Northern Illinois will earn a multimillion dollar windfall over the next six seasons — starting on July 1, 2026 — following its transfer to the Mountain West from the Mid-American Conference, college football insider Brett McMurphy wrote on Tuesday.NIU's move from the MAC to MWC was triggered by a major conference realignment in which Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State and Utah State are set to Pac-12 in 2026.The realignment moved MWC to add UTEP and Hawaii as full members, as well as Grand Canyon and UC Davis as non-football members.According to the seven-page membership agreement with the Mountain West, the conference will pay $1.5 million to Northern Illinois as a signing bonus to be paid in July 2026. The Mountain West will cover NIU's exit fee from the MAC of up to $2.5 million, the agreement added.The DeKalb, Illinois-based team is expected to earn between $2.3 million and $2.6 million from media rights beginning in the 2026-27 season. The profit earnings would increase by 10 percent in the next six seasons, for a total of 34.2 million, or about $5.7 million annually.The Huskies moved to the Mountain West as a football-only member after about 40 years of being a Mid-American Conference member. Per data from federal tax records and a Mountain West school’s Board of Trustees, NIU's move to MWC will earn a “significant” revenue increase of about $4 million annually, .In return, the school will have to pay an annual fee of $220,000, or 30 percent of membership dues to the conference, McMurphy continued.NIU is also mandated to pay an entrance fee of $2 million that will be split into six payments, or $333,333.25 annually, on every July 1 beginning in 2026. Moreover, Northern Illinois will be required to boost its football budget to no less than $13.5 million before the 2026 football season and at least $15 million before the 2027 season.MWC chief welcomes Northern Illinois moveMountain West Conference commissioner Gloria Nevarez welcomed the addition of NIU to its growing group of teams.“We love the addition of a fourth time zone (Central) in the third-largest media market (Chicago) in the country in the year that we are going to market for our media rights,” she said.The conference chief pointed out that most programs were accommodating to the idea of having a new member-school in the group.MWC addressed NIU's logistical concerns, saying that is allowed to configure its nonconference travel schedule to solve any concerns from its conference road games."We are an airplane league, but we are pretty good at minimizing things we can control, such as back-to-back road games," Nevarez said. "(Adding schools outside the footprint) was a very in-depth discussion.”Northern Illinois is 1-3 this season in the MAC. After earning a 19-17 win over Holy Cross in the season-opener, the Huskies absorbed successive losses to Maryland, Mississippi State and San Diego State.