List of NCAA conferences
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is divided into three divisions based on scholarship allocation. Each division is made up of several conferences for regional league competition. Unless otherwise noted, changes in conference affiliation will occur on July 1 of the given year.
Division I
[edit]Under NCAA regulations, all Division I conferences defined as "multisport conferences" must meet the following criteria:[1]
- A total of at least seven active Division I members.
- Separate from the above, at least seven active Division I 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, including two other team sports. If a conference officially sponsors an NCAA "emerging sport" for women (as of 2026–27, equestrianism, flag football, rugby union, or triathlon), that sport will be counted if five members (instead of six) sponsor it.
Schools in all divisions that sponsor athletic programs for only one sex/gender need only meet the sports sponsorship requirements for that sex/gender.[2]
Football Bowl Subdivision
[edit]Conferences in the Football Bowl Subdivision must meet a more stringent set of NCAA requirements than other conferences. Among these additional NCAA regulations, Football Bowl Subdivision conferences must be "multisport", with institutions participating in conference play in at least six men's and eight women's sports, including football, men's and women's basketball, 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 towards these 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.[3][4]
| Conference | Nickname | Founded | Members | Sports | Headquarters | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Conference | American | 2013[a] | 13[b] | 22 | Irving, Texas | |
| Atlantic Coast Conference | ACC | 1953 | 18[c] | 28 | Charlotte, North Carolina | |
| Big Ten Conference | Big Ten B1G | 1896 | 18 | 28 | Rosemont, Illinois | |
| Big 12 Conference | Big 12 B12 |
1996 | 16 | 25 | Irving, Texas | |
| Conference USA | CUSA | 1995 | 10 | 18 | Dallas, Texas | |
| Division I FBS independents[d] | Ind. | N/A | 2 | 1 | N/A | |
| Mid-American Conference | MAC | 1946 | 12[e] | 23 | Cleveland, Ohio | |
| Mountain West Conference | MW MWC | 1999 | 10[f] | 18 | Las Vegas, Nevada | |
| Pac-12 Conference | Pac-12 P12 |
1959[g] | 9[h] | 19 | San Ramon, California | |
| Southeastern Conference | SEC SE Southeastern |
1932 | 16 | 22 | Birmingham, Alabama | |
| Sun Belt Conference | SBC SB Sun Belt |
1976 | 14 | 20 | New Orleans, Louisiana |
- ↑ Known as Big East Conference prior to 2013. The American operates under the original 1979 Big East charter, but considers its competitive history to have started in 2013.
- ↑ 13 full members with Wichita State as a non-football member; 14 football members with Army and Navy as football-only affiliates.
- ↑ 18 full members, 17 football members. Notre Dame football is an FBS independent, but has a substantial cross-scheduling agreement with the ACC.
- ↑ Note that "independents" is not a conference; it is simply a designation used for schools whose football programs do not play in any conference. All of these schools have conference memberships for other sports.
- ↑ 12 full members and 13 football members
- ↑ 10 full members, 10 football playing members, 2 non-football playing members
- ↑ Pacific Coast Conference chartered in 1915; current charter formed in 1959 by four former PCC members, with a fifth joining later in 1959 and three others joining by 1964.
- ↑ 9 full members and 8 football members
Football Championship Subdivision
[edit]Unlike in the Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Championship Subdivision conferences are allowed to be single-sport, only sponsoring football.[5] Multisport conferences in the Football Championship Subdivision must still meet the general NCAA Division I requirements regarding the minimum number of men's and women's sports in addition to competing in football (see above).[1]
| Conference | Nickname | Founded | Full Members | Sports | Headquarters | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Sky Conference | Big Sky BSC | 1963 | 11[a] | 16 | Ogden, Utah | |
| Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference | CAA Football | 2007[b] | 13[c] | 1 | Richmond, Virginia | |
| Division I FCS Independents[d] | 2[e] | 1 | ||||
| Ivy League | Ivy League | 1954[f] | 8 | 33[g] | Princeton, New Jersey | |
| Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference | MEAC | 1970 | 8[h] | 16 | Norfolk, Virginia | |
| Missouri Valley Football Conference | MVFC | 1985[i] | 9 | 1 | St. Louis, Missouri | |
| NEC[j] | NEC | 1981 | 9[k] | 25 | Somerset, New Jersey | |
| Ohio Valley Conference | OVC | 1948 | 9[l] | 19 | Brentwood, Tennessee | |
| Patriot League | Patriot | 1986 | 10[m] | 24 | Center Valley, Pennsylvania | |
| Pioneer Football League | PFL | 1991 | 11 | 1 | St. Louis, Missouri | |
| Southern Conference | SoCon | 1921 | 11[n] | 20 | Spartanburg, South Carolina | |
| Southland Conference | Southland SLC | 1963 | 12[o] | 18 | Frisco, Texas | |
| Southwestern Athletic Conference | SWAC | 1920 | 12 | 18 | Birmingham, Alabama | |
| United Athletic Conference[p] | UAC | 1962[q] | 9[r] | 16 | Jacksonville, Florida[s] |
- ↑ 11 full members and 13 football members with Cal Poly and UC Davis as football-only affiliates.
- ↑ While CAA Football was formally founded in 2007, its history can be traced back decades earlier.
- The earliest predecessor is the New England Conference, which existed from 1938–1947. However, CAA Football does not recognize this league as part of its history.
- In 1947, four New England Conference members joined with other schools to form the Yankee Conference under a new charter. CAA Football considers its history to have started with the Yankee Conference.
- The Yankee Conference, by then a football-only league, was taken over by the Atlantic 10 Conference after the 1996 football season.
- The all-sports CAA took over A-10 football in 2007, forming CAA Football as a separate entity.
- ↑ CAA Football is a separate entity from the multi-sports CAA.
- ↑ Note that "Independents" is not a conference; it is simply a designation used for schools whose football programs do not play in any conference. These schools have conference memberships for other sports.
- ↑ 1 independent in 2027 with Chicago State joining NEC football.
- ↑ While the Ivy League considers its athletic conference to have been established in 1954, the history of the athletic league can be traced back decades earlier:
- In 1901, the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League (EIBL) was formed by five schools that would later become part of the current Ivy League; the EIBL membership eventually became identical to that of the future all-sports league. The EIBL was directly absorbed into the all-sports Ivy League, which considers the EIBL to be part of its history.
- In 1945, the Ivy Group Agreement, which governed competition and policies among the Ivy schools in football, was signed by all eight schools that eventually formed the all-sports league.
- The official formation of the athletic Ivy League came in 1954, when the Ivy Group Agreement was extended to cover all sports.
- ↑ Number of sports in which Ivy League championships are awarded, with the following caveats:
- Championships are awarded in the non-NCAA sports of men's rowing plus men's and women's squash.
- While championships are awarded in men's and women's ice hockey, no Ivy League tournaments are held. All Ivy ice hockey members compete in ECAC Hockey for that league's automatic NCAA tournament bids. Ivy champions are extrapolated from regular-season results of ECAC games that involve two Ivy teams.
- ↑ 8 full members, 6 football members.
- ↑ While the MVFC began football competition in 1985, the conference charter dates to 1982. See History of the Missouri Valley Football Conference for more details.
- ↑ Media outlets still generally use the former name of "Northeast Conference".
- ↑ 9 full members, 7 football members with Chicago State, Fairleigh Dickinson, and Le Moyne as non-football members and with Duquesne and Robert Morris as football-only affiliates.
- 8 football members in 2027 with addition of Chicago State.
- ↑ 9 full members, 8 football members. Full member Morehead State plays football in the Pioneer Football League; Charleston Southern and Gardner–Webb are football affiliates.
- ↑ 10 full members and 10 football members with Army, Navy, American, Boston, and Loyola (MD) as non-football members (Army and Navy both compete in FBS football) and with Fordham, Georgetown, Richmond, Villanova, and William & Mary as football as football-only affiliates.
- ↑ 11 full members, 10 football members.
- ↑ 12 full members, 10 football members.
- ↑ Not to be confused with the football-only United Athletic Conference that operated in the 2023–2025 seasons as an alliance between the Atlantic Sun Conference and Western Athletic Conference (WAC). In 2026, the football league was incorporated into the WAC, which rebranded as the UAC.
- ↑ Reflects the founding date of the WAC.
- ↑ 9 full members, 8 football members. Full members Little Rock and UT Arlington do not play football; West Florida is a football-only member.
- ↑ Headquarters of Unisun Sports, a joint venture between the UAC and ASUN that provides the administrative structure for both conferences.
Non-football, multi-sport conferences
[edit]Multisport conferences that do not compete in football must still meet the general NCAA Division I requirements regarding the minimum number of men's and women's sports (see above).[1]
| Conference | Nickname | Founded | Members | Sports | Headquarters | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| America East Conference | America East AmEast | 1979 | 9 | 18 | Boston, Massachusetts | |
| Atlantic Sun Conference | ASUN | 1978 | 8 | 22 | Jacksonville, Florida | |
| Atlantic 10 Conference | A-10 | 1975 | 14 | 22 | Newport News, Virginia | |
| Big East Conference | Big East | 1979[a] | 11 | 23[b] | New York City, New York | |
| Big South Conference | Big South | 1983 | 9 | 19[c] | Charlotte, North Carolina | |
| Big West Conference | Big West BWC | 1969 | 12[d] | 21 | Irvine, California | |
| Coastal Athletic Association | CAA | 1983 | 13[e][f] | 23 | Richmond, Virginia | |
| Horizon League | Horizon | 1979 | 12 | 19 | Indianapolis, Indiana | |
| Independents | – | |||||
| Metro Conference | Metro | 1980 | 13[g] | 25[h] | Edison, New Jersey | |
| Missouri Valley Conference | MVC The Valley | 1907 | 11 | 18 | St. Louis, Missouri | |
| Mountain Pacific Sports Federation | MPSF | 1992 | 68[i] | 18[j] | Woodland, California | |
| Summit League | Summit | 1982 | 8 | 19 | Sioux Falls, South Dakota | |
| West Coast Conference | WCC | 1952 | 10[k] | 16 | San Bruno, California |
- ↑ Although the charter of the current Big East dates only to the 2013 split of the original Big East, both the current Big East and the American Conference claim 1979 as their founding dates. The current Big East maintains the pre-split history of the original conference in all sports that it sponsors. Neither conference recognizes the history of the original Big East in football (currently sponsored by the American but not the present Big East) or rowing (formerly sponsored by the American and never sponsored by the current Big East).
- ↑ 22 NCAA-sanctioned sports, plus the non-NCAA and fully coeducational esports.
- ↑ 20 sports in 2027 with addition of women's flag football.
- ↑ 10 members in 2027 with loss of UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara.
- ↑ The CAA Football Conference is a separate entity from the all-sports CAA.
- ↑ 14 members in 2027 with addition of Fairfield.
- ↑ 12 members in 2027 with loss of Fairfield.
- ↑ 23 NCAA-sanctioned sports plus two non-NCAA sports—men's rowing, and esports, which are fully coeducational.
- ↑ No more than 19 schools are competing in any one of the MPSF's sports in 2026–27.
- ↑ Sponsors 16 fully recognized NCAA sports (two of which feature only Division II members) and 2 non-NCAA sports (artistic swimming and men's rowing).
- ↑ 12 members in 2027 with addition of UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara.
Ice hockey conferences
[edit]Division I ice hockey has a different conference structure than the above multisport conferences. These schools have memberships in other conferences for other sports.
| Conference | Nickname | Founded | Members (Men/Women) | Headquarters | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Hockey America | Atlantic Hockey AHA | 1997[a] | 14 (9/7) | Haverhill, Massachusetts | |
| Central Collegiate Hockey Association | CCHA | 2020[b] | 8 (8/none) | Farmington Hills, Michigan | |
| ECAC Hockey | ECAC | 1962 | 12 (12/12) | Albany, New York | |
| Hockey East | Hockey East HEA | 1984 | 12 (11/10) | Amesbury, Massachusetts | |
| Independents | 6 (6/none)[c] | ||||
| New England Women's Hockey Alliance | NEWHA | 2018[d] | 8 (none/8) | Winthrop, Massachusetts | |
| National Collegiate Hockey Conference | NCHC | 2011[e] | 9 (10/none) | Colorado Springs, Colorado | |
| Western Collegiate Hockey Association | WCHA | 1951[f] | 8 (none/8) | Edina, Minnesota |
- ↑ The Atlantic Hockey Association and College Hockey America merged in 2024 to form Atlantic Hockey America. Atlantic Hockey was founded (as the MAAC) in 1997 and the CHA in 1999.
- ↑ Founded in 2020, with play starting in 2021, as the revival of an earlier CCHA that existed from 1971 to 2013; the current CCHA considers itself a continuation of the original. Bowling Green, which was a member of the original CCHA for its entire existence and is a charter member of the revived conference, maintained rights to the league name.
- ↑ Tentatively 7 independents in 2027 with addition of Maryville (MO).
- ↑ Established as a scheduling alliance in 2017, officially organized as a conference in 2018, and officially recognized by the NCAA in 2019.
- ↑ Although founded in 2011, the NCHC did not begin play until 2013.
- ↑ Founded in 1951 as a men's-only conference; women's play began in 1999. The men's side of the WCHA folded after the 2020–21 season, with most of its members forming the revived CCHA.
Other single-sport conferences
[edit]This list includes conferences in sports that the NCAA does not fully split into divisions, such as men's volleyball and rifle. Sports in which the NCAA sponsors separate championships for men and women are officially treated by the NCAA as two separate sports.
- ↑ There are 7 NCAA varsity members; the conference also has one junior college member.
- ↑ 9 schools have both men's & women's varsity teams, 9 have men's varsity teams only, 8 have women's varsity teams only; additionally, there are 136 men's and 86 women's club teams.
- ↑ Women only. The GCC was founded in 2013 as a women's-only conference; a men's division was added in 2016 and shut down in 2023.
- ↑ There are 2 varsity members; the conference also has 7 college club members.
- ↑ There are 8 varsity members; the conference also has 7 college club members.
- ↑ There are 7 varsity members; the conference also has 6 college club members.
- ↑ There are 6 varsity members; the conference also has 13 college club members.
- ↑ There are 10 varsity members; the conference also has 10 college club members.
- ↑ There are 8 varsity members; the conference also has 13 college club members.
- ↑ There are 8 varsity members; the conference also has 5 college club members.
- ↑ There are 6 varsity members; the conference also has 4 college club members.
Division II
[edit]Among the NCAA regulations, Division II institutions have to sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women (or four for men and six for women), with two team sports for each sex, and each playing season represented by each sex. Teams that consist of both men and women are counted as men's teams for sports sponsorship purposes.[6]
Current conferences
[edit]Conferences that sponsor football are highlighted in yellow.
- ↑ 12 members in 2027 with addition of Monroe.
- ↑ 13 full members; 12 football members.
- ↑ 16 full members, 7 football members.
- ↑ 25 NCAA championship sports plus women's flag football, currently part of the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program.
- ↑ 11 full members, 8 football members.
- ↑ 15 full members, 9 football members.
- ↑ 13 full members, 10 football members.
- ↑ 9 full members in 2027 with loss of Simon Fraser.
- ↑ 12 full members, 4 football members.
- 14 members in 2027 with addition of Loyola New Orleans and Spring Hill.
- ↑ 4 all-sports independents (non-football), plus one football independent (Northeastern State)
- ↑ 18 full members, 10 football members with Central Washington and Western Oregon as football-only affiliates.
- 19 full members, 11 football members in no later than 2027 with addition of Texas A&M–Texarkana.
- ↑ 14 full members, 10 football members with Northeastern State competing as a D-II Independent in football.
- ↑ 12 full members, 9 football members.
- ↑ 10 full members, 9 football members with Post as a football-only affiliate.
- 9 full members, 8 football members in 2027 with loss of football-sponsoring full member Saint Anselm.
- ↑ 16 full members, 14 football members.
- ↑ 10 members in 2027 with loss of Flagler.
- ↑ 17 full members, 15 football members.
- 18 full members, 16 football members no later than 2028 with addition of Lackawanna.
- ↑ 15 full members, 10 football members.
- ↑ 12 full members, 10 football members.
- ↑ 15 full members, 13 football members.
- 14 members in 2027 with loss of Spring Hill.
- ↑ 12 members in 2027 with addition of Flagler.
Single-sport conferences
[edit]| Conference | Nickname | Founded | Members | Sport | Headquarters | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appalachian Swimming Conference | ASC | ? | 6 (men) 4 (women) | swimming | ? | |
| players+ ECAC Division II Field Hockey League | ECAC | 2014 | 6 | field hockey | Danbury, Connecticut | |
| ECAC Division II Wrestling League | ECAC | 2015 | 7 | wrestling | Danbury, Connecticut | |
| New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference. | NSISC | 1995 | 5 (men) 6 (women) | swimming | ? | |
| Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference | PCSC | 2003 | 9 (men) 15 (women) | swimming | ? |
Other sports
[edit]These all-sports conferences sponsor sports which do not have D-II championships. Bowling will become a Division II championship sport in 2027–28; conferences affected by this change are highlighed in pink.
| Conference | Nickname | Founded | Members[a] | Sport | Headquarters | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conference Carolinas | CC | 1930 | 8 | Men's volleyball | Greenville, South Carolina | |
| 11 | Women's flag football[b] | |||||
| 9 | Women's wrestling | |||||
| Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference | CACC | 1961 | 6 | Bowling | New Haven, Connecticut | |
| Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association | CIAA | 1912 | 10 | Bowling | Hampton, Virginia | |
| East Coast Conference | ECC | 1989 | 10 | Bowling | Central Islip, New York | |
| 5 | Men's volleyball | |||||
| Great Lakes Valley Conference | GLVC | 1978 | 7 | Bowling | Indianapolis, Indiana | |
| 7 | Stunt | |||||
| 7 | Men's volleyball | |||||
| 8 | Women's wrestling | |||||
| Northeast-10 Conference | NE-10 | 1980 | 7 | Men's ice hockey | South Easton, Massachusetts | |
| Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference | RMAC | 1909 | 6[c] | Women's wrestling | Colorado Springs, Colorado | |
| Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | SIAC | 1913 | 7 | Men's volleyball | Tucker, Georgia |
- ↑ Number reflects membership in the sport that lacks a D-II championship, not the number of full members.
- ↑ Part of the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program.
- ↑ 5 members in 2027 with loss of affiliate Simon Fraser.
Division III
[edit]Unlike the other two divisions, Division III institutions cannot offer athletic scholarships. Among the other NCAA Division III requirements, schools have sports sponsorship requirements set by the NCAA. All institutions, regardless of enrollment, must sponsor at least three team sports for each sex/gender, and each playing season represented by each sex/gender.[7]
A sports sponsorship rule unique to Division III is that the total number of sports that must be sponsored differs by a school's full-time undergraduate enrollment. Schools with an enrollment of 1,000 or fewer must sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women; those with larger enrollments must sponsor six men's and six women's sports. As in the other divisions, teams that include both men and women are treated as men's sports for the purpose of these regulations.[8]
Current conferences
[edit]Conferences that sponsor football highlighted in yellow.
- ↑ 4 members in 2027 with loss of Pratt and Saint Elizabeth.
- ↑ 20 NCAA championship sports plus women's flag football, currently part of the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program.
- ↑ 11 full members, 7 football members.
- ↑ Plans to adopt a new name in 2027.
- ↑ 10 members in 2027 with addition of Pratt and Saint Elizabeth.
- ↑ 9 full members, 9 football members with Washington (MO) as a football-only affiliate.
- 10 full members, 10 football members in 2027 with addition of Concordia (WI).
- ↑ 11 members, 8 football members with Maine Maritime and New England College as football-only affiliates.
- ↑ 12 full members with Elmira, Houghton, Keuka, Nazareth, Russell Sage, SUNY Geneseo, and SUNY Poly as non-football members; 8 football members with Hilbert, SUNY Cortland, and SUNY Morrisville as football-only affiliates.
- ↑ 10 full members, 7 football members.
- ↑ 2 all-sports independents (non-football), 0 football independent (which are members of non-football conferences).
- ↑ 10 members with Drew, Elizabethtown, Goucher, and Scranton as non-football members and 7 football with Keystone as a football-only affiliate.
- ↑ 12 full members, 7 football members with Buffalo State as a football-only affiliate.
- ↑ 8 full members with MCLA and Salem State as non-football members, 9 football members with Dean, Plymouth State, and UMass Dartmouth as football affiliates.
- ↑ 9 full members, 8 football members.
- ↑ The MAC is actually an umbrella organization of three conferences. Eight schools are members of the MAC Commonwealth and eight others are members of the MAC Freedom. Each league conducts competition in the same set of 14 sports, not including football. The third league, called the Middle Atlantic Conference, combines schools from the MAC Commonwealth and MAC Freedom for 13 other sports, including football.
- ↑ 18 full members (9 Commonwealth, 9 Freedom) and 10 football members.
- ↑ 10 full members, 11 football members with Chicago as a football affiliate.
- ↑ 13 full members, 10 football members.
- ↑ 11 full members, 10 football members.
- ↑ 12 full members and 8 football members.
- 13 full members and 9 football members in 2027 with addition of Saint Anselm.
- ↑ 10 full members with Ramapo, Rutgers–Camden, Rutgers–Newark, and Stockton as non-football members; 7 football members with Christopher Newport and Salisbury as football affiliates.
- ↑ 9 full members, 9 football members with addition of Washington (MO) as a football-only affiliate.
- ↑ 13 full members, 9 football members with Eureka as a football-only affiliate.
- 12 full members, 8 football members in 2027 with loss of Concordia (WI).
- ↑ 9 full members, 8 football members.
- ↑ 14 full members, 9 football members with Gallaudet as a football-only affiliate.
- ↑ 13 full members, 13 football members, with two full members not sponsoring football (Chatham and Franciscan) and two football affiliates (Carnegie Mellon and Case Western Reserve).
- ↑ 9 full members, 8 football members with one full member not sponsoring football (Oglethorpe).
- ↑ 10 full members, football members.
- ↑ 10 full members, 5 football members with football-only affiliate Lyon.
- ↑ 8 full members with Bethany Lutheran, North Central, Northland, and Wisconsin–Superior as non-football members; 6 football members with Greenville, and Westminster (MO) as football-only affiliates.
- ↑ 10 full members with Mary Baldwin, Meredith, Pfeiffer, Salem College, and William Peace as non-football members; 9 football members with Belhaven, Huntingdon, LaGrange, and Maryville as football-affiliates.
Single-sport conferences
[edit]| Conference | Nickname | Founded | Members | Sport | Headquarters | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coastal Lacrosse Conference | CLC | 2022 | 7 | Men's lacrosse | ||
| Colonial Women’s Golf Conference | CWGC | 2025 | 7 | Women's golf | N/A | |
| Continental Volleyball Conference | CVC | 2011 | 9 | Men's volleyball | Madison, New Jersey | |
| Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League | MCVL | 2014 | 11 | Men's volleyball | Bradenton, Florida | |
| Northeast Women's Golf Conference | NWGC | 2019 | 14 | Women's golf | N/A | |
| Northern Collegiate Hockey Association | NCHA | 1981 | 10 (men) 7 (women) | Ice hockey | Waukesha, Wisconsin | |
| United Collegiate Hockey Conference | UCHC | 2016 | 12 (men) 13 (women) | Ice hockey | Danbury, Connecticut |
Other sports
[edit]These all-sports conferences sponsor sports which do not have D-III championships. A Division III women's wrestling championship will be established in 2027–28; conferences affected by this change are highlighted in pink.
| Conference | Nickname | Founded | Members[a] | Sport | Headquarters | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference | AMCC | 1997 | 8 | Bowling | North Boston, New York | |
| 6 | Women's wrestling | |||||
| American Rivers Conference | A-R-C | 1922 | 7[b] | Women's wrestling | Cedar Rapids, Iowa | |
| College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin | CCIW | 1946 | 8 | Bowling | Naperville, Illinois | |
| 9 | Women's wrestling | |||||
| Middle Atlantic Conference | MAC | 1912 | 6 | Women's wrestling | Annville, Pennsylvania | |
| Metropolitan Swimming Conference | METS | ? | 14 (men) 17 (women) | 1 (swimming) | ? | |
| St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | SLIAC | 1989 | 6[c] | Women's wrestling | St. Louis, Missouri | |
| Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | WIAC | 1913 | 8 | Women's gymnastics | Madison, Wisconsin |
- ↑ Number reflects membership in the sport that lacks a D-III championship, not the total conference membership.
- ↑ 7 or 8 women's wrestling members in 2026. Former full member, Luther (IA), left for the Midwest Conference, but since that conference does not sponsor women's wrestling, Luther might remain an A-R-C associate.
- ↑ 7 women's wrestling members at an indeterminate future time, with full conference member Blackburn adding the sport].
Defunct NCAA conferences
[edit]| Conference | Division | Founded | Folded | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| America Sky Conference | Division I | 2007 | 2014 | Men's golf conference absorbed by the Big Sky Conference.[10] |
| American Collegiate Athletic Association | Division III | 2017 | 2020 | Merged with the Capital Athletic Conference, with the merged conference renaming itself the Coast to Coast Athletic Conference shortly thereafter. |
| American Lacrosse Conference | Division I | 2001 | 2014 | Women's lacrosse conference that folded after the 2014 season due to fallout of the early-2010s conference realignment, specifically the 2013 announcement by the Big Ten that it would add men's and women's lacrosse for the 2014–15 school year (2015 season). Four of the seven final ALC members are full Big Ten members. Johns Hopkins went independent before joining Big Ten women's lacrosse in the 2017 season. The other two members became Big East affiliates. |
| American South Conference | Division I | 1987 | 1991 | Merged with the Sun Belt Conference. The new conference used the Sun Belt name.[11] |
| Atlantic Central Football Conference | Division III | 1997 | 2010 | Disbanded |
| Atlantic Hockey Association | Division I | 2003 | 2024 | Founded in 1997 as the men's hockey league of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference; separated from the MAAC in 2003. Merged with College Hockey America to form the current Atlantic Hockey America. |
| Atlantic Soccer Conference | Division I | 2000 | 2012 | Disbanded |
| Atlantic Women's Colleges Conference | Division III | 1995 | 2007 | Disbanded |
| Big Central Soccer Conference | Division I | 1987 | 1991 | Men's soccer-only conference disbanded after the all-sports conferences of all but two of its members began sponsoring the sport. |
| Big Eight Conference | Division I | 1907 | 1996 | Initially formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association, before six schools split away to form the Big Six in 1928. Brought in four former Southwest Conference schools to grow into the Big 12 Conference. |
| Border Conference | University Division | 1931 | 1962 | Members split between the newly formed WAC and independent statuses. |
| Central Collegiate Hockey Association (original) | Division I | 1971 | 2013 | The decision of the Big Ten Conference to add men's ice hockey as a sponsored sport in the 2013–14 season, taking three of the most successful members of the then-11-member league, led to a major conference realignment that ultimately consumed the CCHA. Two members joined the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference, one member joined Hockey East, and the remaining five members joined or rejoined the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The CCHA would be revived in 2021 with eight members, four of which played in the final season of the original league; the current CCHA considers itself a continuation of the original. |
| Central Intercollegiate Bowling Conference | Division III | 2019 | 2020 | Bowling-only league effectively absorbed by the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.[12] |
| Coastal Collegiate Sports Association | Division I | 2008 | 2025 | Originally started as a joint venture of several all-sports conferences to house their swimming & diving programs. Beach volleyball was later added to the conference's scope. The swimming & diving side was effectively absorbed by the Atlantic Sun Conference when it started sponsoring men's and women's swim/dive in 2023. Of the final four beach volleyball members, two joined the Big 12 Conference and two joined the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation for that sport after the 2025 season. |
| College Hockey America | Division I | 1999 | 2024 | Founded as a men's-only league; added a women's division in 2002. The men's division disbanded in 2010 after steady losses of membership. The women's division merged with the Atlantic Hockey Association to form the current Atlantic Hockey America |
| Colonial Hockey Conference | Division III | 2015 | 2020 | Women's ice hockey-only conference. Disbanded after the 2019–20 season when the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC), now known as the Conference of New England, took over operations.[13] At that time, all of the remaining members were full members of the CCC. |
| Colonial States Athletic Conference | Division III | 1992 | 2023 | Merged with the United East Conference. The 'new' conference used the United East name.[14] |
| Commonwealth Coast Football | Division III | 1965 | 2022 | Football-only conference, absorbed by the Commonwealth Coast Conference (now the Conference of New England). Rebranded in 2017 from its original name, the New England Football Conference. |
| Continental Divide Conference | Division II | ??? | 1992 | Women's-only conference that merged with the men's-only Great Northwest Conference (not to be confused with the current Great Northwest Athletic Conference) to form the Pacific West Conference. |
| Deep South Conference | Division II | 1994 | 2013 | Men's lacrosse conference disbanded when the South Atlantic Conference and Sunshine State Conference, home to all nine of the final conference members, began sponsoring the sport. |
| Dixie Conference | * | 1930 | 1942 | Disbanded after most of its members suspended athletics during World War II. |
| Dixie Conference | * | 1948 | 1954 | Disbanded |
| East Coast Conference | Division I | 1958 | 1994 | Absorbed by the Mid-Continent Conference, now known as The Summit League. |
| Eastern Collegiate Football Conference | Division III | 2009 | 2024 | Football-only conference. Disbanded |
| Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League | * | 1929 | 1992 | Baseball-only conference absorbed by the Ivy League, disbanded when Army and Navy aligned their baseball teams with the bulk of their other teams in the Patriot League. |
| Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League | * | 1901 | 1955 | Basketball-only conference absorbed by the Ivy League, which claims the EIBL as part of its own history. |
| Eastern Wrestling League | Division I | 1975 | 2019 | Wrestling-only league absorbed by the Mid-American Conference.[15] |
| ECAC Lacrosse League | Division I | 1999 | 2014 | Men's lacrosse conference that disbanded after the 2014 season. The conference lost many members after the 2010 season when the original Big East launched a men's lacrosse league, and lost still more members with the Big Ten announcement. At the end of the final ECAC Lacrosse season, only one member had not announced a new lacrosse affiliation for the 2014–15 school year; that school would later join Southern Conference men's lacrosse. |
| ECAC Division II Lacrosse League | Division II | 2012 | 2016 | Disbanded. Six members began play in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, leaving three members to become independents. |
| ECAC Northeast | Division III | 1971 | 2016 | Ice hockey-only conference. Disbanded |
| ECAC West | Division III | 1984 | 2016 | Ice hockey-only conference. Disbanded |
| Freedom Football Conference | Division III | 1992 | 2003 | Disbanded |
| Great Lakes Football Conference | Division II | 2006 | 2012 | Football-only conference, effectively absorbed by the Great Lakes Valley Conference. |
| Great Midwest Conference | Division I | 1991 | 1995 | Merged with the 1975–1995 Metro Conference to form Conference USA. |
| Great Northwest Conference | Division II | ??? | 1992 | The second part of the merger that created the current Pacific West Conference. |
| Great South Athletic Conference | Division III | 1999 | 2016 | Ended sponsorship of men's sports in 2012; remained a women-only league until disbanding entirely. One media outlet specializing in D-III sports coverage considered the Collegiate Conference of the South, formed in 2022 by an amicable split of the USA South Athletic Conference, a spiritual successor, noting that seven of the nine charter CCS members had been Great South members in the last season that it sponsored men's sports.[16] |
| Great West Conference | Division I | 2004 | 2013 | Disbanded after all but one of its members joined more established conferences during the early-2010s conference realignment. The men's golf history and Internet presence of the Great West were maintained by the America Sky Conference (above) before the latter conference's absorption by the Big Sky. |
| Great West Hockey Conference | Division I | 1985 | 1988 | Ice hockey-only conference formed by four Western schools, but had one of its members drop hockey after its first season. After failing to attract additional members in 1988, the league folded when one of the remaining members shut down its entire athletic program. |
| Great Western Lacrosse League | Division I | 1993 | 2010 | Members joined the ECAC Lacrosse League (see above). |
| Gulf Coast Conference | College Division | 1949 | 1957 | Disbanded |
| Gulf Star Conference | Division I | 1984 | 1987 | Effectively absorbed by the Southland Conference. |
| Heartland Conference | Division II | 1999 | 2019 | In August 2017, eight of the nine members announced a mass exodus to the Lone Star Conference (LSC)—a conference with which the Heartland Conference had recently discussed a potential merger[17]— effective in 2019.[18] One of the eight schools changed course and instead opted to become a de facto member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association in 2019,[19] joining the remaining Heartland member in that status.[20] |
| High Country Athletic Conference | Division I | 1983 | 1990 | Women's-only conference absorbed by the Western Athletic Conference. |
| Indiana Collegiate Conference | Division II | 1950 | 1978 | Disbanded |
| Indiana Intercollegiate Conference | * | 1922 | 1950 | Disbanded |
| Indiana Intercollegiate Conference | Unknown | 1922 | 1950 | Split into two conferences, the Indiana Collegiate Conference was made of the larger schools; the Hoosier Collegiate Conference was made of the small, private schools |
| Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | University Division | 1908 | 1970 | Previously known as Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, disbanded. |
| Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the Northwest | * | 1892 | 1893 | Disbanded, precursor to the Big Ten Conference. |
| Lake Michigan Conference | Division III | 1974 | 2007 | Merged with the Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference to form the Northern Athletics Conference, now known as the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. |
| Metro Conference | Division I | 1975 | 1995 | Merged with the Great Midwest Conference to form Conference USA. Not to be confused with the D-I conference that assumed the Metro Conference name in July 2026, previously known as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. |
| Metropolitan Collegiate Conference | University Division | 1965 | 1969 | Disbanded |
| Metropolitan New York Conference | University Division | 1933 | 1963 | Disbanded |
| Mid-Continent Athletic Association | Division II, later Division I | 1978 | 1981 | Football-only conference absorbed by the Association of Mid-Continent Universities in 1982. Effectively one of the precursors to the current Missouri Valley Football Conference. |
| Midwest Athletic Conference for Women | Division III | 1977 | 1994 | Merged with the men's Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference, forming the current Midwest Conference. |
| Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association | Division III | 1998 | 2013 | Absorbed by the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association. |
| Midwest Lacrosse Conference | Division III | 2009 | 2024 | Men's lacrosse-only conference. Disbanded |
| Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference | Division III | 2010 | 2024 | Women's lacrosse-only conference. Disbanded |
| Midwestern Conference | University Division | 1970 | 1972 | The five member schools were unable to find the 6th member required for NCAA recognition. |
| Mountain States Conference (aka Skyline Conference) | University Division | 1938 | 1962 | Disbanded, members split between the newly formed WAC and independent statuses. |
| Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference | Division I | 2013 | 2023 | Women's gymnastics conference; disbanded after the Mountain West Conference began sponsoring women's gymnastics. |
| Mountain West Athletic Conference | Division I | 1982 | 1988 | Women's-only conference (not to be confused with the modern Mountain West Conference) absorbed by the Big Sky Conference. |
| National Lacrosse Conference | Division I | 2008 | 2012 | Disbanded after the Atlantic Sun Conference and Big South Conference began sponsoring women's lacrosse. |
