{"id":754624,"date":"2026-02-15T21:13:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T21:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/754624\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T21:13:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T21:13:26","slug":"mac-plans-to-add-sacramento-state-from-fcs-for-2026-season-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/754624\/","title":{"rendered":"MAC plans to add Sacramento State from FCS for 2026 season: Source"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sacramento<\/p>\n

Sacramento State is expected to pay $18 million to the MAC and a $5 million fee to the NCAA for the move from the FCS level. Christian Petersen \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Feb. 15, 2026Updated 8:25 am EST<\/p>\n

The Mid-American Conference will add Sacramento State as a football-only member for the 2026 season in the latest conference realignment move, according to a person briefed on the conversations. Sac State\u2019s plan was first reported by Yahoo Sports.<\/p>\n

The move is the culmination of a years-long effort by the school<\/a> to move up to the Football Bowl Subdivision, even after the NCAA denied a waiver for it to move up without a conference invitation. Sacramento State is expected to pay an $18 million entry fee to the MAC, along with a $5 million NCAA fee for the move up from the Football Championship Subdivision.<\/p>\n

The move also comes a week after the Mountain West announced plans to add North Dakota State<\/a> for football, with its own $12.5 million entrance fee. The Mountain West and Pac-12 passed on adding Sac State, hence an earlier waiver attempt last summer.<\/p>\n

The addition of Sac State will keep the MAC at 13 football members, as Northern Illinois is set to join the Mountain West this summer (with only a $2 million entrance fee). The MAC also added UMass last year, meaning the Midwest-based conference will span from California to Massachusetts for one sport. Sac State\u2019s other sports are set to move to the Big West.<\/p>\n

Sac State had a 38-13 record from 2019 to 2023, including a 12-1 record under coach Troy Taylor in 2022. The Hornets hired Alonzo Carter, an Arizona assistant with a deep coaching history in the Bay Area, this offseason after the previous head coach, Brennan Marion, landed the Colorado offensive coordinator job after one season.<\/p>\n

The Hornets will not be eligible for the postseason for the next two years, as part of NCAA transition rules, though they could play in a bowl game if there aren\u2019t enough bowl-eligible teams in the second season.<\/p>\n

\"Connections:\"Connections:<\/p>\n

Feb 15, 2026<\/p>\n

Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n

Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n

Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n

Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sacramento State is expected to pay $18 million to the MAC and a $5 million fee to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":754625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[331,339,7,49,48,156],"class_list":{"0":"post-754624","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-college-sports","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football","13":"tag-sports-business"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116076715599710099","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}