The Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears are the athletic teams representing Missouri State University. Missouri State's athletics programs date back to 1908. Missouri State competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision, but will start a transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision on July 1, 2024. The majority of sports play in the Division I Missouri Valley Conference. Missouri State football competes in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and the women's beach volleyball team, nicknamed Beach Bears instead of "Bears" or "Lady Bears", competes in Conference USA (CUSA), having moved from the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association after the spring 2023 season. Men's swimming & diving had competed in the Mid-American Conference through the 2023–24 season, but sponsorship of that sport is transferring from that conference to the MVC in July 2024. Missouri State will become a full member of CUSA on July 1, 2025.

Missouri State University, formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enrollment, with an enrollment of 23,418 in the fall semester of 2023. The school also operates a two-year campus in West Plains, Missouri offering associate degrees, which had an enrollment of 1,060 in the fall semester of 2023. A bachelor's degree in business is offered at Liaoning Normal University in China. The university also operates a fruit research station in Mountain Grove, Missouri and a Department of Defense and Strategic Studies program in Fairfax, Virginia.