Big Sky Conference facts for kids

The Big Sky Conference is a group of universities and colleges in the Western United States. They team up to play sports in the NCAA Division I. This is the highest level of college sports in the U.S. The conference office is in Ogden, Utah. For football, the Big Sky plays in Division I FCS, which is the second-highest level.

Teams in the Big Sky Conference

As of the 2017–18 school year, the Big Sky Conference had 12 main members. These schools play almost all of their sports within the conference.

Idaho's Football Story

The University of Idaho is a full member, but its football team used to play in a different, top-level division called Division I FBS. They were part of the Sun Belt Conference just for football. However, after 2017, the Sun Belt teams decided not to continue their football agreement with Idaho. So, Idaho chose to move its football team back to the FCS level and rejoined the Big Sky for football in 2018.

North Dakota's Changes

Another school, the University of North Dakota, left the Big Sky for most of its sports in 2018. They joined the Summit League, where many of their old rivals play. Their football team will join the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2020. For 2018 and 2019, North Dakota's football team played without being part of a conference. However, they still played games against Big Sky football teams, and those games counted in the Big Sky standings for the other teams.

Full Members Table

Here are the main schools that are full members of the Big Sky Conference:

Associate Members

The Big Sky also has "associate" members. These schools play only one sport in the Big Sky Conference, while their other sports are part of a different main conference.

Associate Members Table

Here are the schools that are associate members of the Big Sky Conference: