College Sports Realignment Changes for 2025 and Beyond

Editor’s note: This post has been updated as of Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Note that this list only reflects changes in effect beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. For a list of full membership and football changes in effect starting with the current 2024-25 academic year, click here. This article will be updated throughout the academic year as more changes occur.

Latest Changes

Division 1 (7/2/2024): Toledo announced the addition of women’s rowing.

Division 2 (7/3/2024:) The Conference Carolinas announced the addition of women’s flag football as a sponsored sport.

Division 3 (7/2/2024): SUNY New Paltz announced it would join the NJAC.

Another new academic year is upon us as the calendar turns to July 1. That means we can begin looking to the future for the changes happening for the next academic year in 2025-26. We will list the known changes for Division 1, Division 2, Division 3, and the NAIA below. This list will not include previous years’ changes from 2022-23 or earlier realignment moves. If you are looking for a list of changes effective with the current 2024-25 academic year, please click here. We also have a companion article showing the current membership in 2024-25 along with future changes for every conference in the NCAA and NAIA.

There is a new format for 2025 changes as we will document all realignment changes for every sport. Any school that changes its conference for any sport will be included below. We would like the below list to be a single source for all realignment changes, not only full membership and football changes.

As a result of the new format, we have added a new column called “Sport Change” that will provide which sport is being added or discontinued. A team changing its entire membership will be listed as “Full Membership”. A school may appear multiple times in the table if multiple sports are changing conferences. For example, a school joining a new conference that does not sponsor football will have two entries, one for the full membership change and one for the football change.

If you are looking for a specific division and additional information, click here for Division 1, here for Division 2, here for Division 3, and here for NAIA. Clicking the new conference for the school in question (4th column in the table) will take you directly to the day of the update, which will provide additional information. An external link to the news is provided in the 5th column called “First Season in New Conference”. Here’s a tip for mobile users: you can scroll to the right to find additional columns shown in the table.

A few more notes regarding the information provided below. First, the table has a search function if you are looking for a specific school, sport, conference, or change type (added, conference change, or discontinued). Secondly, the table is limited to 50 entries at a time so there isn’t endless scrolling needed. There is an option to load the next set of entries at the bottom of the table and there’s also the search function. Third, a (M) or (W) denotes whether the sport listed is men’s or women’s. Finally, any new changes will be added to the top of each corresponding division as they are known.

NCAA Division 1 Realignment Changes

7/2/24 Update: Toledo is adding women’s rowing beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. It is not known which conference the team will compete in.

7/1/24 Update: Austin Peay is adding women’s lacrosse beginning with the 2025-26 academic year and will compete in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

Delaware is leaving the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) and joining Conference USA beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. In addition, the school will add a women’s hockey program and compete in the Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) conference beginning in 2025-26. The men’s soccer program will join the Summit League in 2025-26 while the men’s lacrosse team will move to the Atlantic 10 in 2025-26.

East Tennessee State is adding women’s acrobatics and tumbling beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. It is not known which conference, if any, that the Buccaneers will join.

Florida State will add women’s lacrosse to its varsity sports beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The Seminoles will compete in the ACC.

Grand Canyon and Seattle will leave the Western Athletic Conference to join the West Coast Conference beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

La Salle is adding baseball, women’s acrobatics and tumbling, women’s rugby, and women’s triathlon beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The conferences those sports will compete in, if any, will be determined at a later date.

Maryland Eastern Shore will add men’s volleyball beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The Hawks will compete as an associate member of the Northeast Conference.

Massachusetts will join the Mid-American Conference (MAC) as a full member beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Football will leave FBS independent status to join the MAC as well.

Miami (FL) plans to add softball in the future although a definitive timeline is unclear. The Hurricanes will join the ACC whenever they begin competing in softball.

Missouri State is leaving the Missouri Valley Conference to join Conference USA beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The football team will leave the MVFC to join C-USA at the same time.

Northern Kentucky will add men’s volleyball beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. It is not yet known which conference the team will compete in.

Richmond will make a football-only move out of the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) and join the Patriot League beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

Rice will add women’s golf beginning with the 2026-27 academic year and compete in the American Athletic Conference (AAC).

South Florida will add women’s beach volleyball beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. It is not yet known which conference USF will compete in but it is not slated to be the AAC as it doesn’t sponsor the sport.

St. Thomas (MN) will move its men’s hockey team from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) beginning with the 2026-27 academic year.

Tennessee State is adding three new sports between 2025 and 2028: baseball, women’s soccer, and women’s swimming & diving. It is not confirmed which conference the new sports will join but the Ohio Valley Confernece sponsors baseball and women’s soccer but not women’s swimming & diving. The men’s ice hockey team will begin competing as a Division 1 independent in 2025-26.

UT Rio Grande Valley is adding football beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The Vaqueros will join the Southland Conference.

NCAA Division 2 Realignment Changes

7/3/24 Update: The Conference Carolinas will begin sponsoring women’s flag football starting in 2025-26. Five schools will add the sport in 2025-26: Chowan University (Murfreesboro, North Carolina), Ferrum College (Ferrum, Virginia), King University (Bristol, Tennessee), Lees-McRae College (Banner Elk, North Carolina), and the University of Mount Olive (Mount Olive, North Carolina). Emmanuel University (Franklin Springs, Georgia) announced the addition of flag football in February 2024 and will compete as a D2 independent in 2024-25.

7/1/24 Update: The Conference Carolinas will begin sponsoring football beginning with the 2025-26 academic year and it will lead to a slew of Division 2 changes. Barton (South Atlantic), Chowan (Gulf South), Erskine (Gulf South), North Greenville (Gulf South), and UNC Pembroke (Mountain East) will all leave their current conferences to join the CC in football.

Speaking of the Conference Carolinas, Ferrum College (Ferrum, Virginia) will join the CC in 2025-26 as they move from Division 3 to Division 2. Ferrum will be a member of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) for the 2024-25 academic year before beginning the three-year reclassification process in 2025-26.

Barton College (Wilson, North Carolina) will add women’s field hockey beginning with the 2025-26 academic year and compete as an independent. The school hopes to join Conference Carolinas – which does not currently sponsor the sport – beginning with the 2026-27 academic year.

Bridgeport University (Bridgeport, Connecticut) will add men’s and women’s swimming and diving beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. It has not been determined which conference those programs will compete in.

The Division 2 University of Findlay (Findlay, Ohio) will merge with Division 3 Bluffton University beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. There are no athletic changes planned with Findlay remaining in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC).

Fresno Pacific University (Fresno, California) is adding the sport of STUNT beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. It is not yet known which conference the school will be joining.

The University of Jamestown (Jamestown, North Dakota) will leave the NAIA and join the NCAA Division 2 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

Lake Erie College (Painesville, Ohio) will add STUNT beginning with the 2025-26 academic year and will compete in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC).

Middle Georgia State (Cochran, Georgia) will leave the NAIA and join the NCAA Division 2 as a provisional member beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. MGSU will leave the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) to join the Peach Belt Conference in a full membership change.

Nova Southeastern (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) is adding men’s and women’s lacrosse programs beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Both programs will compete in the Sunshine State Conference.

Pittsburg State (Pittsburg, Kansas) is adding women’s golf beginning with the 2025-26 academic year and will compete in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.

Southern Wesleyan University (Central, South Carolina) will bring back men’s and women’s golf beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The teams are expected to compete in the Conference Carolinas.

Southwest Baptist University (Bolivar, Missouri) will add men’s and women’s swimming and diving and men’s volleyball beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. All three teams will compete in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC).

Talladega College (Talladega, Alabama) is hoping to leave the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) but they are looking to join the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

Texas at Dallas is jumping divisions from the D3 American Southwest Conference (ASC) to the D2 Lone Star Conference beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

The University of California, Merced will leave the NAIA and join NCAA Division 2 beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. UC Merced will leave the California Pacific Conference (Cal Pac) and become a member of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA).

Ursuline College (Pepper Pike, Ohio) is adding women’s flag football beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. It is not known which conference the school will join.

NCAA Division 3 Realignment Changes

7/2/24 Update: SUNY New Paltz (New Paltz, New York) will join the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. The school previously announced its intention to leave the SUNYAC but did not reveal which conference it would join at the time.

7/1/24 Update: Alfred State (Alfred, New York) will leave the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) and join the Empire 8 beginning with the 2025-26 academic year in a football-only move.

Anna Maria College (Paxton, Massachusetts) is making two moves into one conference. The school is leaving the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) to join the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) in a full membership change. The football team is leaving the ECFC to join the MASCAC and both moves will be effective with the 2025-26 academic year.

Arcadia University (Glenside, Pennsylvania) is adding men’s and women’s wrestling programs beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The men’s team will compete in the Middle Atlantic Conference while the women’s squad will begin competition as an independent.

