a Baltimore mailing address.
7. UMBC dropped men's tennis after the 2015–16 season.
8. The camous has a Dallas mailing address.
9. Stony Brook dropped men's tennis after the 2016–17 season. The school's women's tennis team remained an MVC affiliate, but left when it joined the CAA in July 2022.^[30]
10. TCU dropped men's soccer after the 2002 fall season (2002–03 school year).
11. Tulsa was a full member from 1935–36 to 1995–96, but re-joined the MVC as a men's soccer associate from the 2000 to 2004 fall seasons (2000–01 to 2004–05 school years).
12. Vanderbilt dropped men's soccer after the 2005 fall season (2005–06 school year).
13. Western Kentucky dropped men's soccer after the 2007 fall season (2007–08 school year).

Membership timeline

Full members  Full members (non-football)  Assoc. members (football only)  Assoc. member (other sports)  Other Conference  Other Conference 

Commissioners

1. C. E. McClung (1907–19??)^[31]
2. Arthur (Artie) E. Eilers (1925–1957)^[31]
3. Norvell Neve (1957–1969)^[31][32]
4. DeWitt T. Weaver (1969–1972)^[31]
5. Mickey Holmes (1972–1979)^[33][31]
6. David Price (1979–1981)^[34][31]
7. Richard D. Martin (1981–1985)^[31]
8. James A. Haney (1985–1988)^[35][31]
9. Doug Elgin (1988–2021)^[31][36]
10. Jeff Jackson (2021–present)

Sports

Former Missouri Valley Conference logo

The Missouri Valley Conference sponsors championship competition in eight men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports.^[37] Ball State (men), Little Rock (women), and Miami (OH) (men) are affiliates in swimming and diving, and Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan are affiliates in men's soccer.

The most recent change to the roster of sports came in the 2024–25 school year, when the MVC reinstated men's swimming & diving after a 22-year absence. The inaugural season of the relaunched league features 7 sponsoring members, with full members Evansville, UIC, Missouri State, Southern Illinois, and Valparaiso joined by new affiliates Ball State and Miami (OH)— previously, all these programs were housed in the Mid-American Conference.^[38]

Teams in Missouri Valley Conference competition

Sport	Men's	Women's
Baseball	10	–
Basketball	12	10
Cross country	11	10
Golf	10	10
Soccer	9	9
Softball	–	10
Swimming & diving	7	9
Tennis	–	7
Track and field (indoor)	10	10
Track and field (outdoor)	10	10
Volleyball	–	10

Men's sponsored sports by school

School	Baseball	Basketball	Cross country	Golf	Soccer	Swimming & diving	Track & field (indoor)	Track & field (outdoor)	Total MVC sports
Belmont	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	7
Bradley	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	7
Drake	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	6
Evansville	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	8
UIC	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	7
Illinois State	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	6
Indiana State	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	5
Murray State	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	4
Northern Iowa	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	5
Southern Illinois	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	7
Valparaiso	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes[a]	Yes	Yes	7
Totals	9	11	11	9	5+3[b]	4+4[c]	10	10	69+7

1. Valparaiso does not include diving in its intercollegiate aquatics program.
2. Men's soccer associates Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan. NIU will leave after the 2025 season when it rejoins the Horizon League, which sponsors that sport.
3. Men's swimming & diving associates Ball State, Miami (Ohio), Missouri State, and UMass.

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Missouri Valley Conference which are played by Valley schools:

School	Football	Rifle[a]	Tennis	Wrestling
Belmont	No	No	Horizon	No
Drake	Pioneer League	No	Summit	No
UIC	No	No	MAC	No
Illinois State	MVFC	No	Summit	No
Indiana State	MVFC	No	No	No
Murray State	MVFC	OVC[b]	No	No
Northern Iowa	MVFC	No	No	Big 12
Southern Illinois	MVFC	No	No	No
Valparaiso	Pioneer League	No	No	No

1. Rifle is a fully coeducational sport, though the NCAA treats it as a men's sport for purposes of its sports sponsorship regulations.
2. Murray State fields a single coeducational rifle team.

Women's sponsored sports by school

School	Basketball	Cross country	Golf	Soccer	Softball	Swimming	Tennis	Track & field (indoor)	Track & field (outdoor)	Volleyball	Total MVC sports
Belmont	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	9
Bradley	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	8
Drake	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	9
Evansville	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	9
UIC	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	10
Illinois State	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	10
Indiana State	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	9
Murray State	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	9
Northern Iowa	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	10
Southern Illinois	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	8
Valparaiso	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes[a]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	10
Totals	11	11	11	10	11	7+2[b]	8	11	11	11	82+2

1. Valparaiso does not include diving in its intercollegiate aquatics program for either men or women.
2. Swimming & diving associates Little Rock and Missouri State

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Missouri Valley Conference which are played by Valley schools:

School	Bowling	Gymnastics	Rifle[a]	Rowing
Drake	No	No	No	MAAC
Illinois State	No	MIC	No	No
Murray State	No	No	OVC[b]	No
Valparaiso	CUSA	No	No	No

1. Rifle is a fully coeducational sport, though the NCAA treats it as a men's sport for purposes of its sports sponsorship regulations.
2. Murray State fields a single coeducational rifle team.

