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NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players
globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic powers, with larger budgets, more
elaborate facilities and more athletic scholarships than Divisions II and III as well as many
smaller schools committed to the highest level of intercollegiate competition.
This level was once called the University Division of the NCAA, in contrast to the lower-level College Division; these terms
were replaced with numeric divisions in 1973. The University Division was renamed Division I, while the College Division
was split in two; the College Division members that offered scholarships or wanted to compete against those who did
became Division II, while those who did not want to offer scholarships became Division III.[1]
For college football only, D-I schools are further divided into the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the Football
Championship Subdivision (FCS), and those institutions that do not have any football program. FBS teams have higher
game attendance requirements and more players receiving athletic scholarships than FCS teams. The FBS is named for its
series of postseason bowl games, with various polls ranking teams after the conclusion of these games, while the FCS
national champion is determined by a multi-team bracket tournament.
For the 2020–21 school year, Division I contained 357 of the NCAA's 1,066 member institutions, with 130 in the Football
Bowl Subdivision (FBS), 127 in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and 100 non-football schools, with six
additional schools in the transition from Division II to Division I.[2][3] There was a moratorium on any additional
movement up to D-I until 2012, after which any school that wants to move to D-I must be accepted for membership by a
conference and show the NCAA it has the financial ability to support a D-I program.
Contents
D-I schools
FBS and FCS
Finances
Conferences
FBS conferences
FCS conferences
Sports
Men's team sports
Men's individual sports
Women's team sports
Women's individual sports
Broadcasting and revenue
Scholarship limits by sport
Rules for multi-sport athletes
Football subdivisions
Football Bowl Subdivision
Conferences
Football Championship Subdivision
Abstainers
Scholarships
Conferences
Division I non-football schools
Conferences
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D-I schools
Schools must field teams in at least seven sports for men and seven for women or six for men and eight for women, with at
least two team sports for each gender.[4][5] Teams that include both men and women are counted as men's sports for the
purposes of sponsorship counting.[4] Division I schools must meet minimum financial aid awards for their athletics
program, and there are maximum financial aid awards for each sport that a Division I school cannot exceed.[6] Several
other NCAA sanctioned minimums and differences distinguish Division I from Divisions II and III.[5] Members must
sponsor at least one sport (not necessarily a team sport) for each sex in each playing season (fall, winter, spring), again
with coeducational teams counted as men's teams for this purpose.[7] There are contest and participant minimums for
each sport, as well as scheduling criteria. For sports other than football and basketball, Division I schools must play 100
percent of the minimum number of contests against Division I opponents—anything over the minimum number of games
has to be 50 percent Division I. Men's and women's basketball teams have to play all but two games against Division I
teams; for men, they must play one-third of all their contests in the home arena.[8]
In addition to the schools that compete fully as D-I institutions, the NCAA allows D-II and D-III schools to classify one
men's and one women's sport (other than football or basketball) as a D-I sport, as long as they sponsored those sports
before the latest rules change in 2011.[9] Also, Division II schools are eligible to compete for Division I national
championships in sports that do not have a Division II national championship, and in those sports may also operate under
D-I rules and scholarship limits.[10]
For football only, Division I was further subdivided in 1978 into Division I-A (the principal football schools), Division
I-AA (the other schools with football teams), and Division I (those schools not sponsoring football).[11][12] In 2006,
Division I-A and I-AA were renamed "Football Bowl Subdivision" (FBS) and "Football Championship
Subdivision" (FCS), respectively.
FBS teams are allowed a maximum of 85 players receiving athletically based aid per year, with each player on scholarship
receiving a full scholarship. FCS teams have the same 85-player limit as FBS teams, but are allowed to give aid equivalent
to only 63 full scholarships. FCS teams are allowed to award partial scholarships, a practice technically allowed but
essentially never used at the FBS level. FBS teams also have to meet minimum game attendance requirements (average
15,000 people in actual or paid attendance per home game), while FCS teams do not need to meet minimum attendance
requirements.
Another difference is postseason play. Since 1978, FCS teams have played in an NCAA-sanctioned bracket tournament
culminating in a title game, the NCAA Division I Football Championship, to determine a national champion. Meanwhile,
FBS teams play in bowl games, with various polls ranking teams after the conclusion of these games, yielding a Consensus
National Champion annually since 1950. Starting with the 2014 postseason, a four-team College Football Playoff has been
contested, replacing a one-game championship format that had started during the 1992 postseason with the Bowl
Coalition. Even so, Division I FBS football remains the only NCAA sport in which a yearly champion is not determined by
an NCAA-sanctioned championship event.
Finances
Division I athletic programs generated $8.7 billion in revenue in the 2009–2010 academic year. Men's teams provided
55%, women's teams 15%, and 30% was not categorized by sex or sport. Football and men's basketball are usually a
university's only profitable sports,[13] and are called "revenue sports".[14] From 2008 to 2012, 205 varsity teams were
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dropped in NCAA Division I – 72 for women and 133 for men, with men's tennis, gymnastics and wrestling hit particularly
hard.[15]
In the Football Bowl Subdivision (130 schools in 2017), between 50 and 60 percent of football and men's basketball
programs generated positive revenues (above program expenses).[16] However, in the Football Championship Subdivision
(124 schools in 2017), only four percent of football and five percent of men's basketball programs generated positive
revenues.[17]
In 2012, 2% of athletic budgets were spent on equipment, uniforms and supplies for male athletes at NCAA Division I
Football Bowl Subdivision school, with the median spending per-school at $742,000.[18]
In 2014, the NCAA and the student athletes debated whether student athletes should be paid. In April, the NCAA
approved students-athletes getting free unlimited meals and snacks. The NCAA stated "The adoption of the meals
legislation finished a conversation that began in the Awards, Benefits, Expenses and Financial Aid Cabinet. Members have
worked to find appropriate ways to ensure student-athletes get the nutrition they need without jeopardizing Pell Grants or
other federal aid received by the neediest student-athletes. With their vote, members of the council said they believe
loosening NCAA rules on what and when food can be provided from athletics departments is the best way to address the
issue."[19]
Conferences
Under NCAA regulations, all Division I conferences defined as "multisport conferences" must meet the following
criteria:[20]
FBS conferences
FBS conferences must meet a more stringent set of requirements for NCAA recognition than other conferences:[21]
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Total
Men's
Women's
Co-ed
† "Power Five" conferences with guaranteed berths in the New Year's Six, the bowl games associated with the College
Football Playoff
Notes
a. The conference was founded in 1979 as the original Big East Conference. It renamed itself the American Athletic
Conference following a 2013 split along football lines. The non-FBS schools of the original conference left to form a
new conference that purchased the Big East name, while the FBS schools continued to operate under the old Big
East's charter and structure. The American also inherited the old Big East's Bowl Championship Series berth for the
2013 season, the last for the BCS.
b. 10 of the 11 full members sponsor football, with Wichita State as the only non-football member.
c. In addition to the full members, five schools have single-sport associate membership, and another is a member in two
sports:
Navy is a football-only member.
