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 April 15, 2026, and provide updates on previously discussed topics. As a reminder, all official moves starting with the 2025-26 academic year can be found here and those starting in 2026-27 are here. 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 the corresponding section.
NCAA Division 1 News
March Madness Set to Expand to 76 Teams
The men’s and women’s Division 1 basketball tournaments are set to expand from 68 to 76 teams beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. An official announcement from the NCAA is not expected until mid-May. The expanded brackets will require new contracts with broadcast partners, but the majority of new revenue would offset the costs of adding new play-in sites. The new format would expand to 12 games and two neutral sites hosting the 24 teams in the play-in round. Dayton is likely to remain as one of the two play-in sites, with the second set to be outside the Eastern time zone.
Big 12 Accepts Private Equity Deal
The Big 12 Conference became the first conference to make a private equity deal. The Big 12 will partner with RedBird and Weatherford Capital, which provides the league office with $12.5 million for business development and growth, gives schools the opportunity to tap into a $30 million credit line, and creates a strategic partnership. Anywhere from two to six schools are expected to use the credit line, which carries an interest rate near 10%. RedBird previously helped the Big 12 secure a 15% equity stake in the Players Era Tournament, which is expected to provide at least $50 million a year. In May 2025, the Big 12 passed on a private equity deal, stating the conference was “not ready.”
Big East and NEC Commissioners Stepping Down
Big East Conference Commissioner Val Ackerman will retire on August 31, 2026. Ackerman has been the commissioner since the conference’s re-founding in 2013, with 10 schools. UConn joined the original 10 in 2020. The Big East focused on basketball in its new era, which is no surprise under Ackerman, who had been president of the WNBA from 1996 through 2005.
NEC commissioner Noreen Morris will also step down, effective September 1, 2026. Morris will become the Executive Director of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA). Morris took over the commissioner role in 2010, during which 5 schools joined, and 8 left the conference. Monmouth (CAA) and Quinnipiac (MAAC) both left in 2013. Robert Morris (Horizon) left in 2020, followed by Bryant (CAA) and Mount St. Mary’s (MAAC) in 2022. St. Francis (NY) dropped athletics in 2023, while Merrimack and Sacred Heart both left in 2024 to join the MAAC. The NEC has resorted to D2 schools to backfill the departures: Le Moyne (2023), Mercyhurst (2024), New Haven (2025), and Stonehill (2022) all moved up to D1, while Chicago State (2024) was previously a D1 independent.
Big Ten Adding Women’s Volleyball Championship
The Big Ten Conference will hold its first women’s volleyball conference championship in the 2026-27 academic year. The first event will be held from Friday, November 20, through Wednesday, November 25, at the Fishers Event Center in Fishers, Indiana. The tournament will feature the top 15 teams from the regular season standings and include an off day built into the schedule. To accommodate the championship, the regular season schedule will be reduced from 20 to 17 matches and will use a single round-robin format. The addition of a women’s volleyball tournament was noted back in February.
Big West Drops 2 Sports, Raises Exit Fee
The Big West Conference announced it will no longer sponsor men’s and women’s swimming and diving beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. The Big West was set to fall below the minimum NCAA threshold of six required to maintain automatic qualification to the NCAA Championships. The conference also announced that the exit fee will increase to $5 million. The change is an attempt to prevent more schools from joining other conferences, as realignment continues to impact the NCAA Division 1 Western conferences.
ESPN, CW Partnering Up
ESPN and The CW will partner up beginning with the 2026-27 academic year to have all CW Sports events streamed exclusively on the ESPN App as part of the ESPN Unlimited subscription package. Both the Mountain West Conference and the Pac-12 Conference previously announced media deals with The CW Network.
FBS Week 0 Change Proposed
The FBS Oversight Committee is reviewing a proposal that would allow the FBS season to begin in Week 0 for all teams. The proposal is to standardize the first contest date and allow 12 regular season games in 14 weeks. Currently, FBS schools are required to have a nationally televised game to play during Week 0. The change would align the FBS with the FCS, which allows 12 regular season games, and play can begin in Week 0. The FCS policy goes into effect with the 2026 season, while the FBS policy would go into effect with the 2027 season. The NCAA Division 1 Cabinet will vote on whether to adopt the legislation in June.
NCAA Division 2 News
Flagler Leaving Peach Belt for Sunshine State
Flagler College (St. Augustine, Florida) will leave the Peach Belt Conference and join the Sunshine State Conference as a full member beginning with the 2027-28 academic year. All of Flagler’s sports, except men’s and women’s indoor track & field, will join the SSC. Women’s lacrosse currently competes as an affiliate in the Gulf South Conference, but will also join the SSC. Flagler is the southernmost member of the Peach Belt and the only one located in Florida. The Sunshine State will have its entire membership within Florida, as Flagler is poised to become the northernmost school. The Peach Belt will drop to 10 full members in 2027-28, while the Sunshine State will increase to 12.
Conference Carolinas to Sponsor Triathlon
The Conference Carolinas will sponsor women’s triathlon beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. The Carolinas are the first NCAA conference to sponsor the sport. The inaugural season will see Barton, Concord (WV), Emmanuel (GA), King (TN), Lenoir-Rhyne, Newberry, and Wingate competing.
