For the first time in the league's 40-year history, two regular-season Missouri Valley Football Conference home games have been selected for national linear distribution.  ESPN announced its national telecast lineup on Thursday, May 30, and the fall football schedule features two-time defending national champion South Dakota State in back-to-back weeks.  North Dakota State and South Dakota are each featured once.

Network and game times for both games will be announced at a later time.

College football on ESPN platforms presents an unparalleled portfolio of marquee rivalries, non-conference showcases, conference championship contests and comprehensive postseason coverage in 2024. ESPN will present approximately 1,000 regular-season FBS and FCS games across all platforms.

North Dakota State hosts South Dakota State in the Dakota Marker game on Oct. 19 in Fargo, N.D., and South Dakota State hosts South Dakota on Oct. 26 in Brookings, S.D.  All three teams were NCAA Division I FCS Playoff participants in 2023, and all three finished the season among the Top 4 in the national polls.  

For the first time since 2016, NDSU will have two regular-season football games on national television.  NDSU's other nationally televised game is the season opener Thursday, Aug. 29, when the Bison face the Colorado Buffaloes on ESPN.

In 2023, the MVFC matched an FCS record with six playoff participants in 2023.  The 2023 season marked the 19th title game appearance for a league team, was an FCS-record 13th-straight title game appearance for the MVFC, and marked the 13th all-time FCS championship for an MVFC member, which includes a league-best nine by NDSU.  The Jackrabbits, meanwhile, have won 29-straight games, which includes two championships.

On August 29, 2023, the Missouri Valley Football Conference announced a multimedia rights extension with ESPN.  The agreement features national linear and digital exposure for the Conference, beginning with the 2024 football season and extending through the 2029 season.  During the term of the six-year extension, a minimum of nine MVFC games will be featured on ESPN linear networks (ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU), in addition to continuing the eight-game Conference "Game of the Week" digital package on ESPN+, the leading sports streaming service. The MVFC will also deliver additional league contests to air exclusively on ESPN platforms as part of the new agreement.   Last season, the league produced an all-time high 68 productions that aired on ESPN+ during the regular season.

Fall 2024 MVFC Selections for ESPN Linear (Start times and networks set by ESPN)
Oct. 19 – SDSU at NDSU
Oct. 26 – South Dakota at SDSU

Fall 2024 MVFC "Game of the Week" Selections for ESPN+ (Start times set by host institution)
Sept. 28 -- Youngstown State at Missouri State
Oct. 5 -- South Dakota at Murray State
Oct. 5 – SDSU at UNI
Oct. 12 – NDSU at Southern Illinois
Oct. 26 -- Southern Illinois at Indiana State
Nov. 2 -- North Dakota at Indiana State
Nov. 16 -- UNI at Youngstown State
Nov. 23 -- North Dakota at Illinois State

All other home MVFC games will be available on ESPN+