BREAKING: Sacramento State moves to the FBS, joining the MAC

Sac State becomes the FBS’s newest member, beginning in 2026

Jack Dann, Sports Editor • February 14, 2026

Sacramento State will join the Mid-American Conference for the 2026 season. The MAC is primarily made up of teams from the Midwest-Great Lakes region of the country. (Graphic created in Canva by Jack Dann)

Sacramento State has become the latest FCS program to make the leap to the FBS and will join the Mid-American Conference for the 2026 season.

Sources: The MAC has voted to formally add FCS Sacramento State into the league as a football-only member starting in 2026. The cost of entrance is expected to be $18 million and a deal is expected to be announced in the upcoming days. pic.twitter.com/SpjPVXJiIt

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 15, 2026

After leaving the Big Sky in June 2025, Sac State initially tried to enter the FBS as an independent, but their waiver was rejected by the NCAA. This meant that the Hornets needed to secure an invite to an established conference to join the FBS, which they’ve now secured.

This move avoids the awkwardness of playing out the 2026 season as an FCS Independent, while the school’s nonfootball schools play in their new conference, the Big West.

Sac State will pay a reported fee of $18 million to join, a number likely influenced by North Dakota State’s $12 million dollar move to the Mountain West Conference earlier this month.

This price point will not include the standard $5 million dollar FCS-to-FBS fee, and the surrendering of media rights revenue for their initial seasons in the MAC.

North Dakota State, the most recent FCS-FBS climber, will forfeit that money for seven years. SMU, who moved from the American Athletic Conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2024, fortified their rights for nine years.

In the MAC, Sac State will play eight conference games and up to four non-conference games, necessitating major change to the currently announced 2026 schedule. They had scheduled eight prior to the rumblings of an FBS move, with just one coming against an FBS opponent, Fresno State. Traditionally, FBS teams play just one FCS opponent per season, so the Hornets will likely only be able to keep one of their games, as well as the bout against Fresno State.

New teams are often not eligible for playoff and bowl football right away, but eventually, Sac State will be able to play in one of the five bowl games that the MAC sends their top teams to.

These are: The Bahamas Bowl, The 68 Ventures Bowl, The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, The Salute to Veterans Bowl and The GameAbove Sports Bowl.

With their upward move, the FBS ambitions of President Luke Wood and Athletic Director Mark Orr are realized.

Donate to The State Hornet

$890

$2500

Contributed

Our Goal

Your donation will support the student journalists of Sacramento State University. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs. We recently reset our donation goal, find out more here: https://statehornet.com/2025/12/resetting-donation-counter/

About the Contributor

Jack Dann, Sports Editor

(he/him) Jack Dann is a third-year journalism major from the Napa Valley in their third semester at The State Hornet. After gaining a following on social media covering the NBA and NFL, Jack joined The State Hornet and covered the women’s basketball and football beats in his first and second semesters, respectively. As a former college athlete and current scout, reporter and editor, Jack has experience at all levels of the field. He hopes to work in sports media and turn his passion into his career.