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Waiting ’til March Madness to pay attention to college hoops? Your loss.
Plus we comb through all the latest football realignment news — North Dakota State! Sacramento State! — and Georgia's efforts to navigate revenue sharing and the NIL ecosystem.
Kyle Rowland
February 10, 2026
Hey there,
Does realignment in college athletics ever stop? North Dakota State is off to the Mountain West, and Sacramento State could be bound for the … MAC?!
I lay out why both moves could make sense, along with an update on Georgia’s new third-party NIL play and why college basketball is enjoying a rise in popularity.
— Kyle
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KICKOFF
NDSU and the Mountain West make a whole lot of sense
For nearly a decade, the same question has hovered over the FCS landscape: When is North Dakota State football going to make the jump to the FBS?
The answer is finally “now.”
Beginning this season, North Dakota State will be a football-only member of the Mountain West, paying a $12.5 million fee to its new conference on top of a $5 million transition fee to the NCAA. The Bison will remain in the Summit League for all other sports except wrestling, which is in the Big 12.
The announcement to the team was met with a roaring ovation.
NDSU has never been more prepared. On the field, the résumé is overwhelming. The Bison have won 10 of the past 15 FCS national championships. They have produced two top-five NFL draft picks at quarterback, 13 total selections since 2014 and six players taken in the first or second round during that span. This is not a program punching above its weight; it’s a program that has outgrown its level of competition.
Since 2004, the Bison are 9–5 against FBS opponents, and they’ve routinely beating Power 5 programs while operating with FCS scholarships and resources. The notion that NDSU would need years to adjust to FBS football is outdated and ignorant.
The rebuilt Mountain West is searching for stability, identity and competitive credibility. NDSU checks every box.
Geographically, the fit is logical. Fargo aligns more naturally with the Mountain West footprint than it ever has with coastal-heavy leagues. Culturally, the Bison mirror the league’s strongest brands, with its development-focused program, passionate fan base and blue-collar football ethos. Competitively, NDSU will enter the conference as an immediate contender, although it is ineligible for the postseason until 2028.
From a media and branding standpoint, the appeal for NDSU is obvious. The Mountain West just finalized a new television deal with Fox, CBS and the CW that runs from 2026 through 2032.
Recruiting concerns tied to Fargo’s remote location are real but overstated. NDSU has built its dynasty by identifying, developing and retaining talent. With FBS resources, expanded exposure and a conference platform that stretches from the Rockies to the Pacific, the Bison’s recruiting ceiling only rises.
The infrastructure is already there. Community leaders, business partners and the fan base are fully invested. The program operates like an FBS entity in everything but classification.
University president David Cook — whose tenure has been marked by ambition and growth — is set to depart for Iowa State on March 1. A transformational move is a fitting send off.
Sacramento State and the MAC: absurd or just a sign of the times?
Not to be outdone, Sacramento State is still pushing its chips to the middle of the table in pursuit of the FBS. On Monday, my colleague Matt Brown at Extra Points laid out an excellent, clear-eyed breakdown of what North Dakota State and Sacramento State mean in the realignment picture. Think of this as a counterpoint.
Sacramento State president Luke Wood has been anything but subtle. He told the Sacramento Bee the school would consider paying north of $10 million to move up in 2026. Last week, Ross Dellenger reported that Sacramento State is a candidate to join the Mid-American Conference as a football-only member.
Yes, the MAC would be a bizarre geographic fit. The league lives in Ohio and Michigan, with Muncie, Indiana, as its western frontier. Sacramento is 2,000 miles away. But nothing makes sense in college sports anymore, especially realignment. That doesn’t mean we should just ignore the absurdity of Sacramento State potentially being in the MAC. It’s just reality.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: The MAC is desperate. The conference has badly mishandled realignment, missing on Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State and Delaware, three programs that would have added stability and long-term value. Those misses matter — and help explain why Sacramento State is in this conversation.
Northern Illinois is leaving for the Mountain West. Toledo discussed a possible move. Ohio talked to the Sun Belt. Other schools have had discussions with the Horizon League. The MAC is anything but stable right now.
In June, the NCAA denied Sacramento State’s request for a waiver to play an independent FBS schedule. But that rejection didn’t slow the momentum. It clarified the school’s path. If you want in, you need a conference.
The MAC owns weeknight football in November. Those ESPN windows matter. They create national relevance, visibility and institutional branding that Sacramento State craves. From the school’s perspective, that’s the product it’s buying.
And buy it will. Because the MAC holds all the leverage. Sacramento State has made its urgency public. Wood has openly discussed writing a massive check to make this happen. If the conference can extract $15 million or more in entry fees, it looks more palatable.
Sacramento State isn’t some fly-by-night program. The Hornets have been consistently successful over the past decade, and there’s no appetite on campus to move up just to get embarrassed. They are going to invest.
A foothold in California isn’t nothing for the MAC. This isn’t about tradition or geography; it’s about incentives. Sacramento State wants attention and legitimacy. The MAC wants money and stability. If both sides get what they want, the rest of the sport can roll its eyes all it wants.
Kirby Smart: uncomfortable with NIL, but ‘I do love winning’
Everyone wants more money. Even when they’re sitting on a throne.
Georgia reminded everyone last week how modern college football really works with the launch of Glory Glory, a new third-party initiative designed to help the Bulldogs navigate revenue sharing and stay aggressive in the NIL arms race.
