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DeKALB – For the second time in two months, Northern Illinois University president Lisa Freeman and athletic director Sean Frazier were at a press conference announcing a new conference membership starting in July 2026.
Last time it was for the football program joining the Mountain West. On Thursday, it was for most of the university’s other sports joining the Horizon League.
“We just got better again today,” Frazier said. “This is really a massive, massive deal for us.”
The move from the Mid-American Conference to the Horizon League became official earlier Thursday when the NIU Board of Trustees approved a $1.4 million payment to join the league.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from a press conference featuring Freeman, Frazier and Horizon Commissioner Julie Roe Lach.
Frazier implies Missouri Valley was other possible landing spot
After the press conference, Frazier did one-on-one interviews with reporters.
A reporter said the Missouri Valley seemed like a good fit and then asked how far conversations went with any other conferences. Frazier then heavily implied that the choice came down to the Horizon League and the Missouri Valley Conference.
“We came to two at the end of the day, and I’m not going to mention the other one. But you’ve already mentioned it,” Frazier said. “There were about four or five total that contacted and we have conversations with, but we all had to go back to the regional piece, and we had to go back to what makes sense.”
One big piece, he said, was being in a league where they were the only Illinois school. UIC left the Horizon for the Missouri Valley in 2022. The league has had 11 schools since, with NIU becoming the 12th officially on July 1, 2026.
NIU was the only Illinois school in the MAC. Bradley, Illinois State, UIC and SIU currently are in the Missouri Valley.
“We like that model,” Frazier said. “What that does for us is that we’re the only one. That gives us some recruiting and other advantages. And it’s the same thing with the Mountain West, being the only one. In this day and age where you have to differentiate yourself ... you’ve got to be a little more intentional about how you separate yourself from everybody else.”
Frazier said finances also played a big role. He said that by joining the Horizon League, the university will save between $400,000 and $500,000 annually on travel expenses.
Frazier said that the final two leagues the school considered were really similar in terms of travel savings, but being the only Illinois school in the league was a big factor.
The Horizon adds another major market to its league
Lach said that with the addition of NIU, and counting it as the Chicago market, the league now features six of the top 30 TV markets in the country. Among the large market schools include Detroit-Mercy, Indiana-Indianapolis, Cleveland State and Milwaukee-Wisconsin.
“It’s incredible exposure for our student-athletes and our institutions, but also frankly some cultural opportunities,” Lach said. “One of the stories I like to tell is when a team travels in our major-city footprint, we had an instance just last year where a team goes to a Bucks game when traveling to Milwaukee, and when they went up to Green Bay they were able to tour Lambeau Field.”
Gymnastics, wrestling still need a home
The only programs NIU has that the Horizon doesn’t sponsor are wrestling and gymnastics. Both will need to find a new home.
Both Frazier and Freeman said they are hopeful those teams can remain in the MAC as affiliate members. If not, Frazier said there are backup plans, including the Midwest Independent Conference for gymnastics.
For wrestling, he said there were “leads from the Big 10 to the Big 12 and everything else.”
Freeman said that the reason the MAC hasn’t decided about wrestling or gymnastics yet is a timing issue more than anything else.
Not much of an immediate impact on the teams
NIU women’s basketball coach Lisa Carlsen said the move to the Horizon has a great deal of effect for the future.
But as for immediate impact, she said the biggest impact probably will be in recruiting.
“I don’t think it necessarily changes our footprint as far as recruiting is concerned,” Carlsen said. “But now you’re selling a different league that also has a very strong women’s basketball reputation. We talked about that in the MAC, it has a very strong women’s basketball reputation. I think the same is true in the Horizon.”
Frazier expects new leagues will provide more fundraising opportunities
Back in early 2018, Frazier announced exploring options to sell the naming rights to the Convocation Center. More than seven years later there still is no sponsor.
But Frazier said there’s a lot of momentum for the athletic department between the two new conferences. He said the university will be able to refresh some things they haven’t been able to do.
He said the athletic program already has seen an increase in corporate sponsors and other donors and will “compel the team to the next level, whatever that might be.”