Jackson also thanked the OVC for the support the university had received over several decades. Conferences can earn windfalls – usually divvied up among member institutions – for having more teams appear and win in the widely popular tournament through lucrative TV deals. Jackson said the university weighed the financial impact of moving to a conference like the MVC that could obtain multiple bids to the “March Madness” NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball tournament. In particular, Jackson said the geographic footprint across multiple states that the MVC covers align well with Murray State’s footprint: 91% of Murray State’s students come from that footprint, and about 80% of alumni live in the region that MVC member institutions are located. “It’s good for our fans, our supporters, our alumni, our donor base.” “This is a major institutional decision,” Jackson said. The MVC is the second-oldest NCAA Division I conference, going into 115 seasons of competition, according to an MVC release.Īt the Board of Regents meeting Friday morning, Murray State President Bob Jackson and several board members stressed the historic nature of the move, with Jackson ranking the vote up with moments such as when Racer athletics moved up to NCAA Division I competition for sports. Murray State’s well-renowned and nationally-ranked rifle program will continue to compete in the OVC, according to a Murray State release. The university is also “actively engaged in the membership process” for its football team to join the Missouri Valley Football Conference, a stand-alone and independent conference of football teams with most of the same institutions as the MVC. Murray State will become the eleventh member of the MVC on July 1, 2022, joining other member universities including Belmont University, the University of Evansville and Southern Illinois University. The move will largely end the university’s membership in the Ohio Valley Conference, a conference the university co-founded more than 70 years ago. The Murray State University Board of Regents unanimously voted to accept a bid to join the Missouri Valley Conference this summer for all the university’s 15 athletic teams except for football and rifle.
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