Florida and Vanderbilt are members in women's lacrosse.
Sacramento State is a member in women's rowing.
Old Dominion is a member in both women's lacrosse and women's rowing.
d. Notre Dame is a full member except in football, in which it remains independent. It has committed to play five games
each season against ACC opponents, and to play each other ACC member at least once every three years.
e. In addition to the full members, two schools have affiliate membership:
Johns Hopkins, otherwise a Division III member, is an affiliate in both men's and women's lacrosse, sports in which
the school fields Division I teams.
Notre Dame is a men's hockey affiliate.
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f. In addition to the full members, the Big 12 has 12 members that participate in only one sport, with another school
scheduled to become a single-sport member in the near future.
Air Force, Missouri, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State, Utah Valley, and
Wyoming compete in men's wrestling.
Fresno State competes in equestrian.
Alabama and Tennessee are members in women's rowing.
Denver is a member in women's gymnastics.
California Baptist is scheduled to become a men's wrestling member in 2022.
g. The conference was founded in 1995, with football competition starting in 1996.
h. In addition to the 14 full members, Conference USA features three schools that play men's soccer in the conference:
Coastal Carolina, Kentucky and South Carolina. West Virginia will become the fourth such member in July 2022.
i. Note that "Independents" is not a conference; it is simply a designation used for schools whose football programs do
not play in any conference. All of these schools have conference memberships for other sports.
j. In addition to the 12 full members, the Mid-American Conference features 21 single-sport members.
Appalachian State, Bellarmine, and Longwood compete in women's field hockey.
Binghamton competes in men's tennis.
Detroit Mercy, Robert Morris, and Youngstown State compete in women's lacrosse.
Evansville, Missouri State, and Southern Illinois compete in men's swimming and diving.
Bloomsburg, Clarion, Cleveland State, Edinboro, George Mason, Lock Haven, Rider, and SIU Edwardsville
compete in men's wrestling.
Georgia Southern, Georgia State, and West Virginia compete in men's soccer; West Virginia will move men's
soccer to Conference USA in July 2022.
k. Since 2012, Hawaiʻi has been a football-only associate member, with most of its remaining teams in the non-football
Big West Conference.
l. In addition to the 11 full members and football affiliate Hawaiʻi, Colorado College, a Division III school with a Division I
men's ice hockey team, plays Division I women's soccer in the MW.
m. The charter of the Pac-12 dates only to the formation of the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) in
1959. However, the Pac-12 claims the history of the Pacific Coast Conference, which was founded in 1915 and began
competition in 1916, as its own. Of the nine members of the PCC at the time of its demise in June 1959, only Idaho
never joined the Pac-12. The PCC's berth in the Rose Bowl passed to the AAWU.
n. The Pac-12 also includes four associate members, each of which competes in a single sport. San Diego State plays
men's soccer, and Cal State Bakersfield, Cal Poly, and Little Rock compete in men's wrestling.
o. Ten Sun Belt Conference members currently sponsor football, with Little Rock and UT Arlington as members that do
not play football at all.
FCS conferences
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Big South Conference Big South 1983 9[b] 19 Charlotte, North Carolina
Notes
a. The football membership consists of all 11 full members plus football-only affiliates Cal Poly and UC Davis.
The conference will drop to 10 total members and 12 football members in 2022 with the departure of Southern
Utah for the Western Athletic Conference.
b. Six full Big South members do not sponsor football at all, while a seventh (Presbyterian) is a member of the Pioneer
Football League. The Big South football league includes four associate members: Kennesaw State, Monmouth, North
Alabama, and Robert Morris.
7 football members in 2022 with loss of Kennesaw State and North Alabama to the new football league of their full-
time home, the ASUN Conference.
c. Of the 10 full CAA members, five do not sponsor football at all. The CAA football league includes seven associate
members: Albany, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Richmond, Stony Brook, and Villanova.
d. The Ivy League abstains from the championship tournament and all postseason play.
e. The MEAC Champion, since 2015, forgoes its automatic bid to allow its champion to participate in the Celebration
Bowl. Non-champions are eligible for at-large bids (an example being North Carolina A&T in 2016).
f. Of the 8 full MEAC members, two do not sponsor football: Coppin State and Maryland Eastern Shore.
g. Three of the 10 full members do not sponsor football. The seven football-sponsoring schools are joined by associate
member Duquesne.
h. Of the 10 full members, Belmont and SIU Edwardsville do not sponsor football, and Morehead State competes in the
Pioneer Football League.
i. Of the 10 full members, American, Boston University, and Loyola (MD) do not sponsor football, and Army and Navy
play FBS football. The five full members that play Patriot League football are joined by associates Fordham and
Georgetown.
j. 10 full members, with UNC Greensboro not sponsoring football.
k. Two of the 8 full members do not sponsor football: New Orleans and Texas A&M–Corpus Christi.
l. The SWAC abstains from the championship tournament to allow for a longer regular season, an in-conference
championship game and the winner participating in the Celebration Bowl. If a team is not in the championship game
and not playing a regular season game on the 1st weekend of the FCS Playoffs. They could qualify for a At-Large bid
to play if selected.
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m. Of the 13 full members, California Baptist, Chicago State, Grand Canyon, Seattle, Utah Valley, and UTRGV do not
sponsor football at all, while New Mexico State plays as an FBS independent. For at least the 2021 season, Central
Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, and Jacksonville State are de facto football associates as part of a formal partnership
between the WAC and those three schools' home of the ASUN Conference.
13 full members and 7 football members expected in 2022 with loss of full non-football member Chicago State,
addition of full football-sponsoring member Southern Utah, and expected departure of Central Arkansas, Eastern
Kentucky, and Jacksonville State to the new ASUN football league.
13 full members and 8 football members no later than 2024 with UTRGV adding football.
Sports
Scholarships
(FBS)[23]
24
85 (FBS)
Sports are ranked according to total possible scholarships (number of teams x number of scholarships per team). Scholarship numbers for
head-count sports are indicated without a decimal point. Numbers for equivalency sports are indicated with a decimal point, with a trailing zero
if needed.
Notes:
The NCAA officially classifies the men's championships in volleyball and water polo as "National Collegiate"
championships, that being the designation for championships that are open to members of more than one NCAA
division. The ice hockey championship, however, is styled as a "Division I" championship because of the previous
existence of a separate Division II championship in that sport.
