This is part of an ongoing series covering various college realignment news for all three NCAA Divisions as well as the NAIA. The roundup below will cover news and reports since September 15, 2024, and provide updates on previously discussed topics. As a reminder, all official moves starting with the 2024-25 academic year or later can be found here and all changes – full membership or individual sport changes – starting in 2025-26 can be found here. Please note that individual sports changes occurring in 2025-26 or later will be listed in the standalone article only.
We’ll break out the reports for each Division in the following order: Division 1, Division 2, Division 3, and NAIA. Clicking the links will bring you to that specific section. If a division is not highlighted, there has been no news in the preceding two weeks. We’ve also summarized the news items in a table below if you are more interested in a summary or specific news item rather than having to scroll to find it.
| School(s)/Conference | News Item | Realignment Change / Effective Year | Current Conference | New Conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Force | American Invite? | TBD | N/A | N/A |
| Big 12 | Debuting Big 12 Studio | No | N/A | N/A |
| CACC | Will Sponsor Esports | Yes – 2024-25 | N/A | N/A |
| Cal Maritime | Leaving Cal Pac | Yes – 2025-26 | Cal Pac (NAIA) | TBD (NAIA) |
| College Football Playoff | Expansion Rumors | TBD | N/A | N/A |
| Creighton | Women’s Rowing Staying in WCC | No | N/A | N/A |
| FloCollege | Sets Subscription Prices | No – 2024-25 | N/A | N/A |
| Gannon University | Planning Strategic Partnership with Ursuline | No – 2025-26 or 26-27 | N/A | N/A |
| Memphis | Staying in American | No | N/A | N/A |
| MIAA (D3) | Launching Network | No – 2024-25 | N/A | N/A |
| Morehouse College | Possible D1 Move? | TBD | N/A | N/A |
| Morgan State | Men’s Wrestling to EIWA | Yes – 2024-25 | Independent (D1) | EIWA (D1) |
| Northern Illinois | Possible MW Football-Only affiliate | TBD | N/A | N/A |
| Sacramento State | Women’s Rowing to WCC | Yes – 2024-25 | American (D1) | West Coast (D1) |
| Sacramento State | Possible FBS Target | TBD | N/A | N/A |
| SEC | Adding Women’s Volleyball Tournament | No – 2025-26 | N/A | N/A |
| South Florida | Staying in American | No | N/A | N/A |
| SUNY Geneseo | Adding Women’s Flag Football | Yes – 2024-25 | N/A | Independent (D3) |
| Tarleton State | Possible FBS Target | TBD | N/A | N/A |
| Toledo | Possible MW Football-Only affiliate | TBD | N/A | N/A |
| Tulane | Staying in American | No | N/A | N/A |
| UNLV | Staying in Mountain West | No | N/A | N/A |
| Ursuline College | Planning Strategic Partnership with Ursuline | No – 2025-26 or 26-27 | N/A | N/A |
| Utah State | Joining Pac-12 | Yes – 2026-27 | Mountain West (D1) | Pac-12 (D1) |
| UTSA | Staying in American | No | N/A | N/A |
Air Force, UNLV, and AAC Schools Rebuff Realignment Overtures
Two weeks after the Pac-12 added Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State, the conference was back at it casting a wide net. The Pac-12 went after Memphis, South Florida, Tulane, and UTSA from the American Athletic Conference but were rebuffed. The Pac-12 did get Utah State to join the conference from the Mountain West beginning with the 2026-27 academic year and it set off fears that another raid targeted at UNLV while Air Force was a serious target for the AAC. Ultimately, neither school left the Mountain West after the conference reportedly agreed to give them signing bonuses in the $25 – $30 million range. All seven football members will receive financial incentives for staying and signing a grant of rights deal lasting through 2032.
That leaves both conferences needing additional full members to keep their FBS conference status. The Pac-12 needs one full member while the Mountain West needs 2 full members due to Hawaii being a football-only affiliate. Both conferences are likely to target the same FBS institutions: New Mexico State and UTEP from C-USA and Texas State from the Sun Belt. Possible FCS targets include Sacramento State from the Big Sky and Tarleton State from the WAC/United Athletic Conference in addition to the constantly-rumored powerhouses Montana, Montana State, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State. The Mountain West is also considering Northern Illinois and Toledo from the MAC as football-only affiliates but that wouldn’t solve their full membership problem.
NCAA Division 1 Sports Changes
The SEC will bring back its women’s volleyball tournament beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Next year’s tournament will mark 20 years since the most recent SEC volleyball tournament in 2005. All 16 SEC teams will sponsor women’s volleyball by 2025-26 with Vanderbilt set to begin competition next academic year.
The Morgan State men’s wrestling program has joined the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) for the upcoming 2024-25 academic year. The lone Division 1 HBCU men’s wrestling program was previously an independent program following its revival in 2023.