Albertus Magnus College (New Haven, Connecticut) will move its men’s and women’s ice hockey teams from the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) to the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

Bridgewater College (Bridgewater, Virginia) will add men’s volleyball beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Bridgewater will compete in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC).

The Division 2 University of Findlay (Findlay, Ohio) will merge with Division 3 Bluffton University (Bluffton, Ohio) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. There are no athletic changes planned with Bluffton remaining in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC).

Concordia University Ann Arbor (Ann Arbor, Michigan) is dropping all athletics beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Concordia Ann Arbor was a full member of the Wolverine-Hooser Athletic Conference (WHAC) and played football in the Mid-States Football Association (MSFA).

Dean College (Franklin, Massachusetts) will leave the ECFC to join the MASCAC in a football-only move that is effective with the 2025-26 academic year.

Elmira College (Elmira, New York) will move its men’s and women’s ice hockey teams from the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) to the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

Fontbonnne University (Clayton, Missouri) is closing after the 2024-25 academic year. Fontbonne is a full member of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC).

Hartford University (West Hartford, Connecticut) will add varsity programs for field hockey, men’s tennis, and women’s tennis beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. All three programs will compete in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC)

Heidelberg University (Tiffin, Ohio) will add women’s wrestling beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. It is not known which conference Heidelberg will compete in.

Hendrix College (Conway, Arkansas) will leave the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) and join the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

Hilbert College (Hamburg, New York) will move its women’s hockey team from independent status and join the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) beginning in the 2025-26 academic year. Hilbert will also move its football team from the Empire 8 to the Liberty League beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

Hiram College (Hiram, Ohio) will leave the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) and join the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The college will also add men’s hockey, women’s bowling, and women’s lacrosse. While women’s lacrosse will compete in the PAC, it is not yet known which conference men’s hockey and women’s bowling will join.

Hobart and William Smith Colleges’ (Geneva, New York) men’s and women’s ice hockey teams and Skidmore College’s (Saratoga Springs, New York) men’s ice hockey team will leave the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) to join the State University of New York Atheltic Confernece (SUNYAC) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

John Carroll University (University Heights, Ohio) will leave the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) and join the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

Johnson & Wales University (Providence, Rhode Island) will leave the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) and join the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

Kenyon College (Gambier, Ohio) will add women’s golf beginning with the 2025-26 academic year and compete in the North Coast Athletic Conference.

LeTourneau University (Longview, Texas) will leave the American Southwest Conference (ASC) and join the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

The Little East Conference will sponsor men’s ice hockey beginning with the 2025-26 academic year and bringing in 9 teams for the first season. Babson College (New England Hockey Conference – NEHC), Keene State (D3 Independent), Massachusetts-Boston (NEHC), Massachusetts-Dartmouth (MASCAC), New England College (NEHC), Norwich University (NEHC), Plymouth State (MASCAC), Southern Maine (NEHC), and Vermont State-Castleton (NEHC) will join the Little East in 2025-26.

The Little East will also sponsor women’s ice hockey beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The inaugural season will see Keene State, Massachusetts-Boston, New England College, Norwich University Plymouth State, Southern Maine, and Vermont State-Castleton compete. Keene State will spend the 2024-25 academic year as a D3 independent before joining the LEC while the other 6 teams will leave the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC).

Maine Maritime (Castine, Maine) will add football beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The school will join the Commonwealth Coast Conference.

Maryville College (Maryville, Tennessee) will add STUNT beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. It is not known which conference, if any, Maryville will compete in.

Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Plymouth State, Vermont State-Castleton, and Western Connecticut State were booted from the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) as football-only affiliates effective with the 2025-26 academic year. Plymouth State and UMass-Dartmouth were reinvited to the MASCAC as football members beginning with the 2025-26 academic year and are not included in the table above.

New England College (Henniker, New Hampshire) will join the Commonwealth Coast Conference for football beginning in 2025-26. The school will play a condensed schedule in 2024-25 as a Division 3 independent.

Northland College (Ashland, Wisconsin) is adding men’s and women’s wrestling beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. It is not known which conference(s) the programs will join.

Ripon College (Ripon, Wisconsin) will add an Esports program beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Ripon will compete in the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE), which is not governed by the NCAA.

Roanoke College (Salem, Virginia) is bringing back football beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The school will join the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.

Salem State (Salem, Massachusetts) will leave the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) and join the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) in women’s hockey beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

Salisbury University (Salisbury, Maryland) will leave the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference in women’s field hockey to join the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

Schreiner University (Kerrville, Texas) will start a football program and is expected to join the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) no later than the 2026-27 academic year.

Meanwhile, Southwestern University (Georgetown, Texas) and Trinity (San Antonio, Texas) will leave the SCAC to join the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year in full membership changes.

St. John Fisher University (Pittsford, New York) is adding men’s and women’s hockey beginning with the 2025-26 academic year and will compete in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC).

St. Norbert College (De Pere, Wisconsin) is adding women’s wrestling and STUNT beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. It is not known which conference the school will compete in. The school is also adding a men’s club hockey team that will compete in the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s (ACHA) Northern Collegiate Hockey League at the Division 2 level.

Suffolk University (Boston, Massachusetts) is adding women’s lacrosse beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. They will compete in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.

SUNY Cobleskill (Cobleskill, New York) is moving from the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) to the SUNYAC in men’s and women’s cross country beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. SUNY Delhi (Delhi, New York) is making the same move in 2025-26.

SUNY New Paltz (New Paltz, New York) is leaving the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) and joining a yet-to-be-determined conference beginning with the 2026-27 academic year.

Texas Lutheran (Seguin, Texas) will leave the American Southwest Conference to join the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SSAC) no later than the 2026-27 academic year in a full membership move.

The University of Lynchburg (Lynchburg, Virginia) will add men’s wrestling beginning with the 2025-26 academic year and will compete in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC).

The University of New England (Biddeford, Maine) is adding men’s and women’s tennis beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Both teams will compete in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC).

Washington College (Chestertown, Maryland) is adding men’s and women’s cross country and men’s and women’s track & field beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. All four teams will compete in the Centennial Conference.

Western Connecticut State (Danbury, Connecticut) is transitioning its men’s hockey team from club to varsity status by the 2025-26 academic year. The school will also start a women’s club hockey team in 2024-25 and transition it to varsity status by the 2026-27 academic year. Both teams will compete in the Little East Conference.

Wheaton College (Norton, Massachusetts) is adding men’s volleyball beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Wheaton will compete in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC).

Whittier College (Whittier, California) is bringing back men’s lacrosse as a club sport beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The team will compete in the Southwestern Lacrosse Conference of the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA).

William Peace University (Raleigh, North Carolina) is adding women’s golf beginning with the 2025-26 academic year and will compete in the USA South Conference.

NAIA Realignment Changes

Bellevue University (Bellevue, Nebraska), Dakota State (Madison, South Dakota), Dickinson State (Dickinson, North Dakota), Mayville State (Mayville, North Dakota), and Valley City State (Valley City, North Dakota) will leave the North Star Athletic Association and join a new conference in 2025-26. The NSAA will disband after the 2024-25 academic year with Dickinson State announcing its move to the Frontier Conference before the other four schools.

Bismarck State (Bismarck, North Dakota) will leave the National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) to join the NAIA beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The school will also add men’s and women’s wrestling by 2025-26 with a conference affiliation to be confirmed later.

Carolina University (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) is adding men’s and women’s cross country and track & field in 2025-26. The conference affiliation will be confirmed at a later date.

Defiance College (Defiance, Ohio) will add men’s volleyball beginning with the 2025-26 academic year and compete in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC).

Georgia Gwinett College (Lawrenceville, Georgia) is adding men’s and women’s basketball programs beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Both teams will compete in the NAIA’s Continental Athletic Conference (CAC), which is comprised of independent institutions.

Missouri Baptist University (Creve Coeur, Missouri) and William Woods University (Fulton, Missouri) will leave the American Midwest Conference and join the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

Simpson University (Redding, California) will move its football program from independent status and join the Frontier Conference as a football-only member beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

Taylor University (Upland, Indiana) is bringing back men’s and women’s tennis beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Both programs will compete in the Crossroads League.

Texas A&M-Texarkana (Texarkana, Texas) is adding five sports beginning with the 2025-26 academic year although conference affiliation is yet to be determined. Men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s lacrosse, and women’s bowling will begin competition in 2025-26.

The University of Rio Grande (Rio Grande, Ohio) is adding football beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The school is hoping to compete in the Appalachian Athletic Conference

Wilberforce University (Wilberforce, Ohio) is adding women’s gymnastics beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. It is not known which conference the team will compete in.

Wiley University (Marshall, Texas) is adding varsity softball beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The school will spend the 2024-25 academic year as a club sport and will compete in the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Athletic Conference (HBCUAC), which was previously known as the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC).

William Woods University (Fulton, Missouri) is adding women’s flag football beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The conference affiliation will be determined at a later date.

Photo Courtesy of Massachusetts Athletics