Football — D-I football programs are divided into FBS and FCS. The 128 FBS programs can award financial aid to as
many as 85 players, with each player able to receive up to a full scholarship. The 124 FCS programs can award up to
the equivalent of 63 full scholarships, divided among no more than 85 individuals. Some FCS conferences restrict
scholarships to a lower level or prohibit scholarships altogether.
Soccer — As of 2021–22, the Big 12 and the SEC are the only two major traditional D-I conferences that do not
sponsor soccer. Several other D-I conferences also do not sponsor the sport—the Big Sky, MEAC, Mountain West,
Ohio Valley, Southland, Sun Belt, and SWAC. The most recent conference to drop men's soccer is the Sun Belt, doing
so after the 2020–21 season.
Ice Hockey — Almost all D-I ice hockey programs are in the Northeast, the Upper Midwest, or the Colorado Front
Range. Only one D-I all-sports conference, the Big Ten, sponsors a men's hockey league. All other conferences
operate as hockey-specific leagues. Of the 61 teams that planned to compete in D-I hockey in 2020–21, 23 are
otherwise classified as either D-II or D-III; a number of schools from D-II play in D-I ice hockey as the NCAA no longer
sponsors a championship in D-II and many have traditional/cultural fan bases that support ice hockey, and the D-III
schools were "grandfathered" in to D-I through their having sponsored hockey prior to the creation of D-III. Several
programs, most notably all six Ivy League members with hockey programs, did not play in 2020–21 due to COVID-19
concerns.
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Lacrosse — The vast majority of D-I lacrosse programs are from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. There are only three
D-I programs west of the Mississippi—Air Force and Denver on the Colorado Front Range, and Utah.
Volleyball — Of the traditional D-I conferences, only the Big West sponsors men's volleyball, and it did not do so until
the 2017–18 school year. Two of the other three major volleyball conferences, defined here as leagues that include full
Division I members, are volleyball-specific conferences; the third is the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, a multi-
sport conference that does not sponsor football or basketball. In addition to the D-I schools, 32 D-II schools originally
planned to compete in the National Collegiate division in 2020–21; nine of these are members of Conference
Carolinas, the first all-sports league outside Division III to sponsor the sport, and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference was to start play in 2020–21 with six newly launched teams. Several of these teams, including all six
SIAC men's volleyball schools, chose not to compete in that season due to COVID-19 concerns.
Water Polo — The number of D-I schools sponsoring men's water polo has declined from 35 in 1987/88 to 22 in
2010/11.[32] No school outside of California has ever made the finals of the championship, and all champions since
1998 have come from one of the four California-based Pac-12 schools.
The following table lists the men's individual DI sports with at least 1,000 participating athletes. Sports are ranked by
number of athletes.
Teams Teams
No. Sport Founded Change Athletes[33] Season
(2015)[33] (1982)[33]
DI college wrestling has lost almost half of its programs since 1982.[41]
Scholarships
Notes:
As in the men's table above, sports are ranked in order of total possible scholarships. Numbers for head-count sports
are indicated without a decimal point; those for equivalency sports are indicated with a decimal point, with a trailing
zero if needed.
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Women's soccer is the fastest growing NCAA D-I women's team sport over a prolonged period, increasing from 22
teams in 1981/82 to 315 teams in 2010/11.[43] However, in recent years, the fastest-growing has been beach
volleyball, which went from 14 Division I teams in 2011–12 to 55 in 2016–17.
† = In the 2016–17 school year, rugby is classified by the NCAA as an "emerging sport" for women. Beach volleyball,
which had previously been an "emerging sport" under the name of "sand volleyball",[44] became an official NCAA
championship sport in 2015–16.[45]
* = The number of scholarships are partially linked for (indoor) volleyball and beach volleyball. Schools that field both
indoor and beach volleyball teams are allowed 6.0 full scholarship equivalents specifically for beach volleyball as of
2016–17, with the further limitations that (1) no player receiving aid for beach volleyball can be on the indoor volleyball
roster and (2) a maximum of 14 individuals can receive aid in beach volleyball. If a school fields only a beach
volleyball team, it is allowed 8.0 full scholarship equivalents for that sport, also distributed among no more than 14
individuals.
The following table lists the women's individual DI sports with at least 1,000 participating athletes. Sports are ranked by
number of athletes.
Teams Teams
No. Sport Change Athletes[33] Season
(2015)[33] (1982)[33]
1 Track (outdoor) 329 180 +149 13,075 Spring
2 Track (indoor) 319 127 +192 12,816 Winter
3 Cross country 342 183 +159 6,031 Fall
4 Swimming & diving 195 161 +34 5,393 Winter
5 Golf 259 83 +176 2,170 Spring
6 Tennis 318 246 +72 2,912 Spring
7 Gymnastics 61 99 –38 1,085 Winter
The NCAA also holds certain TV contracts. For example, the NCAA's contract to show the men's basketball championship
tournament (widely known as March Madness) is currently under a 14-year deal with CBS and Turner that runs from
2010 to 2024 and pays $11 billion.
For the 2014–15 fiscal year, the conferences that earned the most revenues (and that distributed the most revenues to
each of their member schools) were:
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Big Ten Conference (Big Ten/B1G) All Fox, ESPN, CBS $2.6bn ($440m) [46]
Mountain West Conference (MW) All CBS, ESPN $116m ($18m) [47]
"Head-count" sports, in which the NCAA limits the total number of individuals that can receive athletic scholarships,
but allows each player to receive up to a full scholarship.
"Equivalency" sports, in which the NCAA limits the total financial aid that a school can offer in a given sport to the
equivalent of a set number of full scholarships. Roster limitations may or may not apply, depending on the sport.
The term "counter" is also key to this concept. The NCAA defines a "counter" as "an individual who is receiving
institutional financial aid that is countable against the aid limitations in a sport."[49]
The number of scholarships that Division I members may award in each sport is listed below. In this table, scholarship
numbers for head-count sports are indicated without a decimal point; for equivalency sports, they are listed with a
decimal point, with a trailing zero if required.
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Baseball 11.7[51][nb 1] –
Bowling – 5.0[50]
Equestrian – 15.0[50]
85 (FBS)[63][nb 5]
Football –
63.0 (FCS)[64][nb 6]
Rifle 3.6[61][nb 9] –
Rowing – 20.0[50]
Rugby – 12.0[50]
Softball – 12.0[50]
Triathlon – 6.5[50]
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5. FBS programs are also limited to 25 new counters per school year.[63]
6. FCS programs are also limited to 85 total counters per school year.[64] Effective with the recruiting cycle for the 2018–
19 school year, the previous limit of 30 new counters per year for FCS programs has been removed.[65]
7. The number of total counters is limited to 30.[67]
8. The NCAA Division I Manual does not include any scholarship limitations for women's ice hockey. These limitations
are instead found in the Division II Manual.[68] The Division II Manual does not include any limit on total counters for
any sport, including women's ice hockey.
9. NCAA rifle competition is fully coeducational. For purposes of sports sponsorship, the NCAA classifies teams that
include both men and women as men's teams.[69] Of the 33 NCAA rifle schools (23 in Division I, 4 in Division II, and 6
in Division III), 22 field a single coed/mixed team. Six schools (five in Division I and one in Division III) field women-
only teams. Schools are also allowed to field any combination of men's, women's, and mixed teams; several NCAA
rifle schools field two types of teams, but none currently fields all three types. The scholarship limits are per school,
not per team.
The NCAA also has rules specifying the sport in which multi-sport athletes are to be counted, with the basic rules
being:[70]
Anyone who participates in football is counted in that sport, even if he does not receive financial aid from the football
program. An exception exists for players at non-scholarship FCS programs who receive aid in another sport.[71]
Participants in basketball are counted in that sport, unless they also play football.
Participants in men's ice hockey are counted in that sport, unless they also play football or basketball.
Participants in both men's swimming and diving and men's water polo are counted in swimming and diving, unless
they count in football or basketball.
Participants in women's (indoor) volleyball are counted in that sport unless they also play basketball.
All other multi-sport athletes are counted in whichever sport the school chooses.
Football subdivisions
Subdivisions in Division I exist only in football.[72][73] In all other sports, all Division I conferences are equivalent. The
subdivisions were recently given names to reflect the differing levels of football play in them.
The method by which the NCAA determines whether a school is Bowl or Championship subdivision is first by attendance
numbers and then by scholarships.[74] For attendance reporting methods, the NCAA allows schools to report either total
tickets sold or the number of persons in attendance at the games. They require a minimum average of 15,000 people in
attendance every other year.[74] These numbers get posted to the NCAA statistics website for football each year. With the
new rules starting in the 2006 season, the number of Bowl Subdivision schools could drop in the future if those schools
are not able to pull in enough fans into the games. Additionally, 14 FCS schools had enough attendance to be moved up in
2012.[75] Under current NCAA rules, these schools must have an invitation from an FBS conference in order to move to
FBS. Three of them—Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, and Old Dominion—began FBS transitions in 2013. All had the
required FBS conference invitations, with Old Dominion joining Conference USA in 2013, and Appalachian State and
Georgia Southern joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2014. The difference in the postseasons in each of the subdivisions
grant the FCS an advantage to have the best record in college football history, 17–0, while the FBS only allows a 15–0
record.
Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the top level of college football.
Schools in Division I FBS compete in post-season bowl games, with the champions of five conferences, along with the
highest-ranked champion of the other five conferences, receiving automatic bids to the access bowls.
FBS schools are limited to a total of 85 football players receiving financial assistance.[76] For competitive reasons, a
student receiving partial scholarship counts fully against the total of 85. Nearly all FBS schools that are not on NCAA
probation give 85 full scholarships.
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As of the 2019 college football season, there will be 130 full members of Division I FBS. The most recent school to become
a full FBS member is Liberty University, which made the transition from FCS in 2017 and 2018.
Since the 2016 season, all FBS conferences have been allowed to conduct a championship game that does not count
against the limit of 12 regular-season contests. Under the current rules, such a game can be held either (1) between the
winners of each of two divisions, with each team having played a full round-robin schedule within its division, or (2)
between the conference's top two teams after a full round-robin conference schedule.[77] Previously, "exempt"
championship games could only be held between the divisional winners of conferences that had at least 12 football teams
and split into divisions.[78][79] The prize is normally a specific bowl game bid for which the conference has a tie-in.
Some conferences have numbers in their names but this often has no relation to the number of member institutions in the
conference. The Big Ten Conference did not formally adopt the "Big Ten" name until 1987, but unofficially used that name
when it had 10 members from 1917 to 1946, and again from 1949 forward. However, it has continued to use the name even
after it expanded to 11 members with the addition of Penn State in 1990, 12 with the addition of Nebraska in 2011, and 14
with the arrival of Maryland and Rutgers in 2014. The Big 12 Conference was established in 1996 with 12 members, but
continues to use that name even after a number of departures and a few replacements left the conference with 10
members. On the other hand, the Pac-12 Conference has used names (official or unofficial) that have reflected the number
of members since its current charter was established in 1959. The conference unofficially used "Big Five" (1959–62), "Big
Six" (1962–64), and "Pacific-8" (1964–68) before officially adopting the "Pacific-8" name. The name duly changed to
"Pacific-10" in 1978 with the addition of Arizona and Arizona State, and "Pac-12" (instead of "Pacific-12") in 2011 when
Colorado and Utah joined. Conferences also tend to ignore their regional names when adding new schools. For example,
the Pac-8/10/12 retained its "Pacific" moniker even though its four newest members (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado,
Utah) are located in the inland West, and the original Big East kept its name even after adding schools (either in all sports
or for football only) located in areas traditionally considered to be in the Midwest (Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, Notre
Dame), Upper South (Louisville, Memphis) and Southwest (Houston, SMU). The non-football conference that assumed
the Big East name when the original Big East split in 2013 is another example of this phenomenon, as half of its 10
inaugural schools (Butler, Creighton, DePaul, Marquette, Xavier) are traditionally regarded as being Midwestern.
Conferences
American Athletic Conference *** The American 1979 [a] 11 [b][c] 22 Providence, Rhode Island
Big Ten Conference ** Big Ten, B1G 1896 14 [e] 28 Rosemont, Illinois
Sun Belt Conference *** Sun Belt 1976 12[o] 17 New Orleans, Louisiana
(** "Big Five" or "Power Five" conferences with guaranteed berths in the "access bowls" associated with the College
Football Playoff)
Notes
a. The conference was founded in 1979 as the original Big East Conference. It renamed itself the American Athletic
Conference following a 2013 split along football lines. The non-FBS schools of the original conference left to form a
new conference that purchased the Big East name, while the FBS schools continued to operate under the old Big
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East's charter and structure. The American also inherited the old Big East's Bowl Championship Series berth for the
2013 season, the last for the BCS.
b. 10 of the 11 full members sponsor football, with Wichita State as the only non-football member.
c. In addition to the full members, four schools have single-sport associate membership, and a sixth is a member in two
sports:
Navy is a football-only member.
Florida, Old Dominion, and Vanderbilt are members in women's lacrosse.
Old Dominion and Sacramento State are members in women's rowing.
d. Notre Dame is a full member except in football, in which it remains independent. It has committed to play at least five
games each season against ACC opponents, and to play each other ACC member at least once every three years.
e. In addition to the full members, two schools have affiliate membership:
Johns Hopkins, otherwise a Division III member, is an affiliate in both men's and women's lacrosse, sports in which
the school fields Division I teams.
Notre Dame is a men's hockey affiliate.
f. In addition to the full members, the Big 12 has 12 members that participate in only one sport. One other school is set
to become a single-sport member in the near future.
Air Force, Missouri, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State, Utah Valley, and
Wyoming compete in men's wrestling.
Alabama and Tennessee compete in women's rowing.
Denver competes in women's gymnastics.
Fresno State competes in women's equestrian.
California Baptist is scheduled to join in men's wrestling in 2022, when it completes its ongoing transition from
Division II to Division I.
g. The conference was founded in 1995, with football competition starting in 1996.
h. In addition to the 14 full members, Conference USA features three schools that play men's soccer in the conference:
Coastal Carolina, Kentucky, and South Carolina. West Virginia becomes a men's soccer member in July 2022.
i. Note that "Independents" is not a conference; it is simply a designation used for schools whose football programs do
not play in any conference. All of these schools have conference memberships for other sports.
j. In addition to the 12 full members, the Mid-American Conference features 21 members that participate in a single
sport.
Appalachian State, Bellarmine, and Longwood compete in women's field hockey.
Binghamton competes in men's tennis.
Detroit Mercy, Robert Morris, and Youngstown State compete in women's lacrosse.
Evansville, Missouri State, and Southern Illinois compete in men's swimming and diving.
Georgia Southern, Georgia State, and West Virginia competes in men's soccer. West Virginia men's soccer moves
to Conference USA in July 2022.
Eight schools are men's wrestling affiliates—full Division I members Cleveland State, George Mason, Rider, and
SIU Edwardsville, plus four Division II members that compete in D-I wrestling, namely Bloomsburg, Clarion,
Edinboro, and Lock Haven.
k. Since 2012, Hawaiʻi has been a football-only associate member, with most of its remaining teams in the non-football
Big West Conference.
l. In addition to the 11 full members and football affiliate Hawaiʻi, Colorado College, a Division III school with a Division I
men's ice hockey team, plays Division I women's soccer in the MW.
m. The charter of the Pac-12 dates only to the formation of the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) in
1959. However, the Pac-12 claims the history of the Pacific Coast Conference, which was founded in 1915 and began
competition in 1916, as its own. Of the nine members of the PCC at the time of its demise in June 1959, only Idaho
never joined the Pac-12. The PCC's berth in the Rose Bowl passed to the AAWU.
n. The Pac-12 also includes four associate members, each of which competes in a single sport. San Diego State plays
men's soccer. Cal State Bakersfield, Cal Poly, and Little Rock compete in wrestling.
o. Ten Sun Belt Conference members currently sponsor football, with Little Rock and UT Arlington as members that do
not play football at all.
The Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, consists of 128
teams as of the 2021 season; one program is independent, while the remaining 127 teams are structured into 14
conferences.[80] The "I-AA" designation was dropped by the NCAA in 2006, although it is still informally and commonly
used. FCS teams are limited to 63 players on scholarship (compared to 85 for FBS teams) and usually play an 11-game
schedule (compared to 12 games for FBS teams).[81] The FCS determines its national champion through an NCAA-
sanctioned single-elimination bracket tournament, culminating in a title game, the NCAA Division I Football
Championship.[82] As of the 2018 season, the tournament begins with 24 teams; 10 conference champions that received
automatic bids, and 14 teams selected at-large by a selection committee.[83]
The postseason tournament traditionally begins on Thanksgiving weekend in late November. When I-AA was formed 43
years ago in 1978,[11] the playoffs included just four teams for its first three seasons, doubling to eight teams for one
season in 1981.[84] From 1982 to 1985, there was a 12-team tournament; this expanded to 16 teams in 1986. The playoffs
expanded to 20 teams starting in 2010, then grew to 24 teams in 2013. Since the 2010 season, the title game is held in
early January at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. From 1997 through 2009, the title game was played in December in
Chattanooga, Tennessee, preceded by five seasons in Huntington, West Virginia.[85]
Abstainers
The Football Championship Subdivision includes several conferences which do not participate in the eponymous post-
season championship tournament.
The Ivy League was reclassified to I-AA (FCS) following the 1981 season,[86] and plays a strict ten-game schedule.
Although it qualifies for an automatic bid, the Ivy League has not played any postseason games at all since becoming a
conference for the 1956 NCAA University Division football season, citing academic concerns. (The last college which is
now an Ivy League member to play in a bowl game was Columbia in the 1934 Rose Bowl.)
The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) has its own championship game in mid-December between the champions
of its East and West divisions. Also, three of its member schools traditionally do not finish their regular seasons until
Thanksgiving weekend. Grambling State and Southern play each other in the Bayou Classic, and Alabama State plays
Tuskegee (of Division II) in the Turkey Day Classic. SWAC teams are eligible to accept at-large bids if their schedule is not
in conflict. The last SWAC team to participate in the I-AA playoffs was Jackson State in 1997; the SWAC never achieved
success in the tournament, going winless in 19 games in twenty years (1978–97). It had greater success outside the
conference while in Division II and the preceding College Division.
From 2006 through 2009, the Pioneer Football League and Northeast Conference champions played in the Gridiron
Classic. If a league champion was invited to the national championship playoff as an at-large bid (something the Pioneer
league, at least, never received), the second-place team would play in the Gridiron Classic. That game was scrapped after
the 2009 season when its four-year contract ran out; this coincided with the NCAA's announcement that the Northeast
Conference would get an automatic bid to the tournament starting in 2010. The Big South Conference also received an
automatic bid in the same season. The Pioneer Football League earned an automatic bid beginning in 2013.
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) began abstaining from the playoffs with the 2015 season. Like the SWAC,
its members are eligible for at-large bids, and the two conferences have faced off in the Celebration Bowl as an alternative
postseason game since the 2015 season.
Schools in a transition period after joining the FCS from a lower division (or from the NAIA) are also ineligible for the
playoffs.
Scholarships
Division I FCS schools are currently restricted to giving financial assistance amounting to 63 full scholarships. As FCS
football is an "equivalency" sport (as opposed to the "head-count" status of FBS football), Championship Subdivision
schools may divide their allotment into partial scholarships. However, FCS schools may only have 85 players receiving any
sort of athletic financial aid for football—the same numeric limit as FBS schools. Because of competitive forces, however, a
substantial number of players in Championship Subdivision programs are on full scholarships. Another difference is that
FCS schools no longer have a limit on the number of new players that can be provided with financial aid in a given season,
while FBS schools are limited to 25 such additions per season. Finally, FCS schools are limited to 95 individuals
participating in preseason practices, as opposed to 105 at FBS schools (the three service academies that play FBS football
are exempt from preseason practice player limits by NCAA rule).
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A few Championship Subdivision conferences are composed of schools that offer no athletic scholarships at all, most
notably the Ivy League and the Pioneer Football League (PFL), a football-only conference. The Ivy League allows no
athletic scholarships at all, while the PFL consists of schools that offer scholarships in other sports but choose not to take
on the expense of a scholarship football program. The Northeast Conference also sponsored non-scholarship football, but
began offering a maximum of 30 full scholarship equivalents in 2006, which grew to 40 in 2011 after a later vote of the
league's school presidents and athletic directors and has since increased to 45.[87] The Patriot League only began
awarding football scholarships in the 2013 season, with the first scholarships awarded only to incoming freshmen. Before
the conference began its transition to scholarship football, athletes receiving scholarships in other sports were ineligible to
play football for member schools. Since the completion of the transition with the 2016 season, member schools have been
allowed up to 60 full scholarship equivalents.[88]
Conferences
FCS Tournament
Conference Nickname Founded Members Sports Headquarters
Bid
Big Sky Conference Big Sky 1963 11[a][b] 16 Ogden, Utah Automatic
Charlotte, North
Big South Conference Big South 1983 12[c] 18 Automatic
Carolina
Automatic –
Ivy League Ivy League 1954[h] 8 33 Princeton, New Jersey
(Abstains)
Center Valley,
Patriot League Patriot 1986[p] 10[q][r] 23 Automatic
Pennsylvania
Pioneer Football League PFL 1991 11 1 St. Louis, Missouri Automatic
Spartanburg, South
Southern Conference SoCon 1921 10[s] 22 Automatic
Carolina
Southwestern Athletic
SWAC 1920 12 18 Birmingham, Alabama Abstains
Conference
Notes
a. 13 football members with Cal Poly and UC Davis, both full members of the non-football Big West Conference, as
football-only affiliates.
10 full members and 12 football members in 2022 with Southern Utah joining the Western Athletic Conference.
b. In addition to the full members and football affiliates, Binghamton and Hartford are associate members in men's golf.
Hartford will leave in 2023 as part of its planned transition to NCAA Division III.
c. The Big South has five full members that compete for its football championship, plus four football-only associates in
Kennesaw State, Monmouth, North Alabama, and Robert Morris.
7 football members expected in 2022 with departure of full ASUN Conference members Kennesaw State and
North Alabama for the new ASUN football league.
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d. The CAA football conference was only founded in 2007, but has a continuous history dating to the late 1930s
(although not under the same charter):
The New England Conference was formed by five New England state universities, plus one private university in
that region (Northeastern), in 1938. Four of the public schools—Maine, UMass, New Hampshire, and Rhode
Island—were in the CAA football conference through the 2011 season. However, UMass football left for the MAC
in 2012. URI football initially planned to leave for the Northeast Conference in 2013, but decided to remain in the
CAA.
In 1946, the four then-remaining members of the New England Conference affiliated with two other schools to form
the Yankee Conference under a separate charter, with athletic competition starting in 1947.
In 1997, the Yankee Conference was absorbed by the Atlantic 10 Conference. The A-10 inherited the Yankee
Conference's automatic berth in the Division I-AA (now FCS) playoffs. In addition to the four charter New England
Conference members mentioned above, five other members of the Yankee Conference at the time of the A10
merger are still in the CAA football conference.
After the 2006 season, all of the A-10 football teams left for the new CAA football conference. The CAA inherited
the A10's automatic berth in the FCS playoffs.
e. The CAA has 10 full members, but only five of them are part of the CAA football conference. Currently, seven
associate members fill out the ranks of the CAA football conference: Albany, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island,
Richmond, Stony Brook, and Villanova. Villanova is also a CAA associate in women's rowing.
f. In addition to the football associates, the CAA has five associate members that each participate in one sport:
Eastern Michigan, UC San Diego, and UConn in women's rowing.
Fairfield and UMass play men's lacrosse.
g. Note that "Independents" is not a conference; it is simply a designation used for schools whose football programs do
not play in any conference. All of these schools have conference memberships for other sports.
h. Although the conference considers 1954 to be its founding date, the athletic league's origins go back to the turn of the
20th century.
The Ivy League considers the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League (EIBL), a men's basketball-only
conference founded in 1901, as part of its history. Every school that had been an EIBL member would become
part of the Ivy League.
In 1945, the eight schools that would eventually form the athletic Ivy League entered into the Ivy Group
Agreement, which governed football competition between the schools. The original agreement was renewed in
1952.
The official founding date of 1954 reflects the extension of the Ivy Group Agreement to all sports. As part of the
agreement, Brown, the only one of the original Ivy Group that had not joined the EIBL, did so. All-sports
competition began in 1955, with the EIBL directly absorbed into the new league.
i. The football conference currently consists of 6 of the 8 member schools.
j. In addition to the full members, four other schools are associates in a single sport:
Augusta, a Division II school that operates Division I programs in men's and women's golf, is an associate member
in men's golf only.
Monmouth, North Carolina A&T, and UAB participate in women's bowling.
k. The football conference dates to 1985, but the conference charter was established in 1982. See History of the
Missouri Valley Football Conference for more details.
l. The conference has 8 full members that sponsor football. Duquesne of the non-football Atlantic 10 is a football
associate.
m. In addition to Duquesne in football, the NEC has five other associate members that each participate in one sport, plus
one in multiple sports:
Division II member Caldwell participates in women's bowling, as does Duquesne.
Hobart, otherwise a Division III member, and full D-I member Saint Joseph's participate in men's lacrosse.
Fairfield and Rider are field hockey associates.
Howard competes in women's golf, women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, and men's and women's
swimming & diving.
n. The football conference consists of 7 of the 10 member schools. Morehead State plays non-scholarship football in the
Pioneer Football League, while Belmont and SIU Edwardsville do not sponsor football.
o. In addition to the full members, Chattanooga is an associate in beach volleyball.
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p. The Patriot League was founded as the football-only Colonial League in 1986. In 1990, it became an all-sports
conference and adopted its current name.
q. Five of the full members do not sponsor FCS football. American, Boston University and Loyola (Maryland) do not
sponsor football at all; Army is an FBS independent; and Navy plays in the American Athletic Conference. Fordham
and Georgetown are associate members in football.
r. In addition to the football associates, two other schools have single-sport membership:
MIT, otherwise a Division III institution, is an associate in women's rowing.
Richmond is a women's golf associate.
s. In addition to the full members, the SoCon currently has 14 associate members which play one sport in the
conference.
Hampton, High Point, Jacksonville, and Richmond are members in men's lacrosse.
Appalachian State, Bellarmine, Campbell, Davidson, Gardner–Webb, and Presbyterian are members in men's
wrestling.
Delaware State is a member in women's lacrosse.
Georgia Southern, North Georgia (a Division II institution), and UAB are members in rifle. Rifle has a single
national championship for all divisions.
Belmont is a member in men's soccer.
t. The football conference currently consists of 6 of the 8 member schools.
u. 13 full members and 9 football members. Of the full members, six do not sponsor football at all, and New Mexico State
plays as an FBS independent.
13 full members and 7 football members expected in 2022 with addition of football-sponsoring Southern Utah,
departure of full non-football member Chicago State, and departure of football-only members Central Arkansas,
Eastern Kentucky, and Jacksonville State for the new ASUN football league.
13 full members and 8 football members no later than 2024 with addition of football by full member UTRGV.
v. In addition to the full members, the WAC currently has 9 associate members that house one or two sports in the
conference:
Air Force and UNLV participate in men's soccer and men's swimming and diving.
Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, and San Jose State participate only in men's soccer.
Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado participate in women's swimming and diving.
Sacramento State participates in baseball.
Wyoming participates in men's swimming & diving.
w. The WAC has 7 playoff-eligible schools for its first season as an FCS conference in 2021. However, it does not meet
the NCAA's "continuity" requirement for an automatic bid, based on the length of time the members have been in the
same league. The WAC and the ASUN Conference, formal football partners for at least the 2021 season, have
petitioned the NCAA for a waiver that would allow the partnership to receive an automatic bid in 2021.
Several Bowl Subdivision and Championship Subdivision conferences have member institutions that do not compete in
football. Such schools are sometimes unofficially referred to as I-AAA.[89]
The following non-football conferences have full members that sponsor football:
The America East Conference has four football-sponsoring schools, all of which play in the Colonial Athletic
Association (CAA)—Albany, Maine, New Hampshire, and Stony Brook.
The ASUN Conference has seven football-sponsoring members:
Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, and Jacksonville State, which joined the ASUN in 2021, are de facto football
affiliates of the Western Athletic Conference for at least the 2021 season, competing in a formal partnership
between the ASUN and WAC. The ASUN will launch its own football league in 2022 or later, at which time all three
schools will join ASUN football.
Kennesaw State has played in the Big South Conference since 2015, and North Alabama, which joined the ASUN
from NCAA Division II in 2018 and played that season as an FCS independent, joined Big South football in 2019.
Both will also join ASUN football when it launches.
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Liberty, which also joined the ASUN in 2018, completed an FBS transition at the end of the 2018 season and is
now an FBS independent.
Stetson plays in the Pioneer Football League (PFL).
The Atlantic 10 Conference has seven football-sponsoring members:
Davidson and Dayton play in the PFL.
Duquesne plays in the Northeast Conference (NEC).
Fordham plays in the Patriot League.
Rhode Island and Richmond play in the CAA.
UMass plays FBS football as an independent.
The current Big East Conference has four football-sponsoring schools. Three play in FCS—Butler in the PFL,
Georgetown in the Patriot League, and Villanova in the CAA. The fourth, UConn, plays as an FBS independent.
Three Big West Conference members have football programs. UC Davis and Cal Poly play FCS football in the Big Sky
Conference, and Hawaiʻi plays FBS football in the Mountain West Conference.
The Horizon League has two football schools. Robert Morris plays Big South football and Youngstown State plays in
the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC).
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) has two football schools. Marist plays in the PFL, and Monmouth
plays in the Big South.
The Missouri Valley Conference has seven football schools—Drake, Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State,
Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois and Valparaiso. Drake and Valparaiso play in the PFL, while the others compete in the
MVFC (a separate legal entity from the MVC, despite the similar name).
The Summit League has six football schools, five of which play in the MVFC—North Dakota, North Dakota State,
South Dakota, South Dakota State and Western Illinois. The sixth, St. Thomas of Minnesota, plays in the PFL.
The West Coast Conference has two football schools in BYU and San Diego, which respectively play football as an
FBS independent and a PFL member.
The following Division I conferences do not sponsor football. These conferences still compete in Division I for all sports
that they sponsor.
Conferences
Big East Conference Big East 2013[g] 11[h] 22 New York City, New York
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference MAAC 1980 11[l] 22 Edison, New Jersey
Missouri Valley Conference MVC / Valley 1907 10[m] 17 St. Louis, Missouri
The Summit League The Summit 1982 10[n] 19 Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Notes
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d. In addition to the full members, the ASUN has seven associate members:
Air Force, Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy, Robert Morris, and Utah compete in men's lacrosse.
Coastal Carolina and Mercer compete in beach volleyball; Coastal also competes in women's lacrosse.
e. 21 sports expected in 2022 with addition of FCS football.
f. In addition to the full members, Lock Haven, otherwise a Division II institution, and Saint Francis (Pennsylvania) are
associate members in field hockey.
g. The current Big East was formed in 2013 as a result of the split of the original Big East Conference. The original
conference charter was retained by the football-sponsoring schools now known as the American Athletic Conference.
While both leagues claim 1979 as their founding date, the current Big East maintains the history of the original
conference in all sports that it sponsors. The pre-split histories of Big East football and rowing—the two sports that are
sponsored by The American but not the current Big East—are not recognized by either offshoot conference.
h. In addition to the full members, the following schools are Big East affiliates in one or more sports:
Liberty, Old Dominion, Quinnipiac, and Temple participate in field hockey.
Denver participates in men's and women's lacrosse.
i. In addition to the full members, Sacramento State is a member in beach volleyball and men's soccer.
j. Note that "Independents" is not a conference, it is simply a designation used to indicate schools which are not a
member of any conference.
k. There have been no independents since the New Jersey Institute of Technology joined the ASUN Conference in 2015;
that school has since moved to the America East Conference.
l. In addition to the full members, 13 other schools are MAAC affiliates in one sport, and two others have multiple sports
in the conference.
Albany, Dayton, and Hartford participate in women's golf. Hartford will leave the MAAC in 2023 as part of its
Division III transition.
Bryant participates in men's swimming and diving.
Drake, Robert Morris, and Stetson participate in women's rowing.
LIU, St. Francis Brooklyn, Villanova, VMI, and Wagner participate in women's water polo.
Jacksonville participates in women's rowing and the non-NCAA sport of men's rowing.
La Salle participates in women's golf and women's water polo.
St. Bonaventure participate in men's lacrosse.
m. In addition to the full members, four schools house one sport in the conference:
Dallas Baptist, otherwise a Division II institution, plays baseball.
Little Rock is an associate in women's swimming & diving.
SIU Edwardsville is an associate in men's soccer.
Stony Brook competes in women's tennis.
n. In addition to the full members, four schools are single-sport associates, and one houses multiple sports in the
conference.
Drake and Illinois State are men's tennis associates.
Eastern Illinois is an associate member in men's soccer, plus men's and women's swimming & diving.
