After North Dakota joined the Big Sky Conference most assumed their border rival South Dakota would follow, however the Coyotes have declined the Big Sky's invitation. Like SDST and NDST, South Dakota will join the Missouri Valley Football Conference and elect to stay in the Summit League in all other sports. This move leaves the Big Sky with 11 all-sport members and 13 football members. The Summit League will remain stable with its 9 members, while the MVC will now be at 10. North Dakota may have a case of buyer's remorse after signing on with the Big Sky, and could be looking into joining the other 3 Dakotas in Summit league/MVC to reduce their travel costs and maintain its rivalries.
The WAC's expansion plan seems to have settled on just adding UTSA, Texas St, and (non football school) Denver in order to hold open another spot in case Montana decides to upgrade. The only school left out of of this expansion shuffle for now is Seattle University, a non-football school, who may be targeted to join the WCC with the new addition of BYU or they could be invited to join Big Sky Conference as a 12th member in an attempt to even out the basketball schedule.
