How’s Realignment Shaping Up as the 2025-26 Academic Year Begins?

At the start of 2025, I took inventory of where college realignment stood across the NCAA and NAIA. Six months later, it’s time to look and see what’s changed… and what hasn’t changed. Of course, the big anvil hanging over the NCAA’s head was the House settlement, which allows schools to share up to $20.5 million with their student-athletes. The settlement was finalized in June, and the NCAA will move forward into a new era. What the NCAA looks like in five or ten years is anyone’s guess, but the immediate future is revenue sharing.

The last full week of June was hectic, with over a dozen full membership moves announced across the NCAA and NAIA. The main focus of this article will be on full membership for conferences across the NCAA and NAIA, and I will provide some of the overall trends that will be in focus for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 academic years. A majority of the moves discussed below are effective with the 2026-27 academic year, but some conferences will change over the next 12 months. As a reminder, I have a running list of all changes – full membership and individual sports changes – starting with the 2025-26 academic year linked here. A list of all moves starting with the 2026-27 academic year can be found here. Let’s start with NCAA Division 1 and the Pac-12 Conference.

NCAA Division 1

So, what has changed in NCAA Division 1 since January? Quite a bit, with most of the changes happening out west as predicted. The Pac-12 found its 8th football-playing member in time for the 2026-27 academic year: Texas State. The Pac-12 may not be done adding members either, with the possibility of Memphis as a football-only affiliate. We’ll see if that happens over the next year or two, or if different teams show up on the Pac-12’s radar.

The Mountain West added Northern Illinois as a football-only member in early January to start the year. The one outstanding issue for the Mountain West is what happens to Grand Canyon. GCU’s press release said, “GCU will join the Mountain West no later than July 1, 2026, but possibly as early as the second quarter of 2025 if permitted under the conference’s bylaws.” There’s been no official news on whether GCU will join the Mountain West for 2025-26. GCU was originally slated to join the West Coast Conference in 2025-26, but later switched to the Mountain West.

Tuesday, July 8 update: Grand Canyon will join the Mountain West beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Men’s soccer will remain in the WAC, men’s and women’s swimming & diving will join the Big West, and women’s beach volleyball will stay in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MSPF). All other sports will join the Mountain West for 2025-26.

The big shift came in the Big West-UAC-WAC trio, which saw plenty of movement. The Big West will see Hawaii and UC Davis depart for the Mountain West, while Cal Baptist (WAC), Sacramento State (Big Sky), and Utah Valley (WAC) will join in 2026-27. Sacramento State’s football team is still trying to work its way into the FBS after being denied a waiver from the NCAA. The school states it will be an FBS member by the start of the 2026 season and is reviewing its legal options before making its next move. The Big Sky will have 11 full members and 13 football teams in 2026-27, while the Big West will have 12 full members.

The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) was down to three members – Abilene Christian, Tarleton State, and UT Arlington – after Southern Utah and Utah Tech left for the Big Sky. Then the WAC decided to rebrand as the United Athletic Conference (UAC), turning the football-only conference into a multi-sport conference. At the same time, the current football-only members of the UAC – Abilene Christian (WAC), Austin Peay (ASUN), Central Arkansas (ASUN), Eastern Kentucky (ASUN), North Alabama (ASUN), Tarleton State (WAC), and West Georgia (ASUN) – will join the rebranded conference as full members, including non-football UT Arlington. This effectively split the ASUN in half, leaving them with seven members focused on basketball.

It has to be said that the newly reformed ASUN and UAC are worth watching in the future. The UAC will be at 8 members, while the ASUN will have 7. Tarleton State has eyes on FBS football in the future, which could become a reality in the next year or two, depending on how other realignment moves shake out. Assuming the ASUN will have a focus on non-football schools, several D1 options are available: Morehead State (OVC), Northern Kentucky (Horizon), Southern Indiana (OVC), UNC Asheville (Big South), UNC Greensboro (Southern), and Winthrop (Big South), to name a few. That’s not an exhaustive list and is purely conjecture, to say nothing of whether those schools would consider the ASUN. It depends on whether the ASUN wants to go beyond 7 teams, if they have a specific geographical preference, and which schools are willing to join. I don’t mention D2 because there’s a possible barrier I’ll discuss below.

What About the Other D1 Conferences?