Facilities

School	Soccer Stadium	Capacity	Basketball Center	Capacity	Softball Complex	Capacity	Baseball Field	Capacity
Belmont[39]	E. S. Rose Park	300	Curb Event Center	5,085	E. S. Rose Park	250	E. S. Rose Park	750
Bradley[40]	Shea Stadium	3,800	Men: Carver Arena Women: Renaissance Coliseum	11,060 4,200	Louisville Slugger Sports Complex	1,000	Dozer Park	7,500
Drake[41]	Mediacom Stadium	4,000	The Knapp Center	6,424	Ron Buel Field	500	Non-baseball school
Evansville[42]	Arad McCutchan Stadium	2,500	Men: Ford Center Women: Meeks Family Fieldhouse	10,000 1,087	James & Dorothy Cooper Stadium	650	Charles H. Braun Stadium	1,200
UIC[43]	Flames Field	1,200	Credit Union 1 Arena	8,000	Flames Field	500	Curtis Granderson Stadium	2,000
Illinois State[44]	Adelaide Street Field	1,000	CEFCU Arena	10,200	Marian Kneer Softball Stadium	1,050	Duffy Bass Field	1,000
Indiana State[45]	Memorial Stadium	12,764	Hulman Center	9,000	Eleanor Forsythe St. John Softball Complex	700	Sycamore Stadium	2,000
Murray State[46]	Cutchin Field	250	CFSB Center	8,600	Racer Field	500	Johnny Reagan Field	800
Northern Iowa[47]	UNI Soccer Field	—	McLeod Center	6,500	Robinson-Dresser Sports Complex	—	Non-baseball school
Southern Illinois[48]	Saluki Stadium	15,000	Banterra Center	8,339	Charlotte West Stadium	502	Itchy Jones Stadium	2,000
Valparaiso[49]	Brown Field	5,000	Athletics–Recreation Center	5,000	Valpo Softball Complex	—	Emory G. Bauer Field	500
Affiliate members
Bowling Green[50]	Mickey Cochrane Stadium	1,500	Men's soccer-only member
Northern Illinois[51]	NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex	1,500
Western Michigan[52]	WMU Soccer Complex	1,000

Note

1. For football venues of the member schools who participate in the sport, see Missouri Valley Football Conference | Facilities and Pioneer Football League | Conference facilities.

Basketball tournament champions by year

Main articles: Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament and Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball tournament

The Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament is often referred to as Arch Madness, in reference to the Gateway Arch at the tournament's present location of St. Louis, Missouri, and a play on "March Madness". The women's tournament is currently promoted as Hoops in the Heartland.

Season	Men's Champion	Women's Champion
1977	Southern Illinois	No Tournament
1978	Creighton	No Tournament
1979	Indiana State	No Tournament
1980	Bradley	No Tournament
1981	Creighton	No Tournament
1982	Tulsa	No Tournament
1983	Illinois State	Illinois State
1984	Tulsa	No Tournament
1985	Wichita State	No Tournament
1986	Tulsa	No Tournament
1987	Wichita State	Southern Illinois
1988	Bradley	Eastern Illinois
1989	Creighton	Illinois State
1990	Illinois State	Southern Illinois
1991	Creighton	Southwest Missouri State
1992	Southwest Missouri State	Southwest Missouri State
1993	Southern Illinois	Southwest Missouri State
1994	Southern Illinois	Southwest Missouri State
1995	Southern Illinois	Drake
1996	Tulsa	Southwest Missouri State
1997	Illinois State	Illinois State
1998	Illinois State	Illinois State
1999	Creighton	Evansville
2000	Creighton	Drake
2001	Indiana State	Southwest Missouri State
2002	Creighton	Creighton
2003	Creighton	Southwest Missouri State
2004	Northern Iowa	Southwest Missouri State
2005	Creighton	Illinois State
2006	Southern Illinois	Missouri State
2007	Creighton	Drake
2008	Drake	Illinois State
2009	Northern Iowa	Evansville
2010	Northern Iowa	Northern Iowa
2011	Indiana State	Northern Iowa
2012	Creighton	Creighton
2013	Creighton	Wichita State
2014	Wichita State	Wichita State
2015	Northern Iowa	Wichita State
2016	Northern Iowa	Missouri State
2017	Wichita State	Drake
2018	Loyola Chicago	Drake
2019	Bradley	Missouri State
2020	Bradley	Canceled (COVID-19 pandemic)
2021	Loyola Chicago	Bradley
2022	Loyola Chicago	Illinois State
2023	Drake	Drake
2024	Drake	Drake
2025	Drake	Murray State

NB: Missouri State was known as Southwest Missouri State until August 2005.

