Editor’s Note: The realignment report will move to a more frequent format beginning in May 2025.
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 March 31, 2025, 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 the table below.
| School(s)/Conference | News Item | Realignment Change / Effective Year | Current Conference | New Conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy of Arts | Dropping Athletics | Yes – 2025-26 | Pac West (D2) | N/A |
| AMCC | Forming Women’s Lacrosse Partnership with UEC | No – 2025-26 | N/A | N/A |
| Cleveland State | Not Bringing Back Sports | No | N/A | N/A |
| Hesston | Joining NAIA | Yes – 2025-26 | KJCCC (NJCAA) | CAC (NAIA) |
| Little East Confernce | Media Rights Deal with FloSports | No – 2025-26 | N/A | N/A |
| MVFC and Summit League | Partnership? | TBD | N/A | N/A |
| Sacramento State | Seeking Waiver to Join FBS | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| Stanton | Joining NAIA | Yes – 2025-26 | USCAA | Cal Pac (NAIA) |
| United East | Forming Women’s Lacrosse Partnership with AMCC | No – 2025-26 | N/A | N/A |
| Utah Valley | Realignment Update | TBD | TBD | TBD |
Sacramento State Applying for FBS Waiver
The Sacramento State Hornets are looking to move to the FBS without an invitation and have applied for a waiver from the NCAA to make the move. If approved, the waiver would allow Sacramento State to start the two-year reclassification process in the 2025-26 academic year. The Hornets would remain a member of the Big Sky for the 2025 season and become an FBS independent in 2026. Sacramento State would be ineligible for the postseason during the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
Utah Valley Update
Matt Brown of Extra Points provided an update regarding Utah Valley’s pending move out of the WAC and into the Big West (maybe still the Big West?). According to Brown, Utah Valley isn’t in a hurry to make the move because the school’s president is on a leave of absence and the school wants to see how the realignment landscape unfolds. On top of that, other conferences (the Summit League in particular) have entered the picture for UVU, which could impact realignment decisions for other schools.
TLDR: UVU may have options other than the Big West and the realignment dominoes are stacking up again. Brown also speculated on why Cal Baptist ended up in the Big West instead of the West Coast Conference in his mailbag newsletter from Thursday.
MVFC and Summit League Formal Partnership?
It was reported over the weekend that the Missouri Valley Football Conference and the Summit League are close to establishing a formal relationship that will allow the Summit League to have more influence in realignment matters. Specifically, the report from Hero Sports states that the Summit League will allow any member that sponsors football to automatically join the MVFC. There is a lot to unpack from this potential partnership.
NCAA Division 1 Sports News
Cleveland State University will not bring back men’s wrestling, softball, and women’s golf despite possible funding from the Ohio budget. The school announced the cuts in January 2025 and, despite solid fundraising and the potential lifeline from the state, is not willing to change its stance.
NCAA Division 2 Sports News
The Academy of Art (San Francisco, California) will drop its athletics programs after the 2024-25 academic year. The school sponsors 13 varsity sports and is a member of the Pacific West Conference, which is set to lose Azusa Pacific in the 2026-27 academic year to the NCAA D3 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). The Pac West will have 12 full members in 2026-27.
NCAA Division 3 Sports News
The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) and the United East Conference (UEC) will form a partnership to allocate an automatic qualifying bid for women’s lacrosse beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The AMCC’s 5 schools – Alfred State, Hilbert, La Roche, Mount Aloysius, and Pittsburgh-Bradford – and the UEC’s 4 schools – Cedar Crest College, Notre Dame (MD), St. Mary’s (MD), and Wilson – will compete for the AQ bid. Bryn Athyn was originally included in the list of participating schools but announced it will end its varsity athletics at the end of the 2024-25 academic year.
The Little East Conference has agreed to a five-year media rights deal with FloSports, starting with the 2025-26 academic year. There are now 14 NCAA conferences that have a media rights deal with FloSports in some capacity: Big East (D1), CAA (D1), California Collegiate Athletic Association (D2), East Coast Conference (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), Little East Conference (D3) New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (D3), and Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (D3).
NAIA Sports News
The NAIA will add two new members beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Hesston College (Hesston, Kansas) will join the Continental Athletic Conference after previously competing in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). Hesston will also compete in the National Christian College Athletics Association (NCCAA) for the 2025-26 academic year. The CAC will have 11 full members for 2025-26.
The other school that is joining the NAIA is Stanton University (Garden Grove, California). Stanton’s membership has hardly been a secret, with the California Pacific Conference making it known back in December 2024 that it was looking to add the school in 2025. Stanton will move from the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). The Cal Pac will have five full members in 2025-26 (Northern New Mexico is joining as an associate member due to not sponsoring at least 7 Cal Pac sports required to be a full member). There’s also concern that Providence Christian College may not be a member in the future after the school announced 4 sports would be discontinued, leaving them with 3 varsity sports.
Photo courtesy of Sacramento State athletics