The Sun Belt will be at 13 full members with Texas State joining the Pac-12 in 2026-27, and the SBC is likely to add at least one more. Where? Conference USA has three viable members in Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, and Western Kentucky. Perhaps the Sun Belt will inquire about East Carolina’s interest in joining the SBC, but it’s fair to question whether ECU will leave the American for the Sun Belt. Assuming at least one team leaves CUSA to join the SBC, that will set off at least one more domino. Remember Tarleton State wanting to go to the FBS? They are likely to end up in Conference USA at some point, whether that’s in 2026 or later is to be determined.

CAA football took a hit in the first six months when it lost Villanova and William & Mary to the Patriot League. Those two will join the Patriot League in 2026-27, following Richmond‘s move from the CAA to the Patriot League this 2025-26 academic year. The CAA may have 12 full members in 2026-27, but it’s undoubtedly lost its lustre in this realignment cycle. It will be interesting to see how the CAA and Patriot League fare over the next five years in football. Could the CAA go on another adding spree to help bolster the football membership numbers?

There’s also another issue that may throw a wrench in the realignment machine: a moratorium. One of the NCAA’s press releases from late June stated, “…it will consider a moratorium on applications for schools reclassifying from Division II and III to Division I during its Aug. 5 videoconference.” The last D1 moratorium was from 2007 through 2010, in a much different legal environment than the present situation. If a moratorium is enacted, a pause on new teams in D1 would occur (pending a possible legal challenge) and hinder some conferences from rebuilding via D2 call-ups. Not knowing the specifics of when the moratorium would start, there’s a chance of several more D2 schools announcing a move up. (Looking at you to let me down for another four years, West Texas A&M). That could impact the ASUN if it were looking towards a school like Nova Southeastern (Sunshine State).

One final note about reclassification that’s changed since January is that the NCAA has a new, potentially accelerated process. Schools can complete the reclassification process in as little as three years for D2 to D1 moves. In St. Thomas’s (MN) case, it became a four-year process instead of five since it was moving from D3 to D1. East Texas A&M, Lindenwood, Queens (NC), Southern Indiana, St. Thomas, and Stonehill took advantage of the new process and will be eligible for NCAA Championships starting in 2025-26.

NCAA Division 2 – Gulf South Conference

In January, it was noted that the NCAA Division 2 Gulf South Conference had only four football teams lined up for 2025-26. Now? That hasn’t changed for 2025 or beyond. The GSC will be contested by Delta State, Valdosta State, West Alabama, and West Florida, while the conference has arranged a scheduling agreement with the Conference Carolinas for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. West Florida wasn’t discussed in the D1 section, but there’s a chance UWF could try to move up, which would put the Gulf South’s football in serious jeopardy. UWF’s D1 dream could hit a moratorium roadblock as discussed earlier. The Gulf South has 12 full members, so the entire conference isn’t at risk.

NCAA Division 3 – American Southwest Conference

The American Southwest Conference was in a tough spot at the start of 2025, needing to find at least two full football-playing members. The ASC did just that in March when McMurry and Schreiner agreed to a 10-year deal with the conference. Both schools will join in the 2026-27 academic year, giving the ASC a minimum of six full members and avoiding non-compliance. Those two will join current members East Texas Baptist, Hardin-Simmons, Howard Payne, and Mary Hardin-Baylor.

This will be McMurry’s third stint in the American Southwest (previously a member from 1996-97 through 2011-12 and 2014-15 through 2023-24) and Schreiner’s second (1998-99 through 2012-13). What’s old is new again, and that helps the ASC avoid becoming extinct.

NCAA Division 3 – Atlantic East Conference

The Atlantic East Conference was not mentioned in the January article. Saint Elizabeth is joining in 2025-26 from the United East Conference to give the AEC 8 members, but that won’t last long as Marywood and Neumann will depart to join the Middle Atlantic Conferences in 2026-27. The Atlantic East will have 6 full members in 2026-27, but it has always swiftly responded to full member changes. Don’t be surprised if the AEC finds a future full member from the United East Conference again.

NAIA – Cal Pac’s Uncertain Future

The California Pacific Conference is in the same spot it was at the start of 2025. While the Cal Pac is adding Stanton from the USCAA for 2025-26, the conference lost Providence Christian when it decided to discontinue all athletics in April. Pacific Union, Simpson (CA), Stanton, and Westcliff are the four full members, while Northern New Mexico is an associate member in four sports. Cal Maritime will also be a part-time member in 2025-26. The schools will transition most of their varsity teams to club sports while keeping men’s and women’s basketball and soccer as varsity programs. Both men’s and women’s soccer will compete in the Cal Pac for 2025 based on the schedules posted to the athletic website. Realignment has been brutal to the Cal Pac and it has been a microcosm of what we’ve seen out West with a vicious cycle of changes.