| New England Collegiate Conference | Division III | 2007 | 2026 | Disbanded as an all-sports conference in 2023 after steady losses of membership, both by schools closing and moves to other conferences. It remained in operation for men's volleyball and the non-NCAA esports through the 2025–26 school year. The men's volleyball side disbanded after the spring 2026 season, leaving only esports, with the Conference of New England and New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference starting to sponsor men's volleyball in spring 2027 and the Empire 8 elevating the sport to full NCAA championship status at the same time. |
| New England Conference | * | 1938 | 1947 | Disbanded; the final four members joined two other schools to form the Yankee Conference under a new charter. Effectively the earliest ancestor of CAA Football, a conference operated by the Coastal Athletic Association but a separate legal entity, although CAA Football does not claim the NEC's history. |
| New England Hockey Conference | Division III | 2015 | 2025 | Ice hockey-only conference. Disbanded |
| New England Women's Lacrosse Alliance | Division III | 1998 | 2012 | Disbanded |
| New South Women's Athletic Conference | Division I | 1985 | 1991 | Women's-only conference initially known as the New South Conference; absorbed by the Trans America Athletic Conference, now known as the Atlantic Sun Conference. |
| North Central Conference | Division II | 1922 | 2008 | Disbanded |
| North East Collegiate Volleyball Association | Division III | 1995 | 2011 | Men's volleyball conference disbanded in 2011 due to the 2012 establishment of the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship. Most of the all-sports conferences that were home to NECVA members began sponsoring men's volleyball at that time. |
| Northeast Women's Hockey League | Division III | 2017 | 2023 | Women's ice hockey only conference. It was absorbed by SUNYAC. |
| North Star Conference | Division I | 1983 | 1992 | Women's-only conference effectively absorbed by the Mid-Continent Conference (now The Summit League). |
| Northern California Athletic Conference | Division II | 1925 | 1996 | Football-only conference, dissolved when most members decided to drop football. |
| Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference | Division III | 1969 | 2007 | Merged with the Lake Michigan Conference to form the Northern Athletics Conference, now known as the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. |
| Northern Pacific Conference | Division I | 1982 | 1986 | Women's-only conference. Disbanded when the Pac-10, home to five of the seven final conference members, began sponsoring women's sports. |
| Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference | Division I | 1982 | 2015 | Field hockey-only conference that folded after the 2014 season. After a period in which the conference expanded to span both coasts, most of the eastern teams left over time. Four of the six final members, all from California (and also the league's founding members), became America East affiliates. The remaining two members became independents; one is now a field hockey member of the Big East and the other is now a MAC field hockey member. |
| Northern Sun Conference | Division II | 1979 | 1992 | Women's-only conference that merged with the men's Northern Intercollegiate Conference, forming the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. |
| Ohio River Lacrosse Conference | Division III | 2014 | 2018 | Men's and women's lacrosse-only conference. Disbanded after the 2017–18 season. |
| Pacific Coast Conference | University Division | 1915 | 1959 | Forerunner to the Pac-12, disbanded due to scandal and infighting. The Pac-12 considers its history to have started with the formation of the PCC. |
| Pacific Coast Softball Conference | Division I | 2002 | 2013 | Softball-only; disbanded due to fallout from the early-2010s conference realignment. After the 2012 season, it lost five members when the Big Sky added the sport and a sixth to the WAC. After the 2013 season, the final seven members left when the West Coast Conference began sponsoring the sport (five were already WCC members, and the other two joined the WAC in softball). |
| Pilgrim Lacrosse League | Division III | 1986 | 2014 | Absorbed by the NEWMAC. |
| Southeast Team Handball Conference | Division I (de facto) | 1997 | 2006 | Women-only team handball conference. Disbanded when the sport was dropped from the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program. |
| Southland Bowling League | Division I | 2015 | 2023 | Bowling-only league founded by, but independent of, the Southland Conference.[21] Merged into Conference USA; one of the final members was already a full CUSA member, another became a full CUSA member in 2023, and the others became CUSA associates.[22] |
| Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association | * | 1894 | 1941 | Disbanded with the onset of American involvement in World War II. |
| Southwest Conference | Division I | 1914 | 1996 | Disbanded. 4 members left to join the Big Eight Conference in forming the Big 12. 3 members left to join the WAC. 1 member left to join CUSA. |
| Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association | Division III | 1976 | 1996 | Disbanded. All final members joined the American Southwest Conference. |
| United Soccer Conference | Division I | 2005 | 2009 | Women's soccer-only, absorbed by the Great West Conference. |
| United Volleyball Conference | Division III | 2010 | 2026 | Men's volleyball conference that shared offices with the all-sports Empire 8, but was a separate entity. Disbanded after the 2026 season when the Empire 8 elevated men's volleyball to full NCAA championship status, along with CNE and NEWMAC beginning to sponsor the sport. |
| West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | Division II | 1924 | 2013 | Disbanded after the conference's football schools announced a split from the non-football schools. Ultimately, nine of the final schools became charter members of the Mountain East Conference, three joined the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, two joined the PSAC, and one went independent. |
| Western Collegiate Athletic Association | Division I | 1981 | 1986 | Women's-only conference; known in its final season of 1985–86 as the Pacific West Conference (not to be confused with the current NCAA Division II conference). Disbanded when the Pac-10, home to the final five conference members, began sponsoring women's sports. |
| Western Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association | Division II | 2010 | 2015 | Lacrosse-only conference absorbed by the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference; all final teams are members of the RMAC, including one affiliate. The RMAC had absorbed the women's side of the WILA in 2013; five of the members were RMAC members including one affiliate, one additional women's member became an independent. |
| Western Wrestling Conference | Division I | 2006 | 2015 | Wrestling-only conference effectively absorbed by the Big 12 Conference, with all but one of its final members immediately becoming single-sport Big 12 associates and the remaining member joining Big 12 wrestling in 2017. |
| Yankee Conference | Division I | 1947 | 1997 | Football-only conference from 1975 until its absorption by the Atlantic 10 Conference in 1997. Also an effective ancestor of CAA Football, and officially recognized by CAA Football as its earliest predecessor. |
- * - Operated before the NCAA split into divisions in 1955.