The timing isn’t accidental. Georgia just signed its lowest-rated recruiting class in a decade, with only one five-star prospect. In a sport where elite talent increasingly follows elite NIL infrastructure, that’s not a coincidence. Georgia viewed it as a warning sign. At least that’s how Kirby Smart made it sound.
Glory Glory is being marketed as a “fan-first ecosystem” meant to deepen the connection between fans and Georgia athletics. It’s a way to turn fan loyalty into additional NIL fuel.
Fans can buy in through monthly or annual memberships ranging from $20 to $150 per month, or $215 to $1,620 annually. In return, they receive access to exclusive content, merchandise, newsletters and experiences such as football practice access, photo opportunities at Sanford Stadium and merchandise.
Smart insists he isn’t chasing the biggest check in college football. He actually said he doesn’t want that. His priority, he argues, is development, both on the field and financially. He’s wary of recruiting players motivated solely by the highest bid, a mindset that has already produced cautionary tales across the sport.
Still, Smart understands the reality. College football no longer runs on tradition alone.
“It takes a collective effort now more than ever before,” Smart said. “And so many people want to talk about helping and saying they want to do those things. Well, you have a chance to take action now and do that. Why not now?”
An old-school coach by temperament, Smart has been open about his discomfort with asking for money and making NIL a central topic in recruiting conversations. But he’s also pragmatic. The sport has changed, and Georgia has no intention of falling behind.
“I do love winning,” Smart said. “And I do love having really good football players that want to play for a university.”
Glory Glory is just one piece of a broader push. Georgia has aggressively pursued new revenue streams, including a Delta field logo sponsorship. A jersey patch is expected to follow in 2026.
More news and links:
In raising season-ticket prices for football, Oregon acknowledged the need to stay competitive financially.
In 2025, Penn State spent more than $13 million in revenue sharing for football.
UTSA AD Lisa Campos said the Roadrunners are targeting a football roster budget of between $4.5 million and $5 million.
Amid criticism related to the athletic department’s debt, Rutgers President William Tate defended the university’s decision to join the Big Ten in an editorial for NJ.com.
Outgoing Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione discussed what his emeritus role will look like.
Iowa State has taken the rare step of cancelling the remainder of its gymnastics season for player safety reasons.
DOWN TO BUSINESS
Waiting ’til March Madness to pay attention to college hoops? Your loss.
Football season is officially over. For a nation conditioned to schedule its weekends, moods and conversations around the sport, its absence leaves a void. So how will fans fill the gap?
This probably isn’t the answer you were thinking: college basketball.
Long treated as a secondary act in the modern sports hierarchy, men’s college basketball is quietly reasserting itself. This season doesn’t feel like a placeholder between football and the NBA playoffs. It feels like a revival, powered by elite teams, recognizable stars and compelling storylines.
And many of you have already taken notice.
According to Front Office Sports, men’s college basketball viewership is up 45 percent. Fox is up 69 percent, FS1 is up 38 percent and ESPN is up 21 percent. Those figures are a signal that interest is rebounding in a meaningful way.
Michigan State-Michigan drew 2.76 million viewers, the most-watched Friday night game in Fox’s history. Kentucky-Arkansas delivered ESPN’s biggest audience of the season at 2.39 million. Illinois-Nebraska became FS1’s most-watched game ever. Michigan State has emerged as the most-watched team in the country.
College basketball works best when it has stars, and this season has delivered them. Freshmen like Kansas’s Darryn Peterson, BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Duke’s Cameron Boozer, North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson and Houston’s Kingston Flemings, among others, are appointment viewing. Their presence has injected personality back into the sport, a characteristic that defined the 1980s and ’90s when fans knew players as well as programs.
That connection matters. College basketball thrives on familiarity. The first two rounds of last year’s NCAA tournament were the most-watched since 1993. All signs point to another jump this March.
Those who tuned into college basketball’s biggest games last weekend were rewarded. St. John’s stunned No. 3 UConn inside a delirious Madison Square Garden, a scene ripped straight from the program’s 1980s heyday. North Carolina topped No. 4 Duke on a buzzer-beating 3, igniting bedlam at the Dean Dome. Michigan State and Illinois delivered an overtime classic. Kentucky stormed back against Tennessee. The scenes were reminders of how emotionally charged college basketball can be.
The transfer portal has reshaped the sport, perhaps more than any other. While 90 percent of portal discourse centers on football, basketball has felt the greater impact. Entire rosters turn over annually, and mid-major programs are stripped for parts. Roster movement has gotten even more attention this season because of professionals infiltrating the sport.
The stories are there if you’re paying attention. We’re a month away from the NCAA tournament, the most chaotic, captivating event in American sports. But there’s no need to fast-forward. The final stretch of the regular season offers similar drama and urgency. Every game carries consequences. Every night has the potential to surprise you.
Football may dominate the calendar, but college basketball owns March. This season, it’s reminding us to pay attention for a little longer.
Introducing NIL Agency Tycoon 95
Extra Points recently announced a new addition to its free game library: NIL Agency Tycoon 95.
The objective of the game: to build a college athlete representation empire. You try to pitch various athletes to become your clients, track down marketing gigs for them, negotiate contracts and finagle revenue sharing deals with collectives.
It’s a lot of resource management, and you have to juggle internal investments (new offices, marketing staff, NCAA certifications), athlete recruitment and the work it takes to pull off enough successful marketing campaigns with Division III baseball players to actually pay your rent.