Longtime in-state football rivals NDSU and the University of North Dakota will meet for the first time as Division I opponents next season.
NDSU completed its 2015 schedule by adding a Sept. 19 game with UND to be played at Gate City Bank Field in Fargo. The two-game contract calls for UND to return to Fargo on Sept. 7, 2019.
Per the terms of the agreement, NDSU will provide UND cash guarantees of $125,000 for the first game and $140,000 for the second game, plus 500 tickets and the option for UND to bring its band and cheer team.
The most recent two-game proposal was outlined by former NDSU athletic director Gene Taylor and current UND athletic director Brian Faison.
“Gene worked hard to find a solution that would be agreeable to both schools,” said NDSU interim athletic director Prakash Mathew. “I am happy that Gene’s offer has come to fruition.”
The teams have not met since 2003 in Grand Forks as members of NCAA Division II and the North Central Conference.
NDSU began Division I football in 2004 as a founding member of the Great West Football Conference before moving in 2008 to the Missouri Valley Football Conference. UND began in 2008 as a member of the Great West and joined the Big Sky Conference in 2012.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.