Dominican (CA) Cancels Men’s Lacrosse Season
Dominican University (San Rafael, California) canceled the rest of its men’s lacrosse season on Monday, April 13, citing lower player numbers. The school also removed Bobby Grove as head coach. Dominican was winless (0-11) and had two games remaining at the time of cancellation. The school plans to have men’s lacrosse for the 2027 spring season.
Men’s Tennis Championships Bracket Reduced
The NCAA Division 2 Management Council will reduce the men’s tennis championship bracket from 48 teams to 32. In March, the Championships Committee recommended reducing the men’s individual bracket from 34 to 32, adding two hosting sites per super regional, and reducing the finals to 8 teams apiece for men and women. All changes will go into effect beginning with the 2027-28 academic year.
New Football Transfer Window Policy
The NCAA Division 2 Executive Board adopted legislation that sets a new football transfer window policy effective June 1, 2026. Football players will have a transfer window set from January 2 through January 16. Previously, D2 football players could enter the transfer portal at any time.
NCAA Division 3 News
Anna Maria Closing
Anna Maria College (Paxton, Massachusetts) will close at the end of the 2026 spring semester due to financial insolvency. The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education issued a notice earlier in April warning that Anna Maria may not have sufficient resources to remain open for the 2026-27 academic year. Anna Maria had joined the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) at the start of the 2025-26 academic year. The conference will have 8 full members for the 2026-27 academic year, assuming no additional changes. Anna Maria sponsored 13 sports and was set to add coed competitive dance, women’s competitive cheer, and women’s flag football in 2026-27.
Anna Maria joins a growing list of nearly two dozen schools across the NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA, CCCAA, and USCAA to have seen their athletics impacted since the start of the 2025-26 academic year due to closings, mergers, or voluntary decisions. Fellow in-state school, Hampshire College (Amherst, Massachusetts), announced earlier in April that it would close at the end of the fall 2026 semester. It was noted that Anna Maria was facing financial pressures, which has now joined the list of disappearing athletics programs.
| School | Affiliation | Conference | Status | Effective Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy of Art | NCAA Division 2 | Pacific West | Dropped Athletics | 2025-26 |
| Anna Maria | NCAA Division 3 | MASCAC | Closing | 2026-27 |
| Bryn Athyn | NCAA Division 3 | United East | Dropped Athletics | 2025-26 |
| Cal Maritime | NAIA | Cal Pac | Merging with Cal Poly, Dropping Athletics | 2026-27 |
| College of Alameda (CA) | 3C2A | Bay Valley | Dropping Athletics | 2026-27 |
| Concordia Ann Arbor | NAIA | WHAC | Dropped Athletics | 2025-26 |
| Fontbonne | NCAA Division 3 | SLIAC | Closed | 2025-26 |
| Hampshire College (MA) | USCAA | Independent | Closing | 2026-27 |
| Limestone | NCAA Division 2 | South Atlantic | Closed | 2025-26 |
| Lourdes | NAIA | WHAC | Closing | 2026-27 |
| Multnomah | NAIA | Cascade | Merged with Jessup, Dropped Athletics | 2025-26 |
| New Jersey City | NCAA Division 3 | NJAC | Merged with Kean, Dropping Athletics | 2026-27 |
| Northland College | NCAA Division 3 | UMAC | Closed | 2025-26 |
| Providence Christian | NAIA | Cal Pac | Dropped Athletics, Now closing | 2025-26 |
| Rosemont College | NCAA Division 3 | United East | Merging with Villanova, Dropping Athletics | 2026-27 |
| Siena Heights | NAIA | WHAC | Closing | 2026-27 |
| Sonoma State | NCAA Division 2 | California Collegiate | Dropped Athletics* (May Return in 2027-28) | 2025-26 |
| Southwest Virginia CC | NJCAA | Region 10 | Dropping Athletics | 2026-27 |
| St. Andrews | NAIA | Appalachian | Closed | 2025-26 |
| Trinity Christian (IL) | NAIA | Chicagoland | Closing | 2026-27 |
| UHSP | NAIA | American Midwest | Acquired by WashU, Dropping Athletics | 2027-28 |
Saint Anselm Dropping to D3, NEWMAC
Saint Anselm College (Goffstown, New Hampshire) will drop from the NCAA Division 2 Northeast 10 Conference to the NCAA Division 3 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) beginning with the 2027-28 academic year. Saint Anselm will become a full D3 member beginning with the 2029-30 academic year. Of the school’s 23 athletic teams, 18 will compete in the NEWMAC, with men’s golf, men’s hockey, women’s bowling, women’s golf, and women’s hockey needing to find affiliate memberships.
The NEWMAC is set to grow to 13 full members by 2027-28, while the Northeast 10 will fall to 9 full members. There may be some growing concern around the NE-10, as it has seen 6 schools leave since 2019. Merrimack (2019), Stonehill (2022), Le Moyne (2023), and New Haven (2025) joined NCAA Division 1 and the Northeast Conference (NEC). The College of Saint Rose closed in 2024 and Saint Anselm is departing for D3 in 2027-28. As noted above, the NEC has often backfilled from the NE-10 to find new members. The NEC will have 9 teams in 2026-27 as Saint Francis (PA) departs.
