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 30, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Ten | Exploring Scheduling Agreement with SEC | No | N/A | N/A |
| Bluefield State | Will Add Women’s Flag Football | Yes – 2024-25 | N/A | CIAA (D2) |
| Bowie State | Will Add Women’s Flag Football | Yes – 2024-25 | N/A | CIAA (D2) |
| Chatham | Adding Women’s Flag Football | Yes – 2024-25 | N/A | TBD (D3) |
| CIAA | Will Sponsor Women’s Flag Football | Yes – 2024-25 | N/A | N/A |
| Claflin | Will Add Women’s Flag Football | Yes – 2024-25 | N/A | CIAA (D2) |
| Conference Carolinas | Football Scheduling Agreement with GSC | No – 2025 and 2026 | N/A | N/A |
| Fayetteville State | Will Add Women’s Flag Football | Yes – 2024-25 | N/A | CIAA (D2) |
| Gonzaga | Moving to Pac-12 | Yes – 2026-27 | West Coast (D1) | Pac-12 (D1) |
| Gulf South Conference | Football Scheduling Agreement with CC | No – 2025 and 2026 | N/A | N/A |
| Hawaii | Joining Mountain West as Full Member | Yes – 2026-27 | Big West (D1) | Mountain West (D1) |
| Johnson C. Smith | Will Add Women’s Flag Football | Yes – 2024-25 | N/A | CIAA (D2) |
| MAAC | New Basketball Conference Tournament Format | No – 2024-25 | N/A | N/A |
| MASCAC | New Streaming Partner | No – 2024-25 | N/A | N/A |
| Mid-South Conference | Football Scheduling Agreement with Sun | No – 2025 and 2026 | N/A | N/A |
| Mount Mary | Joining NAIA | Yes – 2025-26 | C2C (D3) | CCAC (NAIA) |
| NAIA | Championships to be Streamed for Free | No – 2024-25 | N/A | N/A |
| NCAA | House Receives Preliminary Approval | Yes – 2025-26 | N/A | N/A |
| Norwich | Men’s Tennis to NAC | Yes – 2024-25 | GNAC (D3) | NAC (D3) |
| Ohio State | Eliminating Men’s Gymnastics Scholarships | TBD | N/A | N/A |
| SEC | Exploring Scheduling Agreement with Big Ten | No | N/A | N/A |
| SLIAC | Commissioner Retiring | No – 2025-26 | N/A | N/A |
| St. Augustine’s | Suspended from CIAA | Yes – 2024-25 | CIAA (D2) | N/A |
| Sun Conference | Football Scheduling Agreement with Mid-South | No – 2025 and 2026 | N/A | N/A |
| SUNY Canton | Men’s Golf to Empire 8 | Yes – 2024-25 | NAC (D3) | Empire 8 (D3) |
| Trinity Western | Joining NAIA | Yes – 2025-26 | U Sports (NAIA) | CCC (NAIA) |
| UConn | Football Not Going to Pac-12 | No | N/A | N/A |
| UTEP | Moving to Mountain West | Yes – 2026-27 | C-USA (D1) | Mountain West (D1) |
| Virginia Union | Will Add Women’s Flag Football | Yes – 2024-25 | N/A | CIAA (D2) |
| WAC | Commissioner Leaving for Big 12 | No – 2024-25 | N/A | N/A |
| Winston-Salem State | Will Add Women’s Flag Football | Yes – 2024-25 | N/A | CIAA (D2) |
Mountain West and Pac-12 Make More Moves
The Mountain West and Pac-12 were busy adding additional members over the past few weeks. Gonzaga will make a move from the West Coast Conference to the Pac-12 while the Mountain West will add UTEP from C-USA. Both moves are effective with the 2026-27 academic year. The Mountain West is now at 7 full members and 8 football-playing members with Hawaii while the Pac-12 still needs an additional full football-playing member to reach the FBS minimum of 8 but is not seriously pursuing any targets at this time. The Mountain West was eyeing Hawaii as a possible full member and added them as a full member on October 15 to put them at 8 full members and reach the FBS requirement. Hawaii, already an football affiliate of the Mountain West, will leave the Big West Conference and join the MW beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. Even more changes are expected and it’s uncertain how deep the realignment will go into the FCS or Division 2.
UConn Not Joining Pac-12
If anyone was wondering if Connecticut’s football team might end up in the Pac-12 following Gonzaga’s move, the answer is no. The school was in “serious talks” last month to move to the Big 12 in all sports beginning with the 2026-27 academic year followed by football joining in 2031-32 but those discussions were tabled.
House Lawsuit Gets Key Approval
The House vs. NCAA lawsuit has been given preliminary approval by judge Claudia Wilken. The settlement will help usher in the revenue sharing era with athletes set to receive as much as $23 million per year. Schools are not required to share revenue with athletes and can opt-out of the settlement with the FCS schools the most likely group to opt out.