In addition to the above, two single-sport conferences that currently participate in NCAA National Collegiate sports (those whose championship events are open to members of more than one NCAA division) and previously operated both men's and women's divisions now operate as women-only leagues.
| Conference | Division | Founded | Folded | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Coast Conference (men's) | National Collegiate | 2013 | 2023 | Water polo-only conference founded as a women's-only league; added a men's division in 2016. The men's division disbanded after the 2022 season (2022–23 school year) after all six of its final members joined the new men's water polo leagues of the Big West Conference and West Coast Conference. |
| Western Collegiate Hockey Association (men's) | Division I | 1951 | 2021 | Founded as a men's-only league; added a women's division in 1999. The men's division disbanded in 2021 after seven of its members left to reestablish the Central Collegiate Hockey Association; two other men's members dropped hockey, and the other went independent. |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 "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 April 17, 2022.
- ↑ "Bylaw 20.10.5.3: Sports Sponsorship, Single-Gender Institution Exception". 2021–22 NCAA Division I Manual. NCAA. August 1, 2021. p. 402. Archived from the original on April 28, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2022. Identically numbered and worded bylaws exist in the Division II Archived 2022-04-23 at the Wayback Machine and Division III Archived 2020-11-01 at the Wayback Machine Manuals, though page numbering is different from that in the Division I Manual.
- ↑ "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 April 17, 2022.
- ↑ "Who We Are: Our Three Divisions". NCAA. Archived from the original on August 20, 2020. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
- ↑ "2025-26 NCAA Division I Manual (PDF)" (PDF). North Carolina A&T. Retrieved 2026-03-05.
- ↑ "Bylaw 20.10.3 Sports Sponsorship". 2017–18 NCAA Division II Manual (PDF). p. 316. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 25, 2018. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
- ↑ "Divisional Differences and the History of Multidivision Classification". NCAA. Archived from the original on July 14, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
- ↑ "Bylaw 20.11.3: Sports Sponsorship". 2021–22 NCAA Division I Manual. NCAA. August 1, 2021. pp. 221–25. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
- ↑ "USA South Announces Conference Restructuring". USA South Athletic Conference. February 18, 2022. Archived from the original on February 21, 2022. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
- ↑ Burton, Roy (June 4, 2014). "WSU joins friends/foes as Big Sky brings back men's golf". Standard-Examiner. Ogden, UT. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
- ↑ "Miscellany". Los Angeles Times. April 9, 1991. Archived from the original on February 24, 2020. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
- ↑ "CCIW Announces the Addition of Women's Bowling as Its 25th Sport; Three Programs Added as Associate Members" (Press release). College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. July 23, 2020. Archived from the original on March 22, 2022. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
- ↑ "Commonwealth Coast Conference starting women's hockey in 2020-21, will assume operation of Colonial Hockey Conference". 6 October 2019. Archived from the original on 29 December 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
- ↑ "United East Conference and Colonial States Athletic Conference Officially Merge". The Southern Maryland Chronicle. June 23, 2023. Archived from the original on July 7, 2023. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
- ↑ "MAC Announces Historic Wrestling Expansion" (Press release). Mid-American Conference. March 5, 2019. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
- ↑ Coleman, Pat; McHugh, Dave (February 16, 2022). "USA South Athletic Conference to split in two". D3Sports.com. Archived from the original on February 17, 2022. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
- ↑ Mannis, Taylor (March 9, 2017). "Heartland Conference Looking to Expand". The Vantage. Wichita, KS. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
- ↑ "Lone Star Conference to Add Eight Schools in 2019" (Press release). Lone Star Conference. August 30, 2017. Archived from the original on August 31, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ↑ "Hillcats to join MIAA Conference for 2019-2020 season" (Press release). Rogers State Hillcats. October 18, 2018. Archived from the original on October 19, 2018. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
- ↑ "Newman to Compete in MIAA as Associate Member in 2019-20" (Press release). Newman Jets. February 8, 2018. Archived from the original on February 9, 2018. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
- ↑ "New Southland Bowling League Established" (Press release). Southland Conference. January 20, 2015. Archived from the original on April 4, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
- ↑ "Conference USA to Add Bowling for 2023-24 Season" (Press release). Conference USA. May 10, 2023. Archived from the original on May 22, 2023. Retrieved May 15, 2023.