Postseason history multiple bids

NCAA tournament Year MVC Rep. 1979 (1) Indiana State (10) New Mexico State 1981 (6) Wichita State (8) Creighton 1984 (4) Tulsa (8) Illinois State 1985 (6) Tulsa (9) Illinois State (11) Wichita State 1986 (7) Bradley (10) Tulsa 1987 (11) Tulsa (11) Wichita State 1988 (9) Bradley (12) Wichita State 1994 (11) Southern Illinois (12) Tulsa 1995 (6) Tulsa (10) Southern Illinois 1996 (8) Bradley (11) Tulsa 1999 (10) Creighton (11) Evansville (12) Southwest Missouri State 2000 (10) Creighton (12) Indiana State 2001 (10) Creighton (13) Indiana State 2002 (11) Southern Illinois (12) Creighton 2003 (6) Creighton (11) Southern Illinois 2004 (9) Southern Illinois (14) Northern Iowa 2005 (7) Southern Illinois (10) Creighton (11) Northern Iowa 2006 (7) Wichita State (10) Northern Iowa (11) Southern Illinois (13) Bradley 2007 (4) Southern Illinois (10) Creighton 2012 (5) Wichita State (8) Creighton 2013 (7) Creighton (9) Wichita State 2015 (5) Northern Iowa (7) Wichita State 2016 (11) Northern Iowa (11) Wichita State 2021 (8) Loyola Chicago (11) Drake

National team titles by institution

School – Number – NCAA championships

• Belmont
• Bradley – 2 ^[53]
• Drake – 3 ^[53]
• Evansville – 0+5* ^[53]
• UIC
• Illinois State – 0+1* ^[53]
• Indiana State – 1 ^[53]
• Missouri State – 0 +2* ^[53]
• Murray State
• UNI – 1+2* ^[53]
• Southern Illinois – 5+3* ^[53]
• Valparaiso – 0^[53]

NCAA Championships as of March 2013

(*-Titles won by schools in Division II/College Division prior to their moving to Division I in the late 1960s or early 1970s)

Football poll, Helms and AIAW titles are not included in the NCAA Championship count.

Men's basketball attendance

Sources:^[54][55][56]

The Valley is well known for having some of the most dedicated fanbases in all of college basketball, with several members regularly selling out their large arenas on a nightly basis throughout the year. Former member Creighton had the sixth highest attendance for Division I in 2012–13, while Bradley, Illinois State, Missouri State, and Indiana State were all among the NCAA's top 100 teams in home attendance.

In 2010–11, 2011–12, and 2012–13, the Valley maintained its position as the eighth ranked conference in average attendance.

The Valley made history in March 2007, with record attendance for four days at St. Louis' Scottrade Center as 85,074 fans turned out to watch the five sessions of the conference tournament. The two sellout crowds of 22,612 for the semifinals and final of the 2007 tournament set an all-time attendance record for basketball at the arena and also gave the Valley the distinction of having the largest championship crowd for any of the 30 NCAA conference tournaments in 2007.^[57]

Football champions by year

Main article: Missouri Valley Conference football

• All MVC schools that currently play football are part of the Missouri Valley Football Conference except for Drake and Valparaiso, which play in the Pioneer Football League.

MVC TV Network

Since at least 1993, the MVC has produced an in-house package of sports as part of the MVC TV Network.^[58]Starting in 1996, those telecasts were produced, in part, by Bally Sports Midwest (formerly Fox Sports Midwest). These games were distributed to regional sports networks including Bally Sports Indiana, Bally Sports Kansas City, Bally Sports South, Bally Sports Southeast, and NBC Sports Chicago (now Chicago Sports Network), as well as shown on Bally Sports Midwest.^[59] Until the 2020–21 season, some of these telecasts also aired on Fox College Sports. Outside of regional networks these telecasts were also available on ESPN3 until the 2018–19 season; those telecasts were then migrated over to ESPN+.^[60]

Starting with the 2024–25 academic year, production and distribution rights were acquired by Gray Media, with Gray Media-owned Indianapolis-based Tupelo Honey handling the actual production and distribution.^[61] It is a linear over-the-air station package distributed in Gray Media markets within the MVC member states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee as well as third-party broadcast partners in markets within those same states where Gray Media has no presence; in addition, simulcasts will be available live nationally (via ESPN+ and through the ESPN app) without any digital blackouts (prior contracts prohibited simulcast availability within the MVC footprint).

The MVC TV Network serves as the home for the opening and quarterfinal rounds of Arch Madness (the nickname for the MVC men's basketball tournament).

See also

• Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame