Nearly Two Dozen 2025 FCS Regular Season Games Set for National Broadcasts

The television networks have made their early season selections for national broadcasts in the upcoming 2025 season. The FCS will have almost two dozen regular season national TV appearances across the CW, ESPN, FOX, Fox Sports 1, and NBC networks.

The FCS season will begin on Saturday, August 23, with a quartet of games. Tarleton State (UAC) and Portland State (Big Sky) will play in the mid-afternoon game on ESPN2, while UC Davis (Big Sky) and Mercer (SoCon) will contest the FCS Kickoff in Montgomery, Alabama, at 7 PM ET on ESPN. A MEAC-SWAC matchup will take place at the same time in Atlanta, Georgia, with North Carolina Central (MEAC) and Southern (SWAC). Incarnate Word and Nicholls will also be playing in Week 0 at a yet-to-be-determined time in a Southland Conference clash.

There is no shortage of FCS versus FBS games in 2025 with a record-setting 126 matchups scheduled. South Dakota (MVFC) will be playing at Iowa State (Big 12) on Saturday, August 30, in the 3:30 PM ET slot on FOX. Albany (CAA) will be on Fox Sports 1 against Iowa (Big Ten) at 6 PM ET later that day. At least four FCS-FBS games will be shown on FS1 in 2025, including a doubleheader on Saturday, September 13.

The Big Sky has four conference games scheduled to be shown on an ESPN network this season, starting with Idaho at Montana on Saturday, September 27 (time and network TBD). The next game is Montana at Sacramento State on Friday, October 24, at 10:30 PM ET on ESPN2. A Halloween matchup between Idaho and Northern Arizona will occupy the same time slot and also be shown on The Deuce. The final Big Sky conference game on an ESPN network will be UC Davis at Montana State on Saturday, November 15, at a yet-to-be-determined time.

The Missouri Valley Football Conference will have two conference games shown on ESPN’s networks this year and they probably weren’t hard to guess. The first will be North Dakota State at South Dakota State in the Dakota Marker game on Saturday, October 25. The second matchup will be South Dakota State at South Dakota two weeks later on Saturday, November 8. The network and kickoff times for those games will be announced at a later date.

The regular season will close with The Game featuring Harvard at Yale on Saturday, November 22, at 12 PM ET on ESPNU. This year’s matchup could have an FCS playoff bid on the line as the Ivy League will participate in the postseason for the first time. The final regular season game to be shown is the Bayou Classic with Southern and Grambling State battling for bragging rights in New Orleans on Saturday, November 29. That game will be televised on NBC at 2 PM ET.

The list of FCS regular season games that will be shown on national TV is listed below, with the disclaimer that times, networks, and dates are subject to change. Additional games are expected to be added, likely SWAC and Ivy League conference games in the latter half of the regular season. Finally, the 2025 FCS Playoffs will see numerous national broadcasts on ABC and ESPN.

Photo Credit to North Dakota State University Athletics