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NCAA Division I

February 15, 2024

For defending NCAA Division I champions, see List of current NCAA Division I champions.

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 large 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.

NCAA Division I logo

This level was previously 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.

Finances edit

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,[4] and are called "revenue sports".[5] From 2008 to 2012, 205 varsity teams were dropped in NCAA Division I – 72 for women and 133 for men, with men's tennis, gymnastics and wrestling hit particularly hard.[6]

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).[7] 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.[8]

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.[9]

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."[10]

According to the finance section of the NCAA page, "The NCAA receives most of its annual revenue from two sources: television and marketing rights for the Division I Men's Basketball Championship and ticket sales for all championships. That money is distributed in more than a dozen ways — almost all of which directly support NCAA schools, conferences and nearly half a million student-athletes. About 60% of the NCAA's annual revenue — around $600 million — is annually distributed directly to Division I member schools and conferences, while more than $150 million funds Division I championships" (NCAA 2021).

Finances

Football conferences edit

Under NCAA regulations, all Division I conferences defined as "multisport conferences" must meet the following criteria:[11]

  • A total of at least seven active Division I members. However, the NCAA's Grace Period rule (Bylaw 20.02.9.2) allows conferences to operate for up to two years with less than the minimum.[12]
  • Separate from the above, at least seven active Division 1 members that sponsor both men's and women's basketball.
  • Sponsorship of at least 12 NCAA Division I sports.
  • Minimum of six men's sports, with the following additional restrictions:
    • Men's basketball is a mandatory sport, and at least seven members must sponsor that sport.
    • Non-football conferences must sponsor at least two men's team sports other than basketball.
    • At least six members must sponsor five men's sports other than basketball, including either football or two other team sports.
  • Minimum of six women's sports, with the following additional restrictions:
    • Women's basketball is a mandatory sport, with at least seven members sponsoring that sport.
    • At least two other women's team sports must be sponsored.
    • At least six members must sponsor five women's sports other than basketball, with at least two of those five being team sports. If a conference officially sponsors an NCAA "emerging sport" for women (as of 2023–24, acrobatics & tumbling, equestrianism, rugby union, stunt, triathlon, or wrestling), that sport will be counted if five members (instead of six) sponsor it.

FBS conferences edit

FBS conferences must meet a more stringent set of requirements for NCAA recognition than other conferences:[13]

  • A total of at least eight active FBS members.
  • To be counted toward this total, a school must participate in conference play in at least six men's and eight women's sports, including men's and women's basketball, football, and at least two other women's team sports.
    • Each school may count one men's and one women's sport not sponsored by its primary conference toward the above limits, as long as that sport competes in another Division I conference. The men's and women's sports so counted need not be the same sport.[14]
Conference Nickname Founded Members Sports Headquarters Total
NCAA
Titles 		Men's
NCAA
Titles 		Women's
NCAA
Titles 		Co-ed
NCAA
Titles
American Athletic Conference ‡ The American 1979 [a] 14 [b][c] 22 Irving, Texas 55 37 18 0
Atlantic Coast Conference † ACC 1953 15 [d][e] 28 Charlotte, North Carolina 150 87 58 5
Big Ten Conference † Big Ten 1896 14 [f][g] 28 Rosemont, Illinois 317 229 72 16
Big 12 Conference † Big 12 1996 14 [h][i] 21 [j] Irving, Texas 166 163 3 0
Conference USA ‡ CUSA 1995 [k] 9 [l][m] 19 Dallas, Texas 1 1 0 0
Division I FBS Independents[n] - - 4[o] 1 -
Mid-American Conference ‡ MAC 1946 12 [p] 23 Cleveland, Ohio 4 4 0 0
Mountain West Conference ‡ MW 1999 11 [q][r] 19 Colorado Springs, Colorado 21 13 5 3
Pac-12 Conference † Pac-12 1915 [s] 12 [t][u] 24 San Francisco, California 501 309 174 18
Southeastern Conference † SEC 1932 14 [v] 20 Birmingham, Alabama 223 118 104 1
Sun Belt Conference ‡ SBC 1976 14 [w] 20 New Orleans, Louisiana 29 16 12 1

† "Power Five" conferences with guaranteed berths in the New Year's Six, the bowl games associated with the College Football Playoff
‡ "Group of Five" conferences

See also: List of NCAA Division I FBS football programs
Notes
  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 13 of the 14 full members sponsor football, with Wichita State as the only non-football member.
    • 13 full members, with 12 sponsoring football, in 2024 with loss of SMU.
  3. ^ In addition to the full members, six schools have single-sport associate membership, and two are members in two sports.
    • Navy is a football-only member. Army becomes a football-only member in 2024.
    • Cincinnati, Florida, James Madison, and Vanderbilt are members in women's lacrosse. Cincinnati will leave after the 2024 season when its primary home of the Big 12 Conference begins sponsoring the sport.
    • FIU is a member in men's soccer and women's swimming & diving.
    • Sacramento State is a member in women's rowing.
    • Old Dominion is a member in both women's lacrosse and women's rowing.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ 18 full members and 17 football members in 2024 with addition of California, SMU, and Stanford.
  6. ^ 18 members in 2024 with addition of Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 16 members in 2024 with the following changes:
  9. ^ In addition to the full members, the Big 12 has 13 members that participate in only one sport.
  10. ^ 23 sports in 2024 with addition of beach volleyball and women's lacrosse.
  11. ^ The conference was founded in 1995, with football competition starting in 1996.
  12. ^ 10 members in 2024 with addition of Kennesaw State.
    • 11 members in 2025 with addition of Delaware.
  13. ^ In addition to the full members, Conference USA features 11 schools that play a single sport in the conference, and one that is a member in two sports.
  14. ^ "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.
  15. ^ 3 members in 2024 with Army becoming a football-only member of the American Athletic Conference.
  16. ^ In addition to the 12 full members, the Mid-American Conference features 18 single-sport members and one multi-sport associate. Another school will become a single-sport member in the near future.
  17. ^ Since 2012, Hawaiʻi has been a football-only associate member, with most of its remaining teams in the non-football Big West Conference.
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ 2 members in 2024: Oregon State and Washington State.
  21. ^ The Pac-12 also includes five associate members, with four competing in a single sport and another in two sports.
  22. ^ 16 members in 2024 with addition of Oklahoma and Texas.[15]
  23. ^ In addition to the full members, the SBC has eight associate members:

FCS conferences edit

Conference Nickname Founded Football
members 		Sports Headquarters
Atlantic Sun Conference ASUN 1978 4 [a][b][c] 21 Atlanta, Georgia
Big Sky Conference Big Sky 1963 12 [d] 16 Ogden, Utah
Big South Conference Big South 1983 4 [e][f] 19 Charlotte, North Carolina
Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference[g] CAA Football 2007[h] 15 [i][j] 1 Richmond, Virginia
Independents[k] 1 [l] 1
Ivy League[m] 1954 8 33 Princeton, New Jersey
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference[n] MEAC 1970 6 [o] 14 Norfolk, Virginia
Missouri Valley Football Conference MVFC 1982 12 [p] 1 St. Louis, Missouri
Northeast Conference NEC 1981 8 [q][r] 24 Somerset, New Jersey
Ohio Valley Conference OVC 1948 6 [e][s] 19 Brentwood, Tennessee
Patriot League 1986 7 [t] 24 Center Valley, Pennsylvania
Pioneer Football League PFL 1991 11 1 St. Louis, Missouri
Southern Conference SoCon 1921 9 [u] 20 Spartanburg, South Carolina
Southland Conference SLC 1963 8 [v] 17 Frisco, Texas
Southwestern Athletic Conference[w] SWAC 1920 12 18 Birmingham, Alabama
Western Athletic Conference WAC 1962 5 [a][x] 20 Arlington, Texas
See also: List of NCAA Division I FCS football programs
Notes
  1. ^ a b Includes only members playing in the United Athletic Conference, a football merger between the ASUN and WAC. Due to an NCAA moratorium on the formation of new single-sport conferences, the UAC is not an NCAA-recognized conference, instead being treated as a continuation of a preexisting football alliance between the ASUN and WAC that has a single automatic berth in the FCS playoffs.
  2. ^ 5 ASUN members playing in the UAC in 2024 with addition of West Georgia.
  3. ^ Of the 12 full members, five do not sponsor football at all. Of the football-sponsoring members, four play in the UAC, one in the Pioneer Football League, one as an FCS independent, and one outside of NCAA governance in the weight-restricted variant of sprint football.
  4. ^ The football membership consists of all 10 full members plus football-only affiliates Cal Poly and UC Davis.
  5. ^ a b Includes only members playing in the Big South–OVC Football Association, a single-sport alliance between the Big South Conference and Ohio Valley Conference that has a single automatic berth in the FCS playoffs.
  6. ^ Of the 9 full Big South members, six do not sponsor football at all, while a seventh (Presbyterian) is a member of the Pioneer Football League. Two of the members of the Big South–OVC alliance are Big South associate members: Bryant and Robert Morris.
    • 2 alliance members in 2024 with loss of Bryant and Robert Morris.
  7. ^ Administered by the multi-sports Coastal Athletic Association as a separate entity.
  8. ^ Reflects the establishment of CAA Football by the multi-sports Colonial Athletic Association, now the Coastal Athletic Association. CAA Football officially traces its history to 1947 through the Yankee Conference and Atlantic 10 Conference, and the history can be traced back further to 1938 via the New England Conference.
  9. ^ 16 members in 2024 with addition of Bryant.
    • 15 members in 2025 with loss of Delaware.
  10. ^ Five of the 14 full members of the multi-sports CAA do not play football at all. CAA Football includes six schools outside the multi-sports CAA: Albany, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Richmond, and Villanova. Bryant becomes the seventh such school in 2024.
  11. ^ In football only; such schools almost always are members of multi-sport conferences.
  12. ^ Kennesaw State, otherwise a full ASUN member, was an independent in the 2023 season only.
  13. ^ The Ivy League abstains from the championship tournament and all postseason play.
  14. ^ 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 (the most recent example being North Carolina Central in 2023).
  15. ^ Of the 8 full MEAC members, two do not sponsor football: Coppin State and Maryland Eastern Shore.
  16. ^ 11 members in 2024 with loss of Western Illinois.
  17. ^ Of the 9 full NEC members, two do not sponsor football. The seven football-sponsoring schools are joined by associate member Duquesne.
  18. ^ 8 full members and as many as 8 football members in 2024 with the following changes:
    • Loss of Merrimack and Sacred Heart, both of which sponsor football. Sacred Heart has announced it will become an FCS independent, while Merrimack has yet to announce its future football affiliation.
    • Addition of non-football Chicago State.
    • Addition of Robert Morris as a football associate.
  19. ^ Of the 11 full OVC members, Little Rock, SIU Edwardsville, and Southern Indiana do not sponsor football, while Morehead State competes in the Pioneer Football League. Western Illinois, which became a full member in 2023, played that season in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
    • 7 football members in 2024 with addition of Western Illinois.
  20. ^ Of the 10 full Patriot members, American, Boston University, and Loyola (MD) do not sponsor football, while Army and Navy play FBS football. The five full members that play Patriot League football are joined by associates Fordham and Georgetown.
  21. ^ Of the 10 full SoCon members, only UNC Greensboro does not sponsor football.
  22. ^ Of the 10 full SLC members, two do not sponsor football: New Orleans and Texas A&M–Corpus Christi.
  23. ^ 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 an at-large bid to play if selected.
  24. ^ Of the 11 full WAC members, California Baptist, Grand Canyon, Seattle, UT Arlington, Utah Valley, and UTRGV do not sponsor football at all.
    • 6 WAC members playing in the UAC in 2025, with UTRGV adding football.

Sports edit

Men's team sports edit

No. Sport Founded Teams[16] Conf. Scholarships
per team 		Season Most
Championships
1 Football 1869 (FBS)[17]
1978 (FCS)[18]		 257
(130 FBS,
127 FCS) 		24
(10 FBS,
14 FCS) 		85 (FBS)
63.0 (FCS) 		Fall Princeton (28)
2 Basketball 1939[19] 351 32 13 Winter UCLA (11)
3 Baseball 1947[20] 299 30 11.7 Spring USC (12)
4 Soccer 1959[21] 204 23 9.9 Fall Saint Louis (10)
5 Ice hockey 1948[22] 61 6 18.0 Winter Michigan, Denver (9)
6 Lacrosse 1971[23] 74 10 12.6 Spring Syracuse (10)
7 Volleyball 1970[24] 29 5 4.5 Spring UCLA (19)
8 Water polo 1969[25] 25 4 4.5 Fall California (14)

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 133 FBS programs can award financial aid to as many as 85 players, with each player able to receive up to a full scholarship. The 128 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 the most recent 2023 NCAA soccer season (part of the 2023–24 academic year), four of the 10 FBS conferences do not sponsor men's soccer—the Big 12, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, and the SEC. Several other D-I conferences also do not sponsor the sport—the Big Sky, MEAC, Mountain West, Southland, and SWAC. The Ohio Valley Conference is the most recent conference to add men's soccer; it started sponsoring the sport for the first time in the 2023 season. Conference USA shut down its league after losing most of its men's soccer membership to the Sun Belt Conference, followed by the American Athletic Conference taking in CUSA's remaining four teams (three of which fully joined The American in 2023) as associate members for 2022. The MAC was reduced to 5 men's soccer members in the 2022 season, and shut down its league at the end of that season after being unable to find the sixth member needed to maintain its automatic NCAA tournament bid. Of its final men's soccer members, three moved that sport to the Missouri Valley Conference, one to the Big East Conference, and one to the Ohio Valley Conference.
    • The Pac-12 will be reduced to two full members in 2024, with only Oregon State sponsoring men's soccer. Oregon State will house most of its non-football sports in the West Coast Conference in the 2024–25 and 2025–26 school years. Pac-12 men's soccer affiliate San Diego State has yet to announce a future affiliation in that sport.
  • 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 competing in D-I hockey in 2022–23, 22 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.
  • Lacrosse — The vast majority of D-I lacrosse programs are from the Northeast, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic. Only five D-I programs are not in the Eastern Time Zone—Air Force and Denver on the Colorado Front Range, Lindenwood on the Missouri side of the St. Louis metropolitan area, Marquette in Milwaukee, and Utah. Lindenwood will drop men's lacrosse after the 2024 season (2023–24 school year).
  • Volleyball — Of the traditional D-I conferences, only the Big West Conference and Northeast Conference sponsor men's volleyball, with those conferences respectively adding the sport in 2017–18 and 2022–23. Two of the other three major volleyball conferences, defined in that sport 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, 33 D-II schools are competing in the National Collegiate division in 2023–24; eight of these are members of Conference Carolinas, the first all-sports league outside Division III to sponsor the sport; six are members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference; and four are either full or affiliate members of the East Coast Conference, which began sponsoring the sport in 2023–24.
  • 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.[26] 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 schools that are leaving the Pac-12 in 2024.

Men's individual sports edit

The following table lists the men's individual D-I sports with at least 1,000 participating athletes. Sports are ranked by number of athletes.

No. Sport Founded Teams (2022)[27] Teams (1982)[27] Change Athletes[27] Season
1 Track (outdoor) 1921[28] 287 230 +57 11,387 Spring
2 Track (indoor) 1965[29] 264 209 +55 10,369 Winter
3 Cross country 1938[30] 315 256 +59 5,032 Fall
4 Swimming and diving 1937[31] 130 181 –51 3,826 Winter
5 Golf 1939[32] 292 263 +29 2,958 Spring
6 Wrestling 1928[33] 76 146 –70 2,665 Winter
7 Tennis 1946[34] 233 267 –34 2,293 Spring

D-I college wrestling has lost almost half of its programs since 1982.[35]

Women's team sports edit

No. Sport Founded Teams[27] Conf. Scholarships
per team 		Season Most Championships
1 Basketball 1982 348 32 15 Winter UConn (11)
2 Soccer 1982 335 31 14.0 Fall North Carolina (21)
3 Volleyball 1981 332 32 12* Fall Stanford (9)
4 Softball 1982 293 32 12.0 Spring UCLA (12)
5 Rowing 1997 87 12 20.0 Spring Brown (7)
6 Lacrosse 1982 119 13 12.0 Spring Maryland (14)
7 Field hockey 1981 77 10 12.0 Fall North Carolina (11)
8 Ice hockey 2001 34 5 18.0 Winter Wisconsin (7)
9 Beach volleyball 2016 62 5 6.0* Spring USC (4)
10 Water polo 2001 34 6 8.0 Spring Stanford (8)
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.
  • 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 335 teams in 2021–22.[27] However, in recent years, the fastest-growing has been beach volleyball, which went from 14 Division I teams in 2011–12 to 62 in 2021–22.
  • † = Since 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",[36] became an official NCAA championship sport in 2015–16.[37]
  • * = 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.

Women's individual sports edit

The following table lists the women's individual D-I sports with at least 1,000 participating athletes. Sports are ranked by number of athletes.

No. Sport Teams (2022)[27] Teams (1982)[27] Change Athletes[27] Season
1 Track (outdoor) 339 180 +159 13,672 Spring
2 Track (indoor) 331 127 +204 13,404 Winter
3 Cross country 347 183 +164 5,896 Fall
4 Swimming and diving 190 161 +29 5,886 Winter
5 Tennis 300 246 +54 2,817 Spring
6 Golf 262 83 +179 2,229 Spring
7 Gymnastics 61 99 –38 1,258 Winter

Broadcasting and revenue edit

NCAA Division I schools have broadcasting contracts that showcase their more popular sports — typically football and men's basketball — on network television and in basic cable channels. These contracts can be quite lucrative, particularly for D-I schools from the biggest conferences. For example, the Big Ten conference in 2016 entered into contracts with Fox and ESPN that pay the conference $2.64 billion over six years.

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:

  1. SEC — $527 million (dispersed $33 million to each of its member schools)
  2. Big 10 — $449 million (dispersed $32 million each)
  3. Pac-12 — $439 million (dispersed $25 million each)
  4. ACC — $403 million (dispersed $26 million each)
  5. Big 12 — $268 million (dispersed $23 million each)
U.S. college sports TV rights
Sports rights Sport National TV contract Total Revenues
(Per Year)		 Ref
NCAA March Madness Basketball CBS, Turner $8.8B ($1.1B)
College Football Playoff Football ESPN $5.6B ($470m)
Pac-12 Conference All Fox, ESPN $3.0B ($250m)
Big Ten Conference (Big Ten/B1G) All Fox, ESPN, CBS $2.6B ($440m) [38]
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) All ESPN, The CW $3.6B ($240m)
Big 12 Conference All Fox, ESPN $2.6B ($200m)
Southeastern Conference (SEC) All CBS, ESPN $2.6B ($205m)
American Athletic Conference All ESPN $910m ($130m)
Mountain West Conference (MW) All CBS, ESPN $116m ($18m) [39]
Mid-American Conference (MAC) All ESPN $100m ($8m) [40]

Scholarship limits by sport edit

The NCAA has limits on the total financial aid each Division I member may award in each sport that the school sponsors. It divides sports that are sponsored into two types for purposes of scholarship limitations:

  • "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."[41]

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.

  1. ^ This total is also subject to the following restrictions:
    • The number of total counters is limited to 27.[43]
    • Each counter must receive "athletically related and other countable financial aid" equal to at least 25% of a full scholarship.[44] Most institutional and governmental non-athletic aid falls in the "countable" category;[45] an official NCAA rules interpretation also allows schools to count aid that would otherwise be exempt by NCAA rule (such as purely academic awards) toward the 25% limit, as long as it also is included in the calculations for the team equivalency limit.[46] The 25% rule does not apply to baseball schools that offer only need-based aid (such as Ivy League members).[47] A second exception to the 25% rule, added in 2012, is for players in their final year of athletic eligibility who have not previously received athletically related aid in baseball at any college.[48]
  2. ^ This total is for schools that also sponsor women's indoor volleyball.[51] If a school does not sponsor women's indoor volleyball, it is allowed 8.0 equivalents for beach volleyball.[52] For all schools, the maximum number of counters in beach volleyball is 14.[51][52]
  3. ^ If a school sponsors men's cross-country but does not sponsor either indoor or outdoor track and field for men, it is allowed 5.0 scholarship equivalents for that sport.[54]
  4. ^ If a school sponsors women's cross-country but does not sponsor either indoor or outdoor track and field for women, it is allowed 6.0 scholarship equivalents for that sport.[54]
  5. ^ FBS programs are also limited to 25 new counters per school year.[55]
  6. ^ FCS programs are also limited to 85 total counters per school year.[56] 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.[57]
  7. ^ The number of total counters is limited to 30.[59]
  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.[60] 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.[61] 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.

Rules for multi-sport athletes edit

The NCAA also has rules specifying the sport in which multi-sport athletes are to be counted, with the basic rules being:[62]

  • 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.[63]
  • 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 edit

Subdivisions in Division I exist only in football.[64][65] 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.

As of the 2023 season, the main distinctions between Bowl Subdivision and Championship Subdivision schools are scholarship policies and the existence of an official NCAA championship in the latter subdivision.[66][67] Before the 2023 season, the NCAA required that FBS schools average at least 15,000 attendance, allowing schools to report either total tickets sold or the number of persons in attendance at the games. The requirement was a minimum average of 15,000 people in attendance every other year.[67] These numbers are posted to the NCAA statistics website for football each year. With new rules starting in the 2006 season, it was possible for the number of Bowl Subdivision schools to drop in the future if those schools were not able to pull in enough fans into the games. Additionally, 14 FCS schools had enough attendance to be moved up in 2012.[68] Under current NCAA rules, these schools must have an invitation from an FBS conference in order to move to FBS. 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.

FBS attendance requirements were abolished early in the 2023 season, effective immediately. In their place, Division I added new requirements for athletic funding. Effective in 2027–28, FBS schools must fund the equivalent of at least 210 full scholarships across all of their NCAA sports; spend at least $6 million annually on athletic scholarships; and provide at least 90% of the total number of allowed scholarship equivalents across 16 sports, including football.[66]

Football Bowl Subdivision edit

Main article: NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
See also: College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS and List of NCAA Division I FBS football bowl records

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.[69] 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.

As of the upcoming 2024 college football season, there are 133 full members of Division I FBS, plus one transitional school that is considered an FBS member for scheduling purposes. The newest full FBS members are Jacksonville State, James Madison, and Sam Houston, which will complete the transition from FCS prior to the 2024 season. The next school to become a full FBS member is Kennesaw State, which will join Conference USA (CUSA) in 2024 and become a full FBS member a year later. Delaware is set to join CUSA in 2025 and become a full FBS member in 2026.

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, most recently changed in advance of the 2022 season, conferences have complete freedom to determine the participants in their championship games.[70] From 2016 to 2021, FBS rules allowed such a game to 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.[71] Before 2016, "exempt" championship games could only be held between the divisional winners of conferences that had at least 12 football teams and split into divisions.[72][73] 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, and later expansions brought the membership totals to 14 in 2023 and 16 effective in 2024. On the other hand, the Pac-12 Conference has used names (official or unofficial) that have reflected the number of members from the establishment of its current charter in 1959 until its collapse in 2024. 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 most recent additions (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. An even more extrema example of this phenomenon is the Atlantic Coast Conference. For the first 60 years after its 1953 founding, the ACC consisted entirely of schools in Atlantic Coast states. However, in 2013, the conference added three new schools, two of which (Pittsburgh and, for non-football sports, Indiana-based Notre Dame) were in states without an Atlantic shoreline. The following year saw the ACC add another non-Atlantic school in Louisville. Then, in 2023, the conference announced it would expand in 2024 to the Pacific coast with San Francisco Bay Area rivals California and Stanford, and also add SMU from Dallas–Fort Worth.

Conferences edit

Conference Nickname Founded Members Sports Headquarters
American Athletic Conference *** The American 1979 [a] 14 [b][c][d] 22 Providence, Rhode Island
Atlantic Coast Conference ** ACC 1953 15 [e][f] 28 [g] Charlotte, North Carolina
Big Ten Conference ** Big Ten, B1G 1896 14 [h][i] 28 Rosemont, Illinois
Big 12 Conference ** Big 12 1996 14 [j][k] 23 [l] Irving, Texas
Conference USA *** CUSA 1995 [m] 9 [n][o] 19 Dallas, Texas
Division I FBS Independents [p] 4[q]
Mid-American Conference *** MAC 1946 12 [r] 23 Cleveland, Ohio
Mountain West Conference *** MW 1999 11 [s][t] 19 Colorado Springs, Colorado
Pac-12 Conference ** Pac-12 1915 [u] 12 [v][w] 24 Walnut Creek, California
Southeastern Conference ** SEC 1932 14 [x] 20 Birmingham, Alabama
Sun Belt Conference *** Sun Belt, SBC 1976 14 [y] 20 New Orleans, Louisiana

** – "Big Five" or "Power Five" conferences with guaranteed berths in the "access bowls" associated with the College Football Playoff
*** – "Group of Five" conferences

See also: List of NCAA Division I FBS football programs
Notes
  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 13 members in 2024 with loss of SMU.
  3. ^ 13 of the 14 full members sponsor football, with Wichita State as the only non-football member.
    • 12 full members and 14 football members in 2024 with loss of SMU and addition of Army for football only, with Navy already being a football-only member.
  4. ^ In addition to the full members and football-only member Navy, five other schools have single-sport associate membership, and two others are members in two sports.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ 18 members and 17 football members in 2024 with addition of California, SMU, and Stanford.
  7. ^ 27 sports by NCAA count; the ACC sponsors separate championships in men's and women's fencing, a sport in which the NCAA organizes a single coeducational championship event.
  8. ^ 18 members in 2024 with addition of Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 16 members in 2024 with the following changes:
  11. ^ In addition to the full members, the Big 12 has 13 members that participate in only one sport.
  12. ^ 25 sports in 2024 with addition of beach volleyball and women's lacrosse.
  13. ^ The conference was founded in 1995, with football competition starting in 1996.
  14. ^ 10 members in 2024 with addition of Kennesaw State.
    • 11 members in 2025 with addition of Delaware.
  15. ^ In addition to the full members, Conference USA features 11 schools that play one sport in the conference, plus one school that is a member in two sports.
  16. ^ "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.
  17. ^ 3 members in 2024 with Army football joining the American Athletic Conference.
  18. ^ In addition to the 12 full members, the Mid-American Conference features 18 members that participate in a single sport, and one that competes in two sports. One other school will become a single-sport member in the near future.
  19. ^ Since 2012, Hawaiʻi has been a football-only associate member, with most of its remaining teams in the non-football Big West Conference.
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ 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.
  22. ^ The Pac-12 also includes five associate members that compete in one or two sports.
  23. ^ 2 members in 2024: Oregon State and Washington State.
  24. ^ 16 members in 2024 with addition of Oklahoma and Texas.
  25. ^ In addition to the 14 full members, eight schools are affiliate members:

Football Championship Subdivision edit

Main article: NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision
See also: NCAA Division I Football Championship and List of NCAA Division I FCS football programs

The Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, consists of 130 teams as of the 2022 season, with all participating in one of 14 conferences.[74] 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).[75] 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.[76] 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.[77]

The postseason tournament traditionally begins on Thanksgiving weekend in late November. When I-AA was formed 46 years ago in 1978,[78] the playoffs included just four teams for its first three seasons, doubling to eight teams for one season in 1981.[79] 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.[80]

Abstainers edit

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,[81] 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 edit

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. A former difference was that FCS schools had a limit of 30 players that could be provided with financial aid in a given season, while FBS schools were limited to 25 such additions per season. These limits were suspended in 2020 before being completely eliminated for both subdivisions in 2023.[66] 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).

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.[82] 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.[83]

Conferences edit

Conference Nickname Founded Members Sports Headquarters FCS Tournament Bid
Atlantic Sun Conference ASUN 1978 12 [a][b][c] 21 Atlanta, Georgia Automatic (shared)[d]
Big Sky Conference Big Sky 1963 10 [e] 16 Ogden, Utah Automatic
Big South Conference Big South 1983 10 [f][g] 19 [h] Charlotte, North Carolina Automatic (shared)[i]
Coastal Athletic Association CAA 1983 [j] 14 [k][l][m] 21[n] Richmond, Virginia Automatic
Division I FCS Independents [o] 1[p]
Ivy League Ivy League 1954 [q] 8 33 Princeton, New Jersey Automatic – (Abstains)
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference MEAC 1970 8 [r][s] 14 Norfolk, Virginia Abstains
Missouri Valley Football Conference MVFC 1985 [t] 12 [u] 1 St. Louis, Missouri Automatic
Northeast Conference NEC 1981 9 [v][w][x] 24 [y] Somerset, New Jersey Automatic
Ohio Valley Conference OVC 1948 11 [z][aa] 19 [ab] Brentwood, Tennessee Automatic (shared)[i]
Patriot League Patriot 1986 [ac] 10 [ad][ae] 23 Center Valley, Pennsylvania Automatic
Pioneer Football League PFL 1991 11 1 St. Louis, Missouri Automatic
Southern Conference SoCon 1921 10 [af] 20 Spartanburg, South Carolina Automatic
Southland Conference SLC 1963 10 [ag][ah] 18 Frisco, Texas Automatic
Southwestern Athletic Conference SWAC 1920 12 18 Birmingham, Alabama Abstains
Western Athletic Conference WAC 1962 11 [ai][aj] 20 Arlington, Texas Automatic (shared)[d]
See also: List of NCAA Division I FCS football programs
Notes
  1. ^ Most football-playing ASUN members compete in the United Athletic Conference, a football-only merger of the ASUN and the Western Athletic Conference. Of the 12 full members, four do not sponsor football at all. Three others play football outside of the UAC—Kennesaw State as an FCS independent, Stetson in the Pioneer Football League, and Bellarmine outside of NCAA control in the weight-restricted variant of sprint football.
    • 12 full members in 2024 with loss of Kennesaw State and addition of West Georgia, which will play football in the United Athletic Conference.
  2. ^ In addition to the full members, the ASUN has 14 associate members that participate in at least one sport.
    • Air Force, Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy, Robert Morris, and Utah participate only in men's lacrosse.
      • Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy, and Robert Morris will leave in 2024 for the revived Northeast Conference men's lacrosse league.
    • Coastal Carolina competes only in women's lacrosse.
    • Florida Atlantic and UNC Asheville compete only in women's swimming & diving.
    • Gardner–Webb competes in both men's and women's swimming & diving.
    • Liberty competes in women's lacrosse and women's swimming & diving.
    • Lindenwood participates in both men's and women's lacrosse, but will drop men's lacrosse after the spring 2024 season.
    • Mercer competes in men's lacrosse.
    • Old Dominion and SMU compete only in men's swimming & diving. SMU will leave in 2024 when it joins the ACC, which sponsors that sport.
  3. ^ 12 full members and 5 football members in 2024 with loss of Kennesaw State and addition of West Georgia.
  4. ^ a b The ASUN and WAC have merged their football leagues as the United Athletic Conference. The NCAA does not consider the UAC to be a conference, instead treating it as the continuation of a pre-existing football alliance between the two all-sports conferences.
  5. ^ 12 football members with Cal Poly and UC Davis, both full members of the non-football Big West Conference, as football-only affiliates.
  6. ^ The Big South's four football members—full members Charleston Southern and Gardner–Webb, plus football-only associates Bryant and Robert Morris—compete in the Big South–OVC Football Association, an alliance between the Big South and the Ohio Valley Conference that shares a single berth in the FCS playoffs.
    • 2 football members in 2024 with loss of Bryant and Robert Morris.
  7. ^ In addition to the full members and football affiliates, Furman, Mercer, and Wofford are associate members in women's lacrosse.
  8. ^ Technically 19 sports, but football is organized as an alliance between the Big South and OVC.
  9. ^ a b The Big South–OVC Football Association has a single FCS playoff berth.
  10. ^ The CAA football conference, branded as CAA Football and legally a separate entity from the all-sports CAA, 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. However, the CAA does not consider this conference to be a part of the history of CAA Football. 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. The CAA considers its football history to have started with the formation of the Yankee Conference.
    • 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. CAA Football inherited the A-10's automatic berth in the FCS playoffs.
  11. ^ The CAA has 14 full members, nine of which compete in CAA Football. Currently, six associate members fill out the ranks of CAA Football: Albany, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Richmond, and Villanova. Villanova is an associate of the all-sports CAA in women's rowing.
  12. ^ 14 full members and 16 football members in 2024 with addition of Bryant to CAA Football only.
    • 13 full members and 15 CAA Football members in 2025 with loss of Delaware.
  13. ^ In addition to the CAA Football members, the CAA has four associate members that each participate in one sport:
  14. ^ 21 sports under CAA administration, with the all-sports CAA also governing CAA Football.
  15. ^ "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.
  16. ^ Kennesaw State.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ The football conference currently consists of 6 of the 8 member schools.
  19. ^ In addition to the full members, Monmouth, North Carolina A&T, and UAB participate in women's bowling.
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ 11 members in 2024 with loss of Western Illinois.
  22. ^ 8 full members and as many as 8 football members in 2024 with the following changes:
    • Loss of football-sponsoring Merrimack, which has yet to announce a football affiliaton, and Sacred Heart, which will become an FCS independent.
    • Addition of non-football Chicago State.
    • Return of former full member Robert Morris as a football associate.
  23. ^ The conference has 7 full members that sponsor football. Duquesne of the non-football Atlantic 10 is a football associate.
  24. ^ In addition to Duquesne, which is also an NEC associate in bowling, the NEC has 12 other associate members that participate in one or more sports, with four more set to join in 2024.
    • Binghamton is an associate in men's golf, plus men's and women's tennis.
    • Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy, Robert Morris, and VMI will become men's lacrosse associates in 2024.
    • Coppin State and Norfolk State are associates only in baseball.
    • Daemen and D'Youville, both Division II members, are associates in men's volleyball, a sport with a combined D-I and D-II championship.
    • Delaware State competes in baseball, women's golf, women's lacrosse, and women's soccer.
    • Fairfield and Rider are field hockey associates.
    • Howard competes in men's and women's golf, women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, and men's and women's swimming & diving.
    • Maryland Eastern Shore competes in baseball and men's and women's golf. It will add men's volleyball to its NEC membership in 2025.
    • Niagara competes in bowling.
    • North Carolina Central is an associate in men's and women's golf.
  25. ^ 25 sports in 2024 with reinstatement of men's lacrosse.
  26. ^ The OVC's 6 football members compete in the Big South–OVC Football Association, an alliance between the OVC and Big South Conference that shares a single berth in the FCS playoffs. Morehead State plays non-scholarship football in the Pioneer Football League, while Little Rock, SIU Edwardsville, and Southern Indiana do not sponsor football. Western Illinois, which became a full member in 2023, played the 2023 football season in the Missouri Valley Football Conference before joining the Big South–OVC alliance in 2024.
  27. ^ In addition to the full members:
  28. ^ Technically 19 sports, but football is organized as an alliance between the Big South and OVC.
  29. ^ 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.
  30. ^ Five of the full members do not sponsor FCS football. American, Boston University and Loyola (Maryland) do not sponsor football at all, and as of the upcoming 2024 season, Army and Navy will play in the FBS American Athletic Conference. Fordham and Georgetown are associate members in football.
  31. ^ 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.
  32. ^ In addition to the full members, the SoCon currently has 9 associate members, each of which plays one sport in the conference.
  33. ^ The football conference currently consists of 8 of the 10 member schools.
  34. ^ In addition to the full members, six schools are associate members in one or more sports.
    • Augusta, otherwise a Division II member, competes in both men's and women's golf.
    • Boise State and San Jose State compete in beach volleyball.
    • Bryant competes in men's & women's golf and tennis.
    • Francis Marion, otherwise Division II, competes in men's golf.
    • NJIT competes in men's and women's tennis.
  35. ^ 11 full members and 5 football members, with all football members competing in the United Athletic Conference.
    • 6 football members in 2025 with addition of football by full member UTRGV.
  36. ^ In addition to the full members and football associates, the WAC currently has 9 associate members that house one or two sports in the conference:

Division I non-football schools edit

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.[84]

The following non-football conferences have full members that sponsor football:

The following Division I conferences do not sponsor football. These conferences still compete in Division I for all sports that they sponsor.

Conferences edit

See also: List of NCAA Division I non-football programs
Notes
  1. ^ In addition to the full members, there are five associate members:
    • California, Stanford, and UC Davis are associates in field hockey. California and Stanford will leave in 2024 when they join the field hockey-sponsoring Atlantic Coast Conference.
    • Merrimack is an associate in men's lacrosse, but will leave in 2024 for the lacrosse-sponsoring MAAC.
    • VMI is an associate in men's and women's swimming & diving.
  2. ^ In addition to the full members, four schools are single-sport associates:
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ In addition to the full members, the following schools are Big East affiliates in one or more sports:
  5. ^ 22 NCAA-sanctioned sports plus the non-NCAA and fully coeducational esports.
  6. ^ In addition to the full members, Sacramento State is a member in beach volleyball and men's soccer.
  7. ^ In addition to the full members, the following schools are Horizon affiliates in tennis:
  8. ^ "Independents" is not a conference, it is simply a designation used to indicate schools which are not a member of any conference.
  9. ^ Chicago State.
    • No independents in 2024, with Chicago State joining the Northeast Conference.
  10. ^ 13 members in 2024 with addition of Merrimack and Sacred Heart.
  11. ^ In addition to the full members, 12 other schools are MAAC affiliates in at least one sport.
    • Albany and Dayton in women's golf.
    • Drake, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart (which becomes a full member in 2024), and Stetson participate in women's rowing. Sacred Heart also competes in men's lacrosse.
    • LIU, Villanova, VMI, and Wagner participate in women's water polo. LIU, VMI, and Wagner also compete in men's lacrosse. VMI men's lacrosse will leave in 2024 for the revived Northeast Conference men's lacrosse league.
    • 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.
  12. ^ 23 NCAA-recognized sports plus two non-NCAA sports, esports (fully coeducational) and men's rowing.
  13. ^ In addition to the full members, four schools house one sport in the conference:
  14. ^ In addition to the full members, four schools are single-sport associates, and three others house two sports in the conference:
  15. ^ In addition to the full members, four schools are single-sport WCC associates, with two more becoming multi-sport associates in the near future:

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 CAA Football, the technically separate football league operated by the all-sports Coastal Athletic Association. In addition, four A-10 schools (Dayton, Fordham, Duquesne, and Massachusetts) play football in a conference other CAA Football, 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. Among current MAAC members that were in the conference before 2007, only Marist, which plays in the Pioneer Football League, still sponsors football.

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 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 Tarleton and Utah Tech (then Dixie State) 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;[85][86] for 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.[87] This partnership was renewed for the 2022 season, with five ASUN and three WAC schools participating, though each conference will play its own schedule.[88] After the 2022 season, the ASUN and WAC announced a full football merger for 2023 and beyond under the banner of the United Athletic Conference.[89][90]

Division I in ice hockey edit

Main article: College ice hockey
See also: List of NCAA Division I ice hockey programs
 
Providence College Friars play Cornell in the NCAA Hockey East Regional at the Dunkin' Donuts Center, April 7, 2019

Some sports, most notably ice hockey[91] and men's volleyball, have completely different conference structures that operate outside of the normal NCAA sports conference structure.

As ice hockey is limited to a much smaller number of almost exclusively Northern schools, there is a completely different conference structure for teams.[91] These conferences feature a mix of teams that play their other sports in various Division I conferences, and even Division II and Division III schools. For most of the early 21st century, there was no correlation between a team's ice hockey affiliation and its affiliation for other sports, with the exception of the Ivy League's hockey-playing schools all being members of the ECAC. For example, before 2013, the Hockey East men's conference consisted of one ACC school, one Big East school, four schools from the America East, one from the A-10, one CAA school, and two schools from the D-II Northeast-10 Conference, while the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) and Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) both had some Big Ten representation, plus Division II and III schools. Also, the divisional structure is truncated, with the Division II championship abolished in 1999.

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference ceased its sponsorship of the sport in 2003,[92] 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.[93] Additionally, six other schools from those conferences withdrew to form the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference at the same time.[94][unreliable source?] 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,[95] which in turn led to the demise of the men's side of the WCHA.[96]

Conferences edit

Conference Nickname Founded Members Men Women
Atlantic Hockey [a] AHA 1997 11 11 none
Big Ten Conference Big Ten, B1G 1896 [b] 7 7 none
Central Collegiate Hockey Association CCHA 1971,
2020 [c]		 9 9 none
College Hockey America[a] CHA 1999 [d] 6 [e] none 6
ECAC Hockey N/A 1961 [f] 12 12 12
Hockey East HEA 1984 [g] 12 11 10
Independents 6 [h] 6 none
National Collegiate Hockey Conference NCHC 2011 [i] 8 [j] 8 none
New England Women's Hockey Alliance NEWHA 2018 [k] 8 none 8
Western Collegiate Hockey Association WCHA 1951 [l] 8 none 8
Notes
  1. ^ a b Atlantic Hockey and College Hockey America have announced plans to merge in 2024. The branding of the new entity has yet to be announced.
  2. ^ Founded as an all-sports conference in 1896, but did not sponsor ice hockey until 2013–14.
  3. ^ First version founded in 1971 and disbanded in 2013; reestablished in 2020, with play resuming in 2021–22. The current CCHA considers the original league to be part of its history.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ 7 members in 2025 with addition of Delaware.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ Founded as a men's-only conference in 1984, with women's hockey added in 2002.
  8. ^ Alaska, Alaska Anchorage, Arizona State, Lindenwood, LIU, and Stonehill.
    • 5 independents in 2024 with Arizona State joining the NCHC.
  9. ^ Date of founding; play began in 2013–14.
  10. ^ 9 members in 2024 with addition of Arizona State.
  11. ^ Founded as a scheduling alliance in 2017; formally organized as a conference in 2018. Received official NCAA recognition in 2019.
  12. ^ 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 edit

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.[97][98] 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.

Five Division I programs at "waiver schools" were grandfathered with the passing of Proposal 65-1:

An additional three programs were grandfathered in Proposal 65-1 but no longer are sponsored in Division I:

See also edit

References edit

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External links edit

  • Official website  

February 15, 2024
ncaa, division, defending, champions, list, current, champions, highest, level, intercollegiate, athletics, sanctioned, national, collegiate, athletic, association, ncaa, united, states, which, accepts, players, globally, schools, include, major, collegiate, a. For defending NCAA Division I champions see List of current NCAA Division I champions 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 large 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 NCAA Division I logoThis level was previously 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 1 Finances 2 Football conferences 2 1 FBS conferences 2 2 FCS conferences 3 Sports 3 1 Men s team sports 3 2 Men s individual sports 3 3 Women s team sports 3 4 Women s individual sports 4 Broadcasting and revenue 5 Scholarship limits by sport 5 1 Rules for multi sport athletes 6 Football subdivisions 6 1 Football Bowl Subdivision 6 2 Conferences 6 3 Football Championship Subdivision 6 4 Abstainers 6 5 Scholarships 6 6 Conferences 6 7 Division I non football schools 6 7 1 Conferences 7 Division I in ice hockey 7 1 Conferences 8 Classification debate 9 See also 10 References 11 External linksFinances editDivision 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 4 and are called revenue sports 5 From 2008 to 2012 205 varsity teams were dropped in NCAA Division I 72 for women and 133 for men with men s tennis gymnastics and wrestling hit particularly hard 6 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 7 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 8 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 9 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 10 According to the finance section of the NCAA page The NCAA receives most of its annual revenue from two sources television and marketing rights for the Division I Men s Basketball Championship and ticket sales for all championships That money is distributed in more than a dozen ways almost all of which directly support NCAA schools conferences and nearly half a million student athletes About 60 of the NCAA s annual revenue around 600 million is annually distributed directly to Division I member schools and conferences while more than 150 million funds Division I championships NCAA 2021 FinancesFootball conferences editUnder NCAA regulations all Division I conferences defined as multisport conferences must meet the following criteria 11 A total of at least seven active Division I members However the NCAA s Grace Period rule Bylaw 20 02 9 2 allows conferences to operate for up to two years with less than the minimum 12 Separate from the above at least seven active Division 1 members that sponsor both men s and women s basketball Sponsorship of at least 12 NCAA Division I sports Minimum of six men s sports with the following additional restrictions Men s basketball is a mandatory sport and at least seven members must sponsor that sport Non football conferences must sponsor at least two men s team sports other than basketball At least six members must sponsor five men s sports other than basketball including either football or two other team sports Minimum of six women s sports with the following additional restrictions Women s basketball is a mandatory sport with at least seven members sponsoring that sport At least two other women s team sports must be sponsored At least six members must sponsor five women s sports other than basketball with at least two of those five being team sports If a conference officially sponsors an NCAA emerging sport for women as of 2023 24 acrobatics amp tumbling equestrianism rugby union stunt triathlon or wrestling that sport will be counted if five members instead of six sponsor it FBS conferences edit FBS conferences must meet a more stringent set of requirements for NCAA recognition than other conferences 13 A total of at least eight active FBS members To be counted toward this total a school must participate in conference play in at least six men s and eight women s sports including men s and women s basketball football and at least two other women s team sports Each school may count one men s and one women s sport not sponsored by its primary conference toward the above limits as long as that sport competes in another Division I conference The men s and women s sports so counted need not be the same sport 14 Conference Nickname Founded Members Sports Headquarters TotalNCAATitles Men sNCAA Titles Women sNCAA Titles Co edNCAA TitlesAmerican Athletic Conference The American 1979 a 14 b c 22 Irving Texas 55 37 18 0Atlantic Coast Conference ACC 1953 15 d e 28 Charlotte North Carolina 150 87 58 5Big Ten Conference Big Ten 1896 14 f g 28 Rosemont Illinois 317 229 72 16Big 12 Conference Big 12 1996 14 h i 21 j Irving Texas 166 163 3 0Conference USA CUSA 1995 k 9 l m 19 Dallas Texas 1 1 0 0Division I FBS Independents n 4 o 1 Mid American Conference MAC 1946 12 p 23 Cleveland Ohio 4 4 0 0Mountain West Conference MW 1999 11 q r 19 Colorado Springs Colorado 21 13 5 3Pac 12 Conference Pac 12 1915 s 12 t u 24 San Francisco California 501 309 174 18Southeastern Conference SEC 1932 14 v 20 Birmingham Alabama 223 118 104 1Sun Belt Conference SBC 1976 14 w 20 New Orleans Louisiana 29 16 12 1 Power Five conferences with guaranteed berths in the New Year s Six the bowl games associated with the College Football Playoff Group of Five conferences See also List of NCAA Division I FBS football programs Notes 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 13 of the 14 full members sponsor football with Wichita State as the only non football member 13 full members with 12 sponsoring football in 2024 with loss of SMU In addition to the full members six schools have single sport associate membership and two are members in two sports Navy is a football only member Army becomes a football only member in 2024 Cincinnati Florida James Madison and Vanderbilt are members in women s lacrosse Cincinnati will leave after the 2024 season when its primary home of the Big 12 Conference begins sponsoring the sport FIU is a member in men s soccer and women s swimming amp diving Sacramento State is a member in women s rowing Old Dominion is a member in both women s lacrosse and women s rowing 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 18 full members and 17 football members in 2024 with addition of California SMU and Stanford 18 members in 2024 with addition of Oregon UCLA USC and Washington 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 16 members in 2024 with the following changes Addition of Arizona Arizona State Colorado and Utah Loss of Oklahoma and Texas In addition to the full members the Big 12 has 13 members that participate in only one sport Air Force California Baptist 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 23 sports in 2024 with addition of beach volleyball and women s lacrosse The conference was founded in 1995 with football competition starting in 1996 10 members in 2024 with addition of Kennesaw State 11 members in 2025 with addition of Delaware In addition to the full members Conference USA features 11 schools that play a single sport in the conference and one that is a member in two sports Dallas Baptist a Division II member that plays D I baseball is a baseball only member Florida Atlantic Missouri State Tarleton TCU and UAB are members in beach volleyball TCU will leave after the 2024 season when its primary home of the Big 12 Conference adds that sport Arkansas State Stephen F Austin Valparaiso Vanderbilt and Youngstown State are bowling associates Wichita State will join this group in 2024 Tulane is an associate in both beach volleyball and bowling 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 3 members in 2024 with Army becoming a football only member of the American Athletic Conference In addition to the 12 full members the Mid American Conference features 18 single sport members and one multi sport associate Another school will become a single sport member in the near future Appalachian State Bellarmine and Longwood compete in women s field hockey James Madison will join this group in 2024 Detroit Mercy Robert Morris and Youngstown State compete in women s lacrosse Evansville Missouri State Southern Illinois and Valparaiso compete in men s swimming and diving though Valparaiso fields no divers Bloomsburg Clarion Cleveland State Edinboro George Mason Lock Haven Rider and SIU Edwardsville compete in men s wrestling UIC is a member in both men s swimming amp diving and men s tennis Since 2012 Hawaiʻi has been a football only associate member with most of its remaining teams in the non football Big West Conference 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 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 2 members in 2024 Oregon State and Washington State The Pac 12 also includes five associate members with four competing in a single sport and another in two sports Cal State Bakersfield Cal Poly and Little Rock compete in men s wrestling UC Davis competes in women s lacrosse San Diego State competes in women s lacrosse and men s soccer 16 members in 2024 with addition of Oklahoma and Texas 15 In addition to the full members the SBC has eight associate members Kentucky South Carolina UCF and West Virginia are members in men s soccer Charleston Mercer Stephen F Austin and UNC Wilmington are members in beach volleyball FCS conferences edit Conference Nickname Founded Footballmembers Sports HeadquartersAtlantic Sun Conference ASUN 1978 4 a b c 21 Atlanta GeorgiaBig Sky Conference Big Sky 1963 12 d 16 Ogden UtahBig South Conference Big South 1983 4 e f 19 Charlotte North CarolinaCoastal Athletic Association Football Conference g CAA Football 2007 h 15 i j 1 Richmond VirginiaIndependents k 1 l 1Ivy League m 1954 8 33 Princeton New JerseyMid Eastern Athletic Conference n MEAC 1970 6 o 14 Norfolk VirginiaMissouri Valley Football Conference MVFC 1982 12 p 1 St Louis MissouriNortheast Conference NEC 1981 8 q r 24 Somerset New JerseyOhio Valley Conference OVC 1948 6 e s 19 Brentwood TennesseePatriot League 1986 7 t 24 Center Valley PennsylvaniaPioneer Football League PFL 1991 11 1 St Louis MissouriSouthern Conference SoCon 1921 9 u 20 Spartanburg South CarolinaSouthland Conference SLC 1963 8 v 17 Frisco TexasSouthwestern Athletic Conference w SWAC 1920 12 18 Birmingham AlabamaWestern Athletic Conference WAC 1962 5 a x 20 Arlington TexasSee also List of NCAA Division I FCS football programs Notes a b Includes only members playing in the United Athletic Conference a football merger between the ASUN and WAC Due to an NCAA moratorium on the formation of new single sport conferences the UAC is not an NCAA recognized conference instead being treated as a continuation of a preexisting football alliance between the ASUN and WAC that has a single automatic berth in the FCS playoffs 5 ASUN members playing in the UAC in 2024 with addition of West Georgia Of the 12 full members five do not sponsor football at all Of the football sponsoring members four play in the UAC one in the Pioneer Football League one as an FCS independent and one outside of NCAA governance in the weight restricted variant of sprint football The football membership consists of all 10 full members plus football only affiliates Cal Poly and UC Davis a b Includes only members playing in the Big South OVC Football Association a single sport alliance between the Big South Conference and Ohio Valley Conference that has a single automatic berth in the FCS playoffs Of the 9 full Big South members six do not sponsor football at all while a seventh Presbyterian is a member of the Pioneer Football League Two of the members of the Big South OVC alliance are Big South associate members Bryant and Robert Morris 2 alliance members in 2024 with loss of Bryant and Robert Morris Administered by the multi sports Coastal Athletic Association as a separate entity Reflects the establishment of CAA Football by the multi sports Colonial Athletic Association now the Coastal Athletic Association CAA Football officially traces its history to 1947 through the Yankee Conference and Atlantic 10 Conference and the history can be traced back further to 1938 via the New England Conference 16 members in 2024 with addition of Bryant 15 members in 2025 with loss of Delaware Five of the 14 full members of the multi sports CAA do not play football at all CAA Football includes six schools outside the multi sports CAA Albany Maine New Hampshire Rhode Island Richmond and Villanova Bryant becomes the seventh such school in 2024 In football only such schools almost always are members of multi sport conferences Kennesaw State otherwise a full ASUN member was an independent in the 2023 season only At least 1 independent expected in 2024 with Kennesaw State moving to FBS and Conference USA and Sacred Heart becoming an independent after leaving the Northeast Conference for the non football Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference The Ivy League abstains from the championship tournament and all postseason play 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 the most recent example being North Carolina Central in 2023 Of the 8 full MEAC members two do not sponsor football Coppin State and Maryland Eastern Shore 11 members in 2024 with loss of Western Illinois Of the 9 full NEC members two do not sponsor football The seven football sponsoring schools are joined by associate member Duquesne 8 full members and as many as 8 football members in 2024 with the following changes Loss of Merrimack and Sacred Heart both of which sponsor football Sacred Heart has announced it will become an FCS independent while Merrimack has yet to announce its future football affiliation Addition of non football Chicago State Addition of Robert Morris as a football associate Of the 11 full OVC members Little Rock SIU Edwardsville and Southern Indiana do not sponsor football while Morehead State competes in the Pioneer Football League Western Illinois which became a full member in 2023 played that season in the Missouri Valley Football Conference 7 football members in 2024 with addition of Western Illinois Of the 10 full Patriot members American Boston University and Loyola MD do not sponsor football while Army and Navy play FBS football The five full members that play Patriot League football are joined by associates Fordham and Georgetown Of the 10 full SoCon members only UNC Greensboro does not sponsor football Of the 10 full SLC members two do not sponsor football New Orleans and Texas A amp M Corpus Christi 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 an at large bid to play if selected Of the 11 full WAC members California Baptist Grand Canyon Seattle UT Arlington Utah Valley and UTRGV do not sponsor football at all 6 WAC members playing in the UAC in 2025 with UTRGV adding football Sports editMen s team sports edit No Sport Founded Teams 16 Conf Scholarshipsper team Season Most Championships1 Football 1869 FBS 17 1978 FCS 18 257 130 FBS 127 FCS 24 10 FBS 14 FCS 85 FBS 63 0 FCS Fall Princeton 28 2 Basketball 1939 19 351 32 13 Winter UCLA 11 3 Baseball 1947 20 299 30 11 7 Spring USC 12 4 Soccer 1959 21 204 23 9 9 Fall Saint Louis 10 5 Ice hockey 1948 22 61 6 18 0 Winter Michigan Denver 9 6 Lacrosse 1971 23 74 10 12 6 Spring Syracuse 10 7 Volleyball 1970 24 29 5 4 5 Spring UCLA 19 8 Water polo 1969 25 25 4 4 5 Fall California 14 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 133 FBS programs can award financial aid to as many as 85 players with each player able to receive up to a full scholarship The 128 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 the most recent 2023 NCAA soccer season part of the 2023 24 academic year four of the 10 FBS conferences do not sponsor men s soccer the Big 12 Conference USA Mid American Conference and the SEC Several other D I conferences also do not sponsor the sport the Big Sky MEAC Mountain West Southland and SWAC The Ohio Valley Conference is the most recent conference to add men s soccer it started sponsoring the sport for the first time in the 2023 season Conference USA shut down its league after losing most of its men s soccer membership to the Sun Belt Conference followed by the American Athletic Conference taking in CUSA s remaining four teams three of which fully joined The American in 2023 as associate members for 2022 The MAC was reduced to 5 men s soccer members in the 2022 season and shut down its league at the end of that season after being unable to find the sixth member needed to maintain its automatic NCAA tournament bid Of its final men s soccer members three moved that sport to the Missouri Valley Conference one to the Big East Conference and one to the Ohio Valley Conference The Pac 12 will be reduced to two full members in 2024 with only Oregon State sponsoring men s soccer Oregon State will house most of its non football sports in the West Coast Conference in the 2024 25 and 2025 26 school years Pac 12 men s soccer affiliate San Diego State has yet to announce a future affiliation in that sport 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 competing in D I hockey in 2022 23 22 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 Lacrosse The vast majority of D I lacrosse programs are from the Northeast Southeast and Mid Atlantic Only five D I programs are not in the Eastern Time Zone Air Force and Denver on the Colorado Front Range Lindenwood on the Missouri side of the St Louis metropolitan area Marquette in Milwaukee and Utah Lindenwood will drop men s lacrosse after the 2024 season 2023 24 school year Volleyball Of the traditional D I conferences only the Big West Conference and Northeast Conference sponsor men s volleyball with those conferences respectively adding the sport in 2017 18 and 2022 23 Two of the other three major volleyball conferences defined in that sport 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 33 D II schools are competing in the National Collegiate division in 2023 24 eight of these are members of Conference Carolinas the first all sports league outside Division III to sponsor the sport six are members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and four are either full or affiliate members of the East Coast Conference which began sponsoring the sport in 2023 24 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 26 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 schools that are leaving the Pac 12 in 2024 Men s individual sports edit The following table lists the men s individual D I sports with at least 1 000 participating athletes Sports are ranked by number of athletes No Sport Founded Teams 2022 27 Teams 1982 27 Change Athletes 27 Season1 Track outdoor 1921 28 287 230 57 11 387 Spring2 Track indoor 1965 29 264 209 55 10 369 Winter3 Cross country 1938 30 315 256 59 5 032 Fall4 Swimming and diving 1937 31 130 181 51 3 826 Winter5 Golf 1939 32 292 263 29 2 958 Spring6 Wrestling 1928 33 76 146 70 2 665 Winter7 Tennis 1946 34 233 267 34 2 293 SpringD I college wrestling has lost almost half of its programs since 1982 35 Women s team sports edit No Sport Founded Teams 27 Conf Scholarshipsper team Season Most Championships1 Basketball 1982 348 32 15 Winter UConn 11 2 Soccer 1982 335 31 14 0 Fall North Carolina 21 3 Volleyball 1981 332 32 12 Fall Stanford 9 4 Softball 1982 293 32 12 0 Spring UCLA 12 5 Rowing 1997 87 12 20 0 Spring Brown 7 6 Lacrosse 1982 119 13 12 0 Spring Maryland 14 7 Field hockey 1981 77 10 12 0 Fall North Carolina 11 8 Ice hockey 2001 34 5 18 0 Winter Wisconsin 7 9 Beach volleyball 2016 62 5 6 0 Spring USC 4 10 Water polo 2001 34 6 8 0 Spring Stanford 8 NotesAs 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 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 335 teams in 2021 22 27 However in recent years the fastest growing has been beach volleyball which went from 14 Division I teams in 2011 12 to 62 in 2021 22 Since 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 36 became an official NCAA championship sport in 2015 16 37 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 Women s individual sports edit The following table lists the women s individual D I sports with at least 1 000 participating athletes Sports are ranked by number of athletes No Sport Teams 2022 27 Teams 1982 27 Change Athletes 27 Season1 Track outdoor 339 180 159 13 672 Spring2 Track indoor 331 127 204 13 404 Winter3 Cross country 347 183 164 5 896 Fall4 Swimming and diving 190 161 29 5 886 Winter5 Tennis 300 246 54 2 817 Spring6 Golf 262 83 179 2 229 Spring7 Gymnastics 61 99 38 1 258 WinterBroadcasting and revenue editNCAA Division I schools have broadcasting contracts that showcase their more popular sports typically football and men s basketball on network television and in basic cable channels These contracts can be quite lucrative particularly for D I schools from the biggest conferences For example the Big Ten conference in 2016 entered into contracts with Fox and ESPN that pay the conference 2 64 billion over six years 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 SEC 527 million dispersed 33 million to each of its member schools Big 10 449 million dispersed 32 million each Pac 12 439 million dispersed 25 million each ACC 403 million dispersed 26 million each Big 12 268 million dispersed 23 million each U S college sports TV rights Sports rights Sport National TV contract Total Revenues Per Year RefNCAA March Madness Basketball CBS Turner 8 8B 1 1B College Football Playoff Football ESPN 5 6B 470m Pac 12 Conference All Fox ESPN 3 0B 250m Big Ten Conference Big Ten B1G All Fox ESPN CBS 2 6B 440m 38 Atlantic Coast Conference ACC All ESPN The CW 3 6B 240m Big 12 Conference All Fox ESPN 2 6B 200m Southeastern Conference SEC All CBS ESPN 2 6B 205m American Athletic Conference All ESPN 910m 130m Mountain West Conference MW All CBS ESPN 116m 18m 39 Mid American Conference MAC All ESPN 100m 8m 40 Scholarship limits by sport editThe NCAA has limits on the total financial aid each Division I member may award in each sport that the school sponsors It divides sports that are sponsored into two types for purposes of scholarship limitations 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 41 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 Sport Men s Women sAcrobatics amp tumbling 14 0 42 Baseball 11 7 43 nb 1 Basketball 13 49 15 50 Beach volleyball 6 0 nb 2 Bowling 5 0 42 Cross country Track and field 12 6 53 nb 3 18 0 42 nb 4 Equestrian 15 0 42 Fencing 4 5 53 5 0 42 Field hockey 12 0 42 Football 85 FBS 55 nb 5 63 0 FCS 56 nb 6 Golf 4 5 53 6 0 42 Gymnastics 6 3 53 12 58 Ice hockey 18 0 59 nb 7 18 0 nb 8 Lacrosse 12 6 53 12 0 42 Rifle 3 6 53 nb 9 Rowing 20 0 42 Rugby 12 0 42 Skiing 6 3 53 7 0 42 Soccer 9 9 53 14 0 42 Softball 12 0 42 Stunt 9 0 42 Swimming and diving 9 9 53 14 0 42 Tennis 4 5 53 8 58 Triathlon 6 5 42 Volleyball 4 5 53 12 58 Water polo 4 5 53 8 0 42 Wrestling 9 9 53 10 0 42 This total is also subject to the following restrictions The number of total counters is limited to 27 43 Each counter must receive athletically related and other countable financial aid equal to at least 25 of a full scholarship 44 Most institutional and governmental non athletic aid falls in the countable category 45 an official NCAA rules interpretation also allows schools to count aid that would otherwise be exempt by NCAA rule such as purely academic awards toward the 25 limit as long as it also is included in the calculations for the team equivalency limit 46 The 25 rule does not apply to baseball schools that offer only need based aid such as Ivy League members 47 A second exception to the 25 rule added in 2012 is for players in their final year of athletic eligibility who have not previously received athletically related aid in baseball at any college 48 This total is for schools that also sponsor women s indoor volleyball 51 If a school does not sponsor women s indoor volleyball it is allowed 8 0 equivalents for beach volleyball 52 For all schools the maximum number of counters in beach volleyball is 14 51 52 If a school sponsors men s cross country but does not sponsor either indoor or outdoor track and field for men it is allowed 5 0 scholarship equivalents for that sport 54 If a school sponsors women s cross country but does not sponsor either indoor or outdoor track and field for women it is allowed 6 0 scholarship equivalents for that sport 54 FBS programs are also limited to 25 new counters per school year 55 FCS programs are also limited to 85 total counters per school year 56 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 57 The number of total counters is limited to 30 59 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 60 The Division II Manual does not include any limit on total counters for any sport including women s ice hockey 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 61 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 Rules for multi sport athletes edit The NCAA also has rules specifying the sport in which multi sport athletes are to be counted with the basic rules being 62 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 63 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 editSubdivisions in Division I exist only in football 64 65 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 As of the 2023 season the main distinctions between Bowl Subdivision and Championship Subdivision schools are scholarship policies and the existence of an official NCAA championship in the latter subdivision 66 67 Before the 2023 season the NCAA required that FBS schools average at least 15 000 attendance allowing schools to report either total tickets sold or the number of persons in attendance at the games The requirement was a minimum average of 15 000 people in attendance every other year 67 These numbers are posted to the NCAA statistics website for football each year With new rules starting in the 2006 season it was possible for the number of Bowl Subdivision schools to drop in the future if those schools were not able to pull in enough fans into the games Additionally 14 FCS schools had enough attendance to be moved up in 2012 68 Under current NCAA rules these schools must have an invitation from an FBS conference in order to move to FBS 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 FBS attendance requirements were abolished early in the 2023 season effective immediately In their place Division I added new requirements for athletic funding Effective in 2027 28 FBS schools must fund the equivalent of at least 210 full scholarships across all of their NCAA sports spend at least 6 million annually on athletic scholarships and provide at least 90 of the total number of allowed scholarship equivalents across 16 sports including football 66 Football Bowl Subdivision edit Main article NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision See also College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS and List of NCAA Division I FBS football bowl records 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 69 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 As of the upcoming 2024 college football season there are 133 full members of Division I FBS plus one transitional school that is considered an FBS member for scheduling purposes The newest full FBS members are Jacksonville State James Madison and Sam Houston which will complete the transition from FCS prior to the 2024 season The next school to become a full FBS member is Kennesaw State which will join Conference USA CUSA in 2024 and become a full FBS member a year later Delaware is set to join CUSA in 2025 and become a full FBS member in 2026 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 most recently changed in advance of the 2022 season conferences have complete freedom to determine the participants in their championship games 70 From 2016 to 2021 FBS rules allowed such a game to 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 71 Before 2016 exempt championship games could only be held between the divisional winners of conferences that had at least 12 football teams and split into divisions 72 73 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 and later expansions brought the membership totals to 14 in 2023 and 16 effective in 2024 On the other hand the Pac 12 Conference has used names official or unofficial that have reflected the number of members from the establishment of its current charter in 1959 until its collapse in 2024 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 most recent additions 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 An even more extrema example of this phenomenon is the Atlantic Coast Conference For the first 60 years after its 1953 founding the ACC consisted entirely of schools in Atlantic Coast states However in 2013 the conference added three new schools two of which Pittsburgh and for non football sports Indiana based Notre Dame were in states without an Atlantic shoreline The following year saw the ACC add another non Atlantic school in Louisville Then in 2023 the conference announced it would expand in 2024 to the Pacific coast with San Francisco Bay Area rivals California and Stanford and also add SMU from Dallas Fort Worth Conferences edit Conference Nickname Founded Members Sports HeadquartersAmerican Athletic Conference The American 1979 a 14 b c d 22 Providence Rhode IslandAtlantic Coast Conference ACC 1953 15 e f 28 g Charlotte North CarolinaBig Ten Conference Big Ten B1G 1896 14 h i 28 Rosemont IllinoisBig 12 Conference Big 12 1996 14 j k 23 l Irving TexasConference USA CUSA 1995 m 9 n o 19 Dallas TexasDivision I FBS Independents p 4 q Mid American Conference MAC 1946 12 r 23 Cleveland OhioMountain West Conference MW 1999 11 s t 19 Colorado Springs ColoradoPac 12 Conference Pac 12 1915 u 12 v w 24 Walnut Creek CaliforniaSoutheastern Conference SEC 1932 14 x 20 Birmingham AlabamaSun Belt Conference Sun Belt SBC 1976 14 y 20 New Orleans Louisiana Big Five or Power Five conferences with guaranteed berths in the access bowls associated with the College Football Playoff Group of Five conferences See also List of NCAA Division I FBS football programs Notes 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 13 members in 2024 with loss of SMU 13 of the 14 full members sponsor football with Wichita State as the only non football member 12 full members and 14 football members in 2024 with loss of SMU and addition of Army for football only with Navy already being a football only member In addition to the full members and football only member Navy five other schools have single sport associate membership and two others are members in two sports FIU is a member in both men s soccer and women s swimming amp diving Cincinnati Florida James Madison Old Dominion and Vanderbilt are members in women s lacrosse Cincinnati will leave after the 2024 season when its primary home of the Big 12 begins sponsoring that sport Old Dominion and Sacramento State are members in women s rowing 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 18 members and 17 football members in 2024 with addition of California SMU and Stanford 27 sports by NCAA count the ACC sponsors separate championships in men s and women s fencing a sport in which the NCAA organizes a single coeducational championship event 18 members in 2024 with addition of Oregon UCLA USC and Washington 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 16 members in 2024 with the following changes Addition of Arizona Arizona State Colorado and Utah Loss of Oklahoma and Texas In addition to the full members the Big 12 has 13 members that participate in only one sport Air Force California Baptist 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 25 sports in 2024 with addition of beach volleyball and women s lacrosse The conference was founded in 1995 with football competition starting in 1996 10 members in 2024 with addition of Kennesaw State 11 members in 2025 with addition of Delaware In addition to the full members Conference USA features 11 schools that play one sport in the conference plus one school that is a member in two sports Arkansas State Stephen F Austin Valparaiso Vanderbilt and Youngstown State are members in bowling Wichita State joins this group in 2024 Dallas Baptist a Division II member that plays D I baseball is a baseball member Florida Atlantic Missouri State Tarleton TCU and UAB are members in beach volleyball TCU will leave after the 2024 season when its primary home of the Big 12 begins sponsoring that sport Tulane is a member in beach volleyball and bowling 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 3 members in 2024 with Army football joining the American Athletic Conference In addition to the 12 full members the Mid American Conference features 18 members that participate in a single sport and one that competes in two sports One other school will become a single sport member in the near future Appalachian State Bellarmine and Longwood compete in women s field hockey James Madison joins this group in 2024 Detroit Mercy Robert Morris and Youngstown State compete in women s lacrosse Evansville Missouri State Southern Illinois and Valparaiso compete in men s swimming and diving though Valparaiso fields only swimmers 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 UIC is a member in both men s swimming amp diving and men s tennis Since 2012 Hawaiʻi has been a football only associate member with most of its remaining teams in the non football Big West Conference 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 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 The Pac 12 also includes five associate members that compete in one or two sports Cal State Bakersfield Cal Poly and Little Rock compete in wrestling UC Davis competes in women s lacrosse San Diego State is a member in women s lacrosse and men s soccer 2 members in 2024 Oregon State and Washington State 16 members in 2024 with addition of Oklahoma and Texas In addition to the 14 full members eight schools are affiliate members Charleston Mercer Stephen F Austin and UNCW compete in beach volleyball Kentucky South Carolina UCF and West Virginia compete in men s soccer Football Championship Subdivision edit Main article NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision See also NCAA Division I Football Championship and List of NCAA Division I FCS football programs The Division I Football Championship Subdivision FCS formerly known as Division I AA consists of 130 teams as of the 2022 season with all participating in one of 14 conferences 74 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 75 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 76 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 77 The postseason tournament traditionally begins on Thanksgiving weekend in late November When I AA was formed 46 years ago in 1978 78 the playoffs included just four teams for its first three seasons doubling to eight teams for one season in 1981 79 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 80 Abstainers edit 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 81 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 edit 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 A former difference was that FCS schools had a limit of 30 players that could be provided with financial aid in a given season while FBS schools were limited to 25 such additions per season These limits were suspended in 2020 before being completely eliminated for both subdivisions in 2023 66 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 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 82 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 83 Conferences edit Conference Nickname Founded Members Sports Headquarters FCS Tournament BidAtlantic Sun Conference ASUN 1978 12 a b c 21 Atlanta Georgia Automatic shared d Big Sky Conference Big Sky 1963 10 e 16 Ogden Utah AutomaticBig South Conference Big South 1983 10 f g 19 h Charlotte North Carolina Automatic shared i Coastal Athletic Association CAA 1983 j 14 k l m 21 n Richmond Virginia AutomaticDivision I FCS Independents o 1 p Ivy League Ivy League 1954 q 8 33 Princeton New Jersey Automatic Abstains Mid Eastern Athletic Conference MEAC 1970 8 r s 14 Norfolk Virginia AbstainsMissouri Valley Football Conference MVFC 1985 t 12 u 1 St Louis Missouri AutomaticNortheast Conference NEC 1981 9 v w x 24 y Somerset New Jersey AutomaticOhio Valley Conference OVC 1948 11 z aa 19 ab Brentwood Tennessee Automatic shared i Patriot League Patriot 1986 ac 10 ad ae 23 Center Valley Pennsylvania AutomaticPioneer Football League PFL 1991 11 1 St Louis Missouri AutomaticSouthern Conference SoCon 1921 10 af 20 Spartanburg South Carolina AutomaticSouthland Conference SLC 1963 10 ag ah 18 Frisco Texas AutomaticSouthwestern Athletic Conference SWAC 1920 12 18 Birmingham Alabama AbstainsWestern Athletic Conference WAC 1962 11 ai aj 20 Arlington Texas Automatic shared d See also List of NCAA Division I FCS football programs Notes Most football playing ASUN members compete in the United Athletic Conference a football only merger of the ASUN and the Western Athletic Conference Of the 12 full members four do not sponsor football at all Three others play football outside of the UAC Kennesaw State as an FCS independent Stetson in the Pioneer Football League and Bellarmine outside of NCAA control in the weight restricted variant of sprint football 12 full members in 2024 with loss of Kennesaw State and addition of West Georgia which will play football in the United Athletic Conference In addition to the full members the ASUN has 14 associate members that participate in at least one sport Air Force Cleveland State Detroit Mercy Robert Morris and Utah participate only in men s lacrosse Cleveland State Detroit Mercy and Robert Morris will leave in 2024 for the revived Northeast Conference men s lacrosse league Coastal Carolina competes only in women s lacrosse Florida Atlantic and UNC Asheville compete only in women s swimming amp diving Gardner Webb competes in both men s and women s swimming amp diving Liberty competes in women s lacrosse and women s swimming amp diving Lindenwood participates in both men s and women s lacrosse but will drop men s lacrosse after the spring 2024 season Mercer competes in men s lacrosse Old Dominion and SMU compete only in men s swimming amp diving SMU will leave in 2024 when it joins the ACC which sponsors that sport 12 full members and 5 football members in 2024 with loss of Kennesaw State and addition of West Georgia a b The ASUN and WAC have merged their football leagues as the United Athletic Conference The NCAA does not consider the UAC to be a conference instead treating it as the continuation of a pre existing football alliance between the two all sports conferences 12 football members with Cal Poly and UC Davis both full members of the non football Big West Conference as football only affiliates The Big South s four football members full members Charleston Southern and Gardner Webb plus football only associates Bryant and Robert Morris compete in the Big South OVC Football Association an alliance between the Big South and the Ohio Valley Conference that shares a single berth in the FCS playoffs 2 football members in 2024 with loss of Bryant and Robert Morris In addition to the full members and football affiliates Furman Mercer and Wofford are associate members in women s lacrosse Technically 19 sports but football is organized as an alliance between the Big South and OVC a b The Big South OVC Football Association has a single FCS playoff berth The CAA football conference branded as CAA Football and legally a separate entity from the all sports CAA 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 However the CAA does not consider this conference to be a part of the history of CAA Football 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 The CAA considers its football history to have started with the formation of the Yankee Conference 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 CAA Football inherited the A 10 s automatic berth in the FCS playoffs The CAA has 14 full members nine of which compete in CAA Football Currently six associate members fill out the ranks of CAA Football Albany Maine New Hampshire Rhode Island Richmond and Villanova Villanova is an associate of the all sports CAA in women s rowing 14 full members and 16 football members in 2024 with addition of Bryant to CAA Football only 13 full members and 15 CAA Football members in 2025 with loss of Delaware In addition to the CAA Football members the CAA has four associate members that each participate in one sport Eastern Michigan UC San Diego and UConn in women s rowing Fairfield plays men s lacrosse 21 sports under CAA administration with the all sports CAA also governing CAA Football 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 Kennesaw State At least 1 independent in 2024 with the following changes Departure of Kennesaw State for the FBS Conference USA Addition of Sacred Heart which otherwise joins the non football Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 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 The football conference currently consists of 6 of the 8 member schools In addition to the full members Monmouth North Carolina A amp T and UAB participate in women s bowling 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 11 members in 2024 with loss of Western Illinois 8 full members and as many as 8 football members in 2024 with the following changes Loss of football sponsoring Merrimack which has yet to announce a football affiliaton and Sacred Heart which will become an FCS independent Addition of non football Chicago State Return of former full member Robert Morris as a football associate The conference has 7 full members that sponsor football Duquesne of the non football Atlantic 10 is a football associate In addition to Duquesne which is also an NEC associate in bowling the NEC has 12 other associate members that participate in one or more sports with four more set to join in 2024 Binghamton is an associate in men s golf plus men s and women s tennis Cleveland State Detroit Mercy Robert Morris and VMI will become men s lacrosse associates in 2024 Coppin State and Norfolk State are associates only in baseball Daemen and D Youville both Division II members are associates in men s volleyball a sport with a combined D I and D II championship Delaware State competes in baseball women s golf women s lacrosse and women s soccer Fairfield and Rider are field hockey associates Howard competes in men s and women s golf women s lacrosse men s and women s soccer and men s and women s swimming amp diving Maryland Eastern Shore competes in baseball and men s and women s golf It will add men s volleyball to its NEC membership in 2025 Niagara competes in bowling North Carolina Central is an associate in men s and women s golf 25 sports in 2024 with reinstatement of men s lacrosse The OVC s 6 football members compete in the Big South OVC Football Association an alliance between the OVC and Big South Conference that shares a single berth in the FCS playoffs Morehead State plays non scholarship football in the Pioneer Football League while Little Rock SIU Edwardsville and Southern Indiana do not sponsor football Western Illinois which became a full member in 2023 played the 2023 football season in the Missouri Valley Football Conference before joining the Big South OVC alliance in 2024 In addition to the full members Chattanooga is an associate in beach volleyball Chicago State Houston Christian Incarnate Word and Liberty are associates in men s soccer Chicago State will leave in 2024 when it joins the Northeast Conference which sponsors that sport Murray State ia an associate in rifle Technically 19 sports but football is organized as an alliance between the Big South and OVC 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 Five of the full members do not sponsor FCS football American Boston University and Loyola Maryland do not sponsor football at all and as of the upcoming 2024 season Army and Navy will play in the FBS American Athletic Conference Fordham and Georgetown are associate members in football 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 In addition to the full members the SoCon currently has 9 associate members each of which plays one sport in the conference Appalachian State Bellarmine Campbell Davidson Gardner Webb and Presbyterian are members in men s wrestling Georgia Southern North Georgia a Division II institution and UAB are members in rifle a sport with a single national championship for all divisions The football conference currently consists of 8 of the 10 member schools In addition to the full members six schools are associate members in one or more sports Augusta otherwise a Division II member competes in both men s and women s golf Boise State and San Jose State compete in beach volleyball Bryant competes in men s amp women s golf and tennis Francis Marion otherwise Division II competes in men s golf NJIT competes in men s and women s tennis 11 full members and 5 football members with all football members competing in the United Athletic Conference 6 football members in 2025 with addition of football by full member UTRGV In addition to the full members and football associates 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 Idaho New Mexico State Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado participate in women s swimming and diving Sacramento State participates in baseball San Jose State participates in men s soccer Wyoming participates in men s swimming amp diving Division I non football schools edit 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 84 The following non football conferences have full members that sponsor football The America East Conference has four football sponsoring schools Albany Bryant Maine and New Hampshire As of the upcoming 2024 season all play in CAA Football the technically separate football league of the Coastal Athletic Association CAA The Atlantic Sun Conference ASUN has seven schools that sponsor football Austin Peay Central Arkansas Eastern Kentucky and North Alabama play in the United Athletic Conference UAC which started play in 2023 as a football only merger between the ASUN and the Western Athletic Conference West Georgia will join both the ASUN and UAC in 2024 Kennesaw State played the 2023 season as an FCS independent its last before it joins Conference USA as a new FBS member Stetson plays in the PFL Bellarmine does not play NCAA football instead playing the weight restricted and non NCAA variant of sprint football 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 CAA Football 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 CAA Football 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 will return to the NEC as a football associate in 2024 and Youngstown State plays in the Missouri Valley Football Conference MVFC The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference MAAC has one football school with Marist playing in the PFL Merrimack and Sacred Heart will join the MAAC in 2024 Sacred Heart will become an FCS independent while Merrimack has yet to announce a football affiliation The Missouri Valley Conference has eight football schools Drake Illinois State Indiana State Missouri State Murray State Northern Iowa Southern Illinois and Valparaiso Drake and Valparaiso play in the PFL all others compete in the MVFC a separate legal entity from the MVC despite the similar name The Summit League has five football schools four of which play in the MVFC North Dakota North Dakota State South Dakota and South Dakota State The fifth St Thomas of Minnesota plays in the PFL The West Coast Conference s WCC only football school San Diego plays in the PFL Oregon State and Washington State the only members of the Pac 12 Conference beyond the 2023 24 school year will house most of their non football sports in the WCC in 2024 25 and 2025 26 The Western Athletic Conference has five football schools Abilene Christian Southern Utah Stephen F Austin Tarleton and Utah Tech All play in the UAC The following Division I conferences do not sponsor football These conferences still compete in Division I for all sports that they sponsor Conferences edit Conference Nickname Founded Members Sports HeadquartersAmerica East Conference America East 1979 9 a 18 Boston MassachusettsAtlantic 10 Conference A 10 1975 15 b 22 Newport News VirginiaBig East Conference Big East 2013 c 11 d 23 e New York City New YorkBig West Conference Big West 1969 11 f 18 Irvine CaliforniaHorizon League Horizon 1979 11 g 19 Indianapolis IndianaIndependents h Independents 1 i Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference MAAC 1980 11 j k 25 l Edison New JerseyMissouri Valley Conference MVC Valley 1907 12 m 17 St Louis MissouriThe Summit League The Summit 1982 10 n 19 Sioux Falls South DakotaWest Coast Conference WCC 1952 9 o 15 San Bruno CaliforniaSee also List of NCAA Division I non football programs Notes In addition to the full members there are five associate members California Stanford and UC Davis are associates in field hockey California and Stanford will leave in 2024 when they join the field hockey sponsoring Atlantic Coast Conference Merrimack is an associate in men s lacrosse but will leave in 2024 for the lacrosse sponsoring MAAC VMI is an associate in men s and women s swimming amp diving In addition to the full members four schools are single sport associates High Point and Hobart the latter a Division III member that plays men s lacrosse in Division I compete in men s lacrosse Lock Haven otherwise a Division II institution and Saint Francis University compete in field hockey 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 In addition to the full members the following schools are Big East affiliates in one or more sports Akron participates in men s soccer Liberty Old Dominion Quinnipiac and Temple participate in field hockey Denver participates in men s and women s lacrosse 22 NCAA sanctioned sports plus the non NCAA and fully coeducational esports In addition to the full members Sacramento State is a member in beach volleyball and men s soccer In addition to the full members the following schools are Horizon affiliates in tennis Belmont Eastern Illinois Lindenwood Southern Indiana Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech participate in men s tennis only Lindenwood will leave in 2024 when it drops men s tennis Chicago State participates in both men s and women s tennis It will leave in 2024 when it joins the Northeast Conference which sponsors the sport for both sexes Independents is not a conference it is simply a designation used to indicate schools which are not a member of any conference Chicago State No independents in 2024 with Chicago State joining the Northeast Conference 13 members in 2024 with addition of Merrimack and Sacred Heart In addition to the full members 12 other schools are MAAC affiliates in at least one sport Albany and Dayton in women s golf Drake Robert Morris Sacred Heart which becomes a full member in 2024 and Stetson participate in women s rowing Sacred Heart also competes in men s lacrosse LIU Villanova VMI and Wagner participate in women s water polo LIU VMI and Wagner also compete in men s lacrosse VMI men s lacrosse will leave in 2024 for the revived Northeast Conference men s lacrosse league 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 23 NCAA recognized sports plus two non NCAA sports esports fully coeducational and men s rowing In addition to the full members four schools house one sport in the conference Bowling Green Northern Illinois and Western Michigan are men s soccer associates Little Rock is an associate in women s swimming amp diving In addition to the full members four schools are single sport associates and three others house two sports in the conference Drake and Illinois State are men s tennis associates Eastern Illinois Lindenwood and Southern Indiana are associates in men s and women s swimming amp diving Lindenwood will leave in 2024 when it drops both of its swimming amp diving teams Northern Colorado is a baseball associate Western Illinois was a men s soccer associate in the 2023 season it will move the sport to its full time home of the Ohio Valley Conference in 2024 In addition to the full members four schools are single sport WCC associates with two more becoming multi sport associates in the near future Air Force California Baptist and San Jose State in men s water polo Creighton in women s rowing Oregon State and Washington State will house most of their non football sports including men s and women s basketball in the WCC in 2024 25 and 2025 26 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 CAA Football the technically separate football league operated by the all sports Coastal Athletic Association In addition four A 10 schools Dayton Fordham Duquesne and Massachusetts play football in a conference other CAA Football 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 Among current MAAC members that were in the conference before 2007 only Marist which plays in the Pioneer Football League still sponsors football 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 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 Tarleton and Utah Tech then Dixie State 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 85 86 for 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 87 This partnership was renewed for the 2022 season with five ASUN and three WAC schools participating though each conference will play its own schedule 88 After the 2022 season the ASUN and WAC announced a full football merger for 2023 and beyond under the banner of the United Athletic Conference 89 90 Division I in ice hockey editMain article College ice hockey See also List of NCAA Division I ice hockey programs nbsp Providence College Friars play Cornell in the NCAA Hockey East Regional at the Dunkin Donuts Center April 7 2019Some sports most notably ice hockey 91 and men s volleyball have completely different conference structures that operate outside of the normal NCAA sports conference structure As ice hockey is limited to a much smaller number of almost exclusively Northern schools there is a completely different conference structure for teams 91 These conferences feature a mix of teams that play their other sports in various Division I conferences and even Division II and Division III schools For most of the early 21st century there was no correlation between a team s ice hockey affiliation and its affiliation for other sports with the exception of the Ivy League s hockey playing schools all being members of the ECAC For example before 2013 the Hockey East men s conference consisted of one ACC school one Big East school four schools from the America East one from the A 10 one CAA school and two schools from the D II Northeast 10 Conference while the Central Collegiate Hockey Association CCHA and Western Collegiate Hockey Association WCHA both had some Big Ten representation plus Division II and III schools Also the divisional structure is truncated with the Division II championship abolished in 1999 The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference ceased its sponsorship of the sport in 2003 92 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 93 Additionally six other schools from those conferences withdrew to form the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference at the same time 94 unreliable source 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 95 which in turn led to the demise of the men s side of the WCHA 96 Conferences edit Conference Nickname Founded Members Men WomenAtlantic Hockey a AHA 1997 11 11 noneBig Ten Conference Big Ten B1G 1896 b 7 7 noneCentral Collegiate Hockey Association CCHA 1971 2020 c 9 9 noneCollege Hockey America a CHA 1999 d 6 e none 6ECAC Hockey N A 1961 f 12 12 12Hockey East HEA 1984 g 12 11 10Independents 6 h 6 noneNational Collegiate Hockey Conference NCHC 2011 i 8 j 8 noneNew England Women s Hockey Alliance NEWHA 2018 k 8 none 8Western Collegiate Hockey Association WCHA 1951 l 8 none 8Notes a b Atlantic Hockey and College Hockey America have announced plans to merge in 2024 The branding of the new entity has yet to be announced Founded as an all sports conference in 1896 but did not sponsor ice hockey until 2013 14 First version founded in 1971 and disbanded in 2013 reestablished in 2020 with play resuming in 2021 22 The current CCHA considers the original league to be part of its history 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 7 members in 2025 with addition of Delaware 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 Founded as a men s only conference in 1984 with women s hockey added in 2002 Alaska Alaska Anchorage Arizona State Lindenwood LIU and Stonehill 5 independents in 2024 with Arizona State joining the NCHC Date of founding play began in 2013 14 9 members in 2024 with addition of Arizona State Founded as a scheduling alliance in 2017 formally organized as a conference in 2018 Received official NCAA recognition in 2019 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 editIn 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 97 98 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 Five Division I programs at waiver schools were grandfathered with the passing of Proposal 65 1 Clarkson University men s and women s ice hockey Colorado College men s ice hockey women s soccer 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 St Lawrence University men s and women s ice hockeyAn additional three programs were grandfathered in Proposal 65 1 but no longer are sponsored in Division I 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 Rutgers University Newark men s volleyball dropped to Division III in 2014 SUNY Oneonta men s soccer dropped to Division III in 2006 See also editList of NCAA Division I institutions List of NCAA Division I athletic directors List of current NCAA Division I champions List of NCAA Divisions II and III schools competing in NCAA Division I sports List of schools reclassifying their athletic programs to NCAA Division I Progress toward degreeReferences edit Crowley Joseph N 2006 In The Arena The NCAA s First Century NCAA Publications p 42 Archived from the original on May 16 2016 Retrieved June 11 2010 Composition and Sport Sponsorship of the NCAA Membership NCAA Archived from the original on July 14 2015 Retrieved July 4 2015 Multidivision and Reclassifying for 2014 15 PDF NCAA Archived from the original PDF on March 22 2015 Retrieved July 4 2015 Thomas Katie April 26 2011 Gender Games Answering Questions About Roster Management and Title IX The New York Times Archived from the original on May 1 2011 Retrieved May 1 2011 Mandel Stewart June 23 2014 The real reason the Big Ten added Maryland and Rutgers survival Sports Illustrated pp 52 56 Archived from the original on June 22 2014 Retrieved June 20 2014 Maryland athletics financial woes reveal a broken college sports revenue model June 28 2012 Maryland athletics financial woes reveal a broken college sports revenue model Washington Post Archived from the original on December 19 2013 Retrieved August 25 2017 NCAA Revenues Expenses Division I Report 2004 2010 p 13 NCAA Revenues Expenses Division I Report 2004 2010 p 14 Gearing Up A Deep Look at College Football Equipment SpareFoot October 16 2013 Archived from the original on February 12 2014 Retrieved September 30 2019 Brutlag Hosick Michelle April 15 2014 Council Approves Meals Other Student Athlete Well Being Rules Archived from the original on September 16 2017 Retrieved September 5 2017 Bylaw 20 02 5 Multisport Conference 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF August 7 2020 pp 394 95 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved August 20 2020 BYLAWS ARTICLE 20 20 02 9 2 ncaa org ncaa Retrieved September 6 2023 Bylaw 20 02 6 Football Bowl Subdivision Conference 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF August 7 2020 p 395 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved August 20 2020 Who We Are Our Three Divisions NCAA Archived from the original on August 20 2020 Retrieved August 20 2020 Texas Oklahoma leaving Big 12 early joining SEC in 2024 season after reaching exit agreement CBSSports com February 10 2023 Archived from the original on February 21 2023 Retrieved February 23 2023 NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report October 2012 page 192 http www ncaapublications com productdownloads PR2013 pdf Archived April 2 2016 at the Wayback Machine 1869 Schedule and Results College Football Sports Reference College Football Archived from the original on May 26 2021 Retrieved July 2 2021 Division I FCS Football Championships Book PDF National Collegiate Athletic Association Archived PDF from the original on July 9 2021 Retrieved July 2 2021 The Final Four PDF National Collegiate Athletic Association Archived PDF from the original on July 9 2021 Retrieved July 2 2021 CWS Brackets PDF National Collegiate Athletic Association Archived PDF from the original on July 9 2021 Retrieved July 2 2021 Division I Men s Soccer Championships Records Book PDF National Collegiate Athletic Association Archived PDF from the original on July 9 2021 Retrieved July 2 2021 Frozen Four Records PDF National Collegiate Athletic Association Archived PDF from the original on July 9 2021 Retrieved July 2 2021 Division I Men s Lacrosse Championships Records Book PDF National Collegiate Athletic Association Archived PDF from the original on July 9 2021 Retrieved July 2 2021 National Collegiate Men s Volleyball Records Book PDF National Collegiate Athletic Association Archived PDF from the original on July 9 2021 Retrieved July 2 2021 National Collegiate Men s Water Polo Championships Records Book PDF National Collegiate Athletic Association Archived PDF from the original on July 9 2021 Retrieved July 2 2021 NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report October 2011 page 184 http www ncaapublications com productdownloads PR2012 pdf Archived September 30 2017 at the Wayback Machine a b c d e f g h NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report 1956 57 through 2021 22 PDF NCAA October 27 2022 Archived PDF from the original on December 9 2022 Retrieved December 24 2022 Division I Men s Outdoor Championships Records Book PDF National Collegiate Athletic Association Archived PDF from the original on September 26 2021 Retrieved July 2 2021 Division I Men s Indoor Championships Records Book PDF National Collegiate Athletic Association Archived PDF from the original on June 2 2021 Retrieved July 2 2021 Division I Men s Cross Country Records Book PDF National Collegiate Athletic Association Archived PDF from the original on July 9 2021 Retrieved July 2 2021 Division I Men s Swimming amp Diving Records Book PDF National Collegiate Athletic Association Archived PDF from the original on January 9 2022 Retrieved July 2 2021 NCAA Division I Men s Golf Records Book PDF National Collegiate Athletic Association Archived PDF from the original on July 9 2021 Retrieved July 2 2021 Division I Wrestling Championships Records Book PDF National Collegiate Athletic Association Archived PDF from the original on July 9 2021 Retrieved July 2 2021 Division I Men s Tennis Records Book PDF National Collegiate Athletic Association Archived PDF from the original on May 6 2021 Retrieved July 2 2021 The Future of Collegiate Wrestling Isn t at Division I Level Archived May 24 2016 at the Wayback Machine Forbes September 26 2017 NCAA s newest championship will be called beach volleyball Press release National Collegiate Athletic Association June 30 2015 Archived from the original on September 4 2015 Retrieved July 3 2015 NCAA DII DIII membership approves Sand Volleyball as 90th championship Press release National Collegiate Athletic Association January 17 2015 Archived from the original on February 4 2015 Retrieved March 23 2015 Report Big Ten getting 2 64 billion in new TV deal Freep com June 20 2016 Archived from the original on October 22 2017 Retrieved September 20 2018 Mountain West nears seven year 116 million media rights deal Archived November 17 2017 at the Wayback Machine CBS Sports March 9 2013 MAC CBS Sports Net TV sign deal for football basketball games beginning this season Archived November 17 2017 at the Wayback Machine Cleveland com June 3 2015 Bylaw 15 02 3 Counter 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 p 208 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved December 17 2020 See also Bylaw 15 5 1 pp 219 221 for a more comprehensive discussion of when an individual becomes a counter in most sports and Bylaw 15 5 6 3 pp 227 28 for a discussion of this concept specifically applying to football a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Bylaw 15 5 3 1 2 Women s Sports Maximum Equivalency Limits 2023 24 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 5 2023 p 197 Retrieved August 21 2023 a b Bylaw 15 5 4 Baseball Limitations 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 pp 225 26 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved December 17 2020 Bylaw 15 5 4 1 Minimum Equivalency Value 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 p 225 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved December 17 2020 Bylaw 15 1 2 Types of Aid Included in Limit 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 pp 210 11 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved December 17 2020 Condaras Jen September 9 2014 Daily Compliance Item 9 9 14 15 5 4 1 Baseball Equivalencies Daily Compliance Item Archived from the original on August 14 2017 Retrieved June 20 2017 Bylaw 15 5 4 1 1 Exception Need Based Athletics Aid Only 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 p 225 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved December 17 2020 Bylaw 15 5 4 1 2 Exception Final Year of Eligibility and Not Previously Aided 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 p 225 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved December 17 2020 Bylaw 15 5 5 1 Men s Basketball 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 p 226 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved December 17 2020 Bylaw 15 5 5 2 Women s Basketball 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 p 226 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved December 17 2020 a b Bylaw 15 5 8 1 Institutions That Sponsor Women s Beach Volleyball and Women s Volleyball 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 p 229 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved December 17 2020 a b Bylaw 15 5 8 2 Institutions That Sponsor Women s Beach Volleyball but Do Not Sponsor Women s Volleyball 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 p 229 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved December 17 2020 a b c d e f g h i j k l m Bylaw 15 5 3 1 1 Men s Sports Maximum Equivalency Limits 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 p 222 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved December 17 2020 a b Bylaw 15 5 3 1 3 Maximum Equivalency Limits Institutions That Sponsor Cross Country but Do Not Sponsor Track and Field 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 p 222 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved December 17 2020 a b Bylaw 15 5 6 1 Bowl Subdivision Football FBS 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 p 226 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved December 17 2020 a b Bylaw 15 5 6 2 Championship Subdivision Football FCSD 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 p 226 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 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2020 See also Bylaw 20 9 9 1 sports sponsorship requirements for FBS schools p 411 and Bylaw 20 9 10 1 sports sponsorship requirements for FCS schools p 413 Bylaw 15 5 9 Multi Sport Participants 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 pp 229 30 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved December 17 2020 Bylaw 15 5 9 1 2 Championship Subdivision Football Exception FCS 2020 21 NCAA Division I Manual PDF NCAA August 7 2020 p 229 Archived PDF from the original on October 31 2020 Retrieved December 17 2020 This exception refers to Bylaw 15 5 6 2 1 pp 226 27 which in essence describes non scholarship FCS programs Wieberg Steve August 3 2006 NCAA to rename college football subdivisions USA Today Archived from the original on July 6 2009 Retrieved November 19 2009 BRIAN NIELSEN Sports Editorbnielsen jg tc com September 11 2007 gt Sports gt So what s in a college football subdivision name JG TC com Archived from the original on June 21 2009 Retrieved November 19 2009 a b c DI Council approves changes to notification of transfer windows Press release NCAA October 4 2023 Retrieved October 7 2023 a b Football Bowl Subdivision Membership Requirements pdf file 2012 National College Football Attendance PDF NCAA Archived PDF from the original on November 15 2013 Retrieved October 14 2013 College Football Scholarships NCAA and NAIA Football Recruiting Collegesportsscholarships com Archived from the original on April 12 2009 Retrieved November 19 2009 DI Council lifts football signing initial counter limits for two years Press release NCAA May 18 2022 Archived from the original on May 18 2022 Retrieved May 19 2022 College football FBS conferences with fewer than 12 members now able to hold championship game Press release NCAA January 13 2016 Archived from the original on June 3 2016 Retrieved January 19 2016 An unlikely champ for Big Ten expansion Paterno Berry Tramel s Blog Blog newsok com Archived from the original on July 8 2012 Retrieved November 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Jhu edu January 5 2004 Archived from the original on June 21 2009 Retrieved November 19 2009 External links editOfficial website nbsp Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title NCAA Division I amp oldid 1206082959 Football Bowl Subdivision, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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