Dekalb, Ill. — Northern Illinois University (NIU) has announced that it has accepted an invitation to join the Horizon League for basketball and most other sports. This transition will exclude the football program, which plans to move from the Mid-American Conference (MAC) to the Mountain West Conference starting in 2026.
NIU is set to become the 12th member of the Horizon League, participating in 14 of the league’s 19 sports as of the 2026-27 academic year. There are some notable exceptions to this move. The football program will shift to the Mountain West Conference in 2026, while NIU has requested to keep its wrestling and gymnastics teams within the MAC since the Horizon League does not sponsor those sports.
Historically, Northern Illinois has engaged with the MAC across 39 seasons in two separate periods, from 1975 to 1985 and then again from 1997 to the present. The school has experienced various affiliations, including a phase as an independent entity in basketball from 1986 to 1990. Additionally, NIU was part of the Mid-Continent Conference for four years and also spent time in the Horizon League between 1994 and 1997 when it was known as the Midwestern Collegiate Conference.
The addition of Northern Illinois will place the university alongside established Horizon League members such as Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy, Indiana University-Indianapolis, Northern Kentucky, Oakland, Purdue University Fort Wayne, Robert Morris, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wright State, and Youngstown State.
