SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The commissioner of the Missouri Valley Football Conference — which includes two schools from South Dakota and one from North Dakota — says her league would be hurt the most if the Big Ten Conference stops scheduling smaller Division One colleges. The Big Ten says it is unlikely to schedule Football Championship Subdivision teams now that Rutgers and Maryland are joining the league and a playoff system is being planned in the upper tier of Division One.

Missouri Valley commissioner Patty Viverito tells the Sioux Falls Argus Leader that her league has close ties to the Big Ten, mainly because teams from the conferences are located in the same area. Viverito says there’s always a lot of interest in games between Missouri Valley and Big Ten teams.