A New Era for the Bison
North Dakota State University’s football program, long dominant in the Football Championship Subdivision, is poised to step onto a larger stage as it prepares to join the Mountain West Conference beginning next season.
Alongside the realignment, the Mountain West has introduced a dedicated streaming platform called MW+, which will serve as the central hub for live coverage of all conference sports. Subscribers can access the service for $10.99 per month or $79.99 annually, with an introductory rate of $63.99 for the first year for those who enroll in email updates.
The financial model behind MW+ allocates a portion of each subscription fee back to member institutions, with distributions determined by individual user preferences, creating a direct link between audience engagement and school revenues.
Broadcast arrangements for North Dakota State’s schedule reflect a blend of national and regional exposure. Ten of the Bison’s twelve games are slated for national television on CBS Sports Network, the CW, or FOX Sports, while the home matchups against Fordham on September 5 and UTEP on October 31 will remain locally produced by WDAY‑TV, pending a successful bid from Forum Communications.
If the bid is approved, those home games will be carried on the state‑wide ABC network and on stations in Sioux Falls and Rapid City, South Dakota, as well as through the MW+ app, ensuring that fans across the region have multiple avenues to watch.
The platform’s reach extends beyond traditional television, offering apps for iPhone, Android, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Amazon Prime Channels, and it can be accessed directly at watch.themw.com or themw.com.