WAC Commissioner Leaving
Brian Thornton is leaving his post as the Western Athletic Conference Commissioner to take the Big 12’s Vice President of Men’s Basketball position. Thornton had been in charge of the WAC since November 2021 and took over for Jeff Hurd who was previously commissioner from 2012 through 2021. The WAC has undergone significant membership turnover with Chicago State (2022), Lamar (2022), Sam Houston State (2023), New Mexico State (2023), UTRGV (2024), Stephen F. Austin (2024) departing while Grand Canyon and Seattle are set to leave in 2025. Southern Utah (2022) and UT Arlington (2022) are the only full members to join in that time. Current Deputy Commissioner Rebekah Ray was named the interim Commissioner.
NCAA Division 1 Sports Changes
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is altering its conference tournament format for both men’s and women’s basketball. The MAAC will only have 10 teams maximum in both tournaments instead of all teams competing. The opening round games will feature the 10-seed against the 7-seed and the 9-seed versus the 8-seed. The MAAC added two more members in 2024-25 with Merrimack and Sacred Heart joining to push the membership to 13 programs. The previous format could be completed without adding an extra day to accommodate the new teams.
The Big Ten and SEC are exploring a scheduling agreement for basketball and football that would see the two conferences provide more marquee matchups. While nothing is imminent, the agreement is expected to come to fruition in the future. The two most powerful conferences are looking to maintain their stranglehold on college athletics’ top two sports in both revenue and attendance.
Ohio State plans to eliminate scholarships for its men’s gymnastics team but a timetable for implementation was not provided. The program is expected to continue competing despite the loss of scholarships.
NCAA Division 2 Sports Changes
The NCAA Division 2 Football National Championship will continue to be held in McKinney, Texas. The D2 title game has been held there since 2018.
The Gulf South Conference and Conference Carolinas will have a scheduling partnership in place for the 2025 and 2026 football seasons. There will be 9 non-conference games each season between the two conferences with the CC hosting 5 games in 2025 and the GSC hosting 5 games in 2026.
The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) will sponsor women’s flag football starting with the 2024-25 academic year and 7 schools will start a program to compete in the CIAA. Bluefield State, Bowie State, Claflin University, Fayetteville State, Johnson C. Smith, Virginia Union, and Winston-Salem State will being competing in spring 2025.
Saint Augustine’s University (Raleigh, North Carolina) has been suspended from competition for the 2024-25 academic year by the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA). SAU has been plagued by accreditation issues and recently had it restored in July 2024. The school opted not to field a football team for the 2024 season and now won’t be competing in the CIAA for 2024-25 but may return in 2025-26.
NCAA Division 3 Sports Changes
The 2026-27 NCAA Division 3 Football National Championship will be held in Salem, Virginia and the 2027-28 Stagg Bowl will be held in Canton, Ohio.
Chatham University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is adding women’s flag football beginning with the 2024-25 academic year. It is not known which conference, if any, the Cougars will compete in.
Norwich University (Northfield, Vermont) will move it’s men’s tennis program from the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) to the North Atlantic Conference (NAC).
SUNY Canton (Canton, New York) has moved its men’s golf program from the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) to the Empire 8 beginning with the 2024-25 academic year. SUNY Canton is a full member of the SUNYAC, which does not sponsor men’s golf.
MASCAC Has New Streaming Partner
The Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) has partnered with HUDL for its streaming platform.
SLIAC Commissioner Retiring
Richard Kaiser will retire from his position as commissioner of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) at the end of the 2024-25 academic year. Kaiser was named commissioner in 2018 and saw the additions of Lyon College (Batesville, Arkansas) and Mississippi University for Women (Columbus, Mississippi) in 2023. Three schools have or will leave by the end of the 2024-25 academic year with MacMurray College closing in 2020, Iowa Wesleyan departing for the NAIA in 2021 and ultimately closing in 2023, and Fontbonne closing in 2025.
NAIA Sports Changes
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) will stream all its championships for free via the Urban Edge Network beginning with the current 2024-25 academic year. The deal is for five years and will expire in September 2029.
The Mid-South and Sun Conferences will have a scheduling agreement for the 2025 and 2026 football seasons. The conferences did not announce any specific matchups but the games will fill open non-conference slots.
Mount Mary and Trinity Western Joining NAIA
The NAIA announced two new members for the 2025-26 academic year. Mount Mary University (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) will leave the NCAA Division 3 ranks to join the Chicago Collegiate Athletic Conference (CACC) while Trinity Western University (Langley, British Columbia, Canada) will leave U Sports and join the NAIA’s Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC). U Sports is the governing body for universities in Canada.
Photo Courtesy of Gonzaga Athletics