By Keon Edington / The Jambar
As the football season officially begins, one conference starts anew. The Missouri Valley Football Conference ushers in a new chapter with Jeff Jackson as its new commissioner.
The change follows Patty Viverito’s retirement after four decades of leadership. The conference also overhauled its governance structure through a partnership with the Summit League.
Jackson has served as commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference since 2021. The unification between the MVFC and Summit League named Josh Fenton as the executive advisor of the MVFC. Fenton has served as commissioner of the Summit League since April 2023.
Viverito’s run of over 40 years ended in July 2025 and Jackson said it’s been a simple transition because of Viverito’s work.
“The good fortune for the members of the MVFC is that Patty Viverito did such a fantastic job that it just makes the transition almost seamless,” Jackson said.
Headquartered in St. Louis, the conference competes at the NCAA’s Division I level consisting of 10 institutions.
The conference’s 10 universities include Illinois State University, Indiana State University, Murray State University, University of North Dakota, North Dakota State University, University of Northern Iowa, University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University, Southern Illinois University and Youngstown State University.
The conference decreased from 11 to 10 schools, as Missouri State University left for the Football Bowl Subdivision this past offseason.
As his term gets underway, Jackson said the transition has already been smooth because of the groundwork of other institutions, and meeting YSU President Bill Johnson.
“We’re just very fortunate to have members like Youngstown State to be in a situation, and it’s been stewarded so well,” Jackson said. “Basically, it’s just walking in those footprints and that’s what we’re doing. We’re off to a good start.”
Kyle Grooms, chief operations officer of the MVFC, said a big part of the Summit League partnership is getting more mainstream exposure for each team with media rights through broadcast partners ESPN and Midco Sports.
“The value of being on ESPN is always big. Even within the regional markets, it is always something to work on and be proud of,” Grooms said.
One way the conference can continue to garner more eyes is by performing at a high level. Grooms said expectations for the teams are high this season.
“Our expectation yearly is that we lead all the conferences and number of teams that are selected in the playoffs picture,” Grooms said. “We’ve got a great outlook for this year, which I believe seven of our teams [are] receiving votes in the preseason top 25 polls and certainly look for that to continue.”
As the football season kicks off, Jackson said the priorities of the first-season partnership are to ensure experience for fans and student athletes runs smoothly.
“The most important thing is just to make sure our student-athletes are having the best experience that they can have and we have a great season,” Jackson said.
Both Youngstown State and Indiana State kickoff the football season for the MVFC at 5 p.m. Aug. 28. YSU takes on Mercyhurst University, while ISU goes head-to-head against McKendree University.