Overall Trends

We’ll start with the obvious negative trend in college athletics: colleges cutting athletic departments or closing. 10 schools closed or dropped athletics after the 2024-25 academic year, two more are set to follow after the 2025-26 academic year, and two schools will drop to NCAA Division 3 in 2026-27 (Azusa Pacific and Saint Francis). It’s a tumultuous time in college athletics, from the House settlement (and the unknown long-term implications that will arise) to individual sports being cut to schools dropping athletics or even shuttering their doors altogether. We haven’t even gotten to the enrollment cliff when even more schools will have to grapple with difficult decisions.

There’s also the possibility of further cuts to state and federal funding, leading to more closures and fewer sports. Sonoma State announced it would cut athletics in January 2025 to reduce its budget deficit. By the end of June 2025, the school was on the brink of receiving a lifeline from the state of California, which included $8 million for the possible return of athletics in 2026-27. The Sonoma State situation happened in a five-month window, so imagine how the factors outlined above might lead to drastic cuts in the future. There are a lot of moving parts impacting college athletics and higher education.

In terms of individual sports, there’s also some bad news, especially for Olympic sports. Tennis (42 cuts, 13 additions) has been volleyed to the most discontinued varsity sport, but soccer (27 cuts, 4 additions) has seen drastic cuts too. Basketball (20) has seen high attrition, although it’s worth mentioning that no school has dropped basketball without closing or cutting athletics entirely. According to the data as of July 3, 2025, there have been 419 sports added and 316 discontinued for the 2025-26, 2026-27, 2027-28, and 2028-29 academic years.

Not all divisions are showing the same trends. Tennis has been crushed everywhere except NCAA D3, which will grow by three teams. Soccer has been virtually untouched in NCAA D1, but D2 saw quite a few teams in the western US drop the sport. Eastern New Mexico (Lone Star), Montana State Billings (Great Northwest), and San Francisco State (California Collegiate) all dropped the sport without the school closing or athletics being cut. Add in the Academy of Art (Pac West) and Sonoma State (California Collegiate) dropping athletics and that’s five fewer teams this year.

Women’s teams (262) are being added at a nearly 2-to-1 pace compared to men’s teams (144). Women’s flag football (78), women’s wrestling (32), and men’s volleyball (25) are the top three most added sports across the NCAA and NAIA. There is even some divergence between men’s and women’s teams for individual sports. For example, men’s golf will see a net of five fewer teams over the next three academic years, while women’s golf will grow by six teams. The opposite is true for volleyball: men’s volleyball will grow by 20 teams, while women’s volleyball will contract by 9.

Big Picture Changes and Summary

Compared to the start of 2025, most of the big ticket items have been… somewhat resolved. The thing with realignment is that it never stops. The Pac-12 could make future moves, while the same is true for the Mountain West. Those would set off another realignment change reaction. Is anything stopping the Power 4 from making any moves, if they really wanted to? Money can remove plenty of constraints. The majority (all?) of movement in D1 is likely to come outside the Power 4 conferences until the next big shake-up in the early 2030s. A LOT can and will change by then.

In terms of individual sports, I think tennis is in for a rough stretch. As noted in the House settlement article from June, tennis relies heavily on international students. With fewer international enrollees, plus the lower roster limit that tennis has compared to other sports, schools will opt to allocate resources to other athletic teams that have more potential. Soccer also relies heavily on international athletes, which helps explain some of the cuts, but there might be large structural changes coming to soccer in D1. There are concerns about the long-term viability of many additional Olympic sports, including cross country, track & field, and volleyball.

Also worth noting is that 2025-26 is only the first year of the revenue sharing era, which means schools made many projections, estimates, and guesses for something that has never been done before in college athletics. The financial realities will become more apparent in the first half of 2026, so don’t be surprised if some schools announce additions or cuts based on the hard data.

Some additional outstanding issues to consider that may impact college athletics over the next few months and years: expansion of the college basketball tournament (the never-ending quest to squeeze out additional revenue), private equity, Title IX issues, the potential of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) or something similar, a potential breakaway of top teams and conferences, additional legal challenges to the House settlement, and other unforeseen possibilities.

While we may not know all the turns that lie ahead for realignment, we do know college athletics is venturing into uncharted territory to start the 2025-26 academic year. Let’s see how the first year unfolds in this new era.

Photo by UT Arlington Athletics