Northern Colorado is a baseball associate.
Valparaiso is an associate in men's swimming (it does not sponsor diving).
o. In addition to the full members, Creighton is an associate member in women's rowing.
Of these, the two that most recently sponsored football were the Atlantic 10 and MAAC. The A-10 football league dissolved
in 2006 with its members going to the Colonial Athletic Association. In addition, four A-10 schools (Dayton, Fordham,
Duquesne, and Massachusetts) play football in a conference other than the new CAA, which still includes two full-time A-
10 members (Rhode Island and Richmond). The MAAC stopped sponsoring football in 2007, after most of its members
gradually stopped fielding teams. The only pre-2007 MAAC member that still sponsors football is Marist; Monmouth
became the second full MAAC member with football upon its arrival in 2013. Marist plays in the Pioneer Football League,
while Monmouth spent the 2013 season as an FCS independent before moving its football program into the Big South.
From 2013 to 2021, the Western Athletic Conference was a non-football league, having dropped football after a near-
complete membership turnover that saw the conference stripped of all but two of its football-sponsoring members. The
two remaining football-sponsoring schools, Idaho and New Mexico State, played the 2013 season as FBS independents
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before becoming football-only members of the Sun Belt Conference in 2014. Both left Sun Belt football in 2018, with
Idaho downgrading to FCS status and adding football to its all-sports Big Sky Conference membership and New Mexico
State becoming an FBS independent. The WAC added two more football-sponsoring schools with the 2020 arrival of Dixie
State and Tarleton from Division II; both schools planned to be FCS independents for the foreseeable future. The WAC
would reinstate football at the FCS level in 2021, coinciding with the arrival of four new members with FCS
football;[90][91] for at least its first season, it entered into a formal partnership with the ASUN Conference to give it
enough playoff-eligible members to receive an automatic playoff berth.[92]
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference ceased its sponsorship of the sport in 2003,[94] with the remaining members
forming Atlantic Hockey. For the next decade, no regular all-sport conferences sponsored ice hockey.
Starting with the 2013–14 season, Division I men's hockey experienced a major realignment. The Big Ten Conference
began to sponsor ice hockey, and their institutions withdrew their membership from the WCHA and CCHA.[95]
Additionally, six other schools from those conferences withdrew to form the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference
at the same time.[96] The fallout from these moves led to the demise of the original CCHA, two more teams entering the
NCHC, and further membership turnover in the men's side of the WCHA.
Women's hockey was largely unaffected by this realignment. The Big Ten still has only four members with varsity
women's hockey (full members Michigan and Michigan State only ice men's teams, as does hockey-only member Notre
Dame), with six teams required under conference bylaws for official sponsorship. As a result, the only changes in women's
hockey affiliations in the 2010–14 period occurred in College Hockey America, which saw two schools drop the sport and
three new members join.
The next significant realignment took place after the 2020–21 season, when seven of the 10 then-current men's members
of the WCHA left to form a revived CCHA,[97] which in turn led to the demise of the men's side of the WCHA.[98]
Conferences
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Notes
a. Founded as an all-sports conference in 1896, but did not sponsor ice hockey until 2013–14.
b. First version founded in 1971 and disbanded in 2013; reestablished in 2020, with play resuming in 2021–22.
c. Founded as a men's-only conference in 1999, with women's hockey added in 2002. Men's hockey was dropped after
the 2009–10 season.
d. Founded as a men's-only conference in 1961. A women's invitational tournament was first held in 1985; regular-
season play began informally in 1988 before becoming officially sponsored in 1992. Originally part of the Eastern
College Athletic Conference, but independent of that body since 2004.
e. Founded as a men's-only conference in 1984, with women's hockey added in 2002.
f. Alaska, Arizona State, and LIU.
g. Date of founding; play began in 2013–14.
h. Founded as a scheduling alliance in 2017; formally organized as a conference in 2018. Received official NCAA
recognition in 2019.
i. 7 members in 2022 with addition of Stonehill.
j. Founded as a men's-only conference in 1951, with women's hockey added in 1999. Men's hockey was dropped after
the 2020–21 season.
Classification debate
In the early 21st century, a controversy arose in the NCAA over whether schools will continue to be allowed to have one
showcased program in Division I with the remainder of the athletic program in a lower division, as is the case of, notably,
Johns Hopkins University lacrosse as well as Colorado College and University of Alabama in Huntsville in ice hockey. This
is an especially important issue in hockey, which has no Division II national championship and has several schools whose
other athletic programs compete in Division II and Division III.
This controversy was resolved at the 2004 NCAA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee when the members supported
Proposal 65–1, the amended legislation co-sponsored by Colorado College, Clarkson University, Hartwick College, the
Johns Hopkins University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rutgers University–Newark, St. Lawrence University, and
SUNY Oneonta.[99][100] Each school affected by this debate is allowed to grant financial aid to student-athletes who
compete in Division I programs in one men's sport and one women's sport. It is still permitted for other schools to place
one men's and one women's sport in Division I going forward, but they cannot offer scholarships without bringing the
whole program into compliance with Division I rules. In addition, schools in Divisions II and III are allowed to "play up"
in any sport that does not have a championship for the school's own division, but only Division II programs and any
Division III programs covered by the exemption can offer scholarships in those sports.
The Division I programs at each of the eight "waiver schools" which were grandfathered with the passing of Proposal 65-1
were:
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Hartwick College – men's soccer, women's water polo (men's soccer dropped to Division III in 2018, with women's
water polo discontinued at the same time)
Johns Hopkins University – men's and women's lacrosse
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – men's ice hockey (women's ice hockey moved up to Division I in 2005)
Rutgers University–Newark – men's volleyball (dropped to Division III in 2014)
St. Lawrence University – men's and women's ice hockey
SUNY Oneonta – men's soccer (dropped to Division III in 2006)
See also
List of NCAA Division I institutions
List of NCAA Division I athletic directors
List of current NCAA Division I champions
List of non-NCAA Division I schools competing in NCAA Division I sports
List of schools reclassifying their athletic programs to NCAA Division I
Progress toward degree
References
1. Crowley, Joseph N. (2006). In The Arena: The NCAA's First Century (https://web.archive.org/web/20160516224751/ht
tp://www.ncaapublications.com/p-4039-in-the-arena-the-ncaas-first-century.aspx). NCAA Publications. p. 42. Archived
from the original (http://www.ncaapublications.com/p-4039-in-the-arena-the-ncaas-first-century.aspx) on May 16,
2016. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
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p/composition-and-sport-sponsorship-ncaa-membership). NCAA. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Division_I 25/27
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Division_I 26/27
8/6/2021 NCAA Division I - Wikipedia
External links
Official website (https://www.ncaa.org/d1)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Division_I 27/27