Sacramento State’s women’s rowing team has joined the West Coast Conference starting with the 2024-25 academic year. Sacramento State previously competed in the American Atheltic Conference in women’s rowing. The WCC also announced that Creighton will remain an affiliate member for women’s rowing having originally joined as an affiliate in 2011.
College Football Playoff Expansion Rumors Return
The rumors about an expanded College Football Playoff are back. Big Ten and SEC athletic directors will be meeting in Nashville in early October and one of the key talking points will be scheduling between the conferences along with automatic qualification to the CFP. Currently, only the top 5 conference champions are guaranteed a spot in the playoff, which means that neither is guaranteed a spot, but practically speaking, both champions are assured a top 5 spot. The current talks have each conference receiving 4 AQ spots leaving just 6 for the other conferences plus Notre Dame. If the Big Ten and SEC are going to go down this route, they face legal scrutiny but it also becomes only a matter of time before the CFP expands again followed by the B1G and SEC demanding more AQs berths. The previous rumors had a 5 + 9 system with the 5 highest-ranked conference champions as the AQ selections with the next 9 highest-ranked teams as the at-large selections.
Big 12 Expanding CBS Basketball Coverage; Creating Studio for Conference Content
The Big 12 Conference is launching Big 12 Studios in partnership with Raycome Sports. The Big 12 plans to have various programming available on multiple platforms at no additional cost with the content supported by ads. The programming will also be broadcast on local Big 12 Sports Networks within the conference’s media footprint. The Big 12 will also have more games shown on CBS Sports beginning with the current 2024-25 academic year. The Big 12 and CBS agreed to a deal through the 2026-27 academic year as part of a sublicense with ESPN that will have a minimum of 26 men’s basketball games per season shown on CBS networks.
NCAA Division 2 Sports Changes
The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) will start sponsoring Esports beginning with the 2024-25 academic year. Bloomfield College, Dominican University (NY), Goldey-Beacom College, and Post University will compete in Super Smash Bros. while Caldwell University, Dominican, Post, and Wilmington University will compete in Rocket League.
Gannon University (Erie, Pennsylvania) and Ursuline College (Pepper Pike, Ohio) are planning a strategic partnership that will take effect within 12-18 months. There are no expected changes to either athletic teams at the outset of the partnership but the typical caveat remains: things can always change. Gannon is a full member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) while Ursuline competes in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC).
Morehouse College Looking to Move to D1?
Morehouse College (Atlanta, Georgia) is looking into a possible move to D1 according to HBCU Gameday. The school would likely join the MEAC, which would give the conference 9 members and 7 football members but the reclassification process would take 4 years. Morehouse currently plays in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), which it joined in 1913.
FloSports Sets Prices for FloCollege Content
FloSports has set the initial prices for its FloCollege package, which is set to debut in October. The starting prices will be $19.99 per month or $107.88 for an annual subscription with student rates of $9.99/month and $71.88 annually. FloSports announced the FloCollege package in June and has steadily collected media rights from various athletic conferences. There are currently 12 NCAA conferences that have a media right deal with FloSports in some capacity: Big East (D1), CAA (D1), California Collegiate Athletic Association (D2), Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (D2), Gulf South Conference (D2), Lone Star Conference (D2), Northeast 10 Conference (D2), South Atlantic Conference (D2), Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (D2), Landmark Conference (D3), New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (D3), and Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (D3).
NCAA Division 3 Sports Changes
SUNY Geneseo (Geneseo, New York) will add women’s flag football beginning with the current 2024-25 academic year. The school will compete in the spring of 2025 but did not announce any conference affiliation. Geneseo plans to have a full roster for the 2025-26 academic year. SUNY Geneseo is a full member of the Empire 8 Conference.
MIAA Launching Sports Network
The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) has launched its own sports network via Hudl. The content is provided free of charge at this time and includes both past and future events. The MIAA has 9 full members located in Indiana and Michigan.
NAIA Sports Changes
Cal Maritime Leaving Cal Pac
Cal Maritime (Vallejo, California) will leave the NAIA and the California Pacific Conference (Cal Pac) following the 2024-25 academic year. There’s no indication of where the school plans to compete largely due to the possible integration with Cal Poly. The California State University system will vote in November 2024 on whether to proceed with the integration of the two schools. If approved, the integration would begin with the 2025-26 academic year and be completed by the start of the 2026-27 academic year.
The Cal Pac is already in a precarious position with its membership set to lose half its membership over the next year. As of the 2025-26 academic year, there will only be 4 members: Pacific Union College (Angwin, California), Providence Christian College (Pasadena, California), Simpson University (Redding, California), and Westcliff University (Irvine, California). The conference said it plans to be aggressive in its expansion targets but they don’t have much of a choice with only four committed members for the 2025-26 academic year. The Cal Pac did say in a statement following Cal Maritime’s departure that at least one member will complete an application to the NAIA by the October deadline.
Photo Courtesy of the Air Force Academy