Atlantic East and United East Announce Sport Partnerships
In March 2026, the Atlantic East Conference and United East Conference announced the formation of a strategic partnership to help maintain automatic qualification access to NCAA tournaments for the remaining members of the two conferences. Near the end of April 2026, the conferences announced some of the partnerships for the 2026-27 academic year. The Atlantic East will maintain the men’s and women’s swimming & diving championships. The United East will take over the men’s volleyball, men’s and women’s indoor track & field, and women’s field hockey championships. Women’s lacrosse will keep separate championships, but the two conferences will have a non-conference scheduling partnership. The table below shows the membership for each championship and an asterisk * denotes a membership change for the 2026-27 academic year.
| Field Hockey (8) (United East) | Men’s Volleyball (8) (United East) | Swimming & Diving (M&W) (5) (Atlantic East) | Track & Field – Indoor (M&W) (9) (United East) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar Crest | Cairn | Cedar Crest* (W only) | Carlow (Affiliate) |
| Gwynedd Mercy* | Centenary (NJ)* | Gallaudet | Gallaudet |
| Immaculata* | Gallaudet | Immaculata | Gwynedd Mercy* |
| Keystone | Immaculata | Marymount | Immaculata* |
| Lancaster Bible | Lancaster Bible | St. Mary’s (MD) | Lancaster Bible |
| Penn State Harrisburg | Pratt | Marymount* | |
| St. Mary’s (MD) | Saint Elizabeth | Penn State Harrisburg | |
| Wilson | Valley Forge | Pratt* | |
| St. Mary’s (MD) |
D3 AQ Waiver Requests
The NCAA Division 3 Championships Committee reviewed several automatic qualifier waiver requests for the 2026-27 academic year. The Committee denied the Coast-to-Coast Conference‘s requests for men’s basketball and men’s soccer. The C2C argued that it should receive a waiver, as Johnson & Wales-Charlotte and Regent are both reclassifying D3 members. The Committee understood the argument, but felt it would “set an undesired precedent.” The C2C had already received a two-year waiver for men’s basketball and soccer, so granting another two-year grace period would effectively double the waiver. In 2026, C2C members Christopher Newport and Mary Washington reached the D3 men’s basketball final four, with Mary Washington winning the title. CNU won the 2023 D3 men’s basketball championship as well.
The Committee also denied the United East Conference‘s waiver request for men’s lacrosse due to the losses of Bryn Athyn and Rosemont, leaving the UEC with only four teams for the 2026 spring season. Three of those schools are full members of the UEC – Cairn, Penn College, and St. Mary’s (MD) – while Pitt-Bradford is an affiliate. UEC member Penn State Harrisburg is slated to launch a program and compete in the UEC starting in the 2026-27 academic year. Notre Dame (MD) intended to play in the 2026 spring season, but never took the field, and its start date is uncertain. That would give the UEC a total of 6 men’s lacrosse members, with 5 coming from “core” members. The Committee cited UEC having “below four core members” as a reason for denying the waiver, but it’s a curious decision when considering the waiver it did grant…
The Committee granted the MASCAC women’s hockey waiver for the 2025-26 academic year, making the conference eligible for an AQ bid starting in the 2026-27 academic year. The Committee noted that the conference had only five members competing in 2025-26, while a sixth member didn’t complete enough games to satisfy the requirements. The waiver was granted on the condition that the MASCAC has 6 members sponsoring the sport, including at least 4 core members. Interestingly, the Committee took the “unique circumstances and understood the conference’s intent” for the MASCAC, but didn’t do the same for the United East men’s lacrosse waiver. Perhaps Notre Dame (MD) should have put men’s lacrosse out on the field for a few games to get those “intent” points from the Committee…
Finally, the Committee did grant AQ football bids to 28 conferences for the 2026 D3 football playoffs, which is one more than 2025. The new conference is the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), which voted to participate in the playoffs in April 2025. The 2026 season will be the first time a NESCAC team competes in the D3 football playoffs. Another change could make it two new AQ bids and 29 conferences for 2026…
Gallaudet Football Joining SCAC
Gallaudet University (Washington, D.C.) will join the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference as an affiliate member in football. Gallaudet will not play a full conference schedule, but will compete in the SCAC’s “conference championship bracket,” which will be based on NPI. Gallaudet will participate in the championship weekend and be eligible for the AQ bid if it competes in the championship game. This uncommon arrangement will be in place for the 2026 and 2027 football seasons. Gallaudet will join Lyon College as a football affiliate in the SCAC, along with full members Austin College, Centenary (LA), Hendrix, and Texas Lutheran.
The Gallaudet arrangement gives the SCAC six football members needed to receive an AQ bid to the D3 Football Playoffs. The SCAC wasn’t listed in the D3 Championship Committee’s 28 conferences slated to receive an AQ bid for the 2026 season, but D3football.com noted the actual deadline isn’t clear. The SCAC will likely apply for a waiver if it hasn’t already. The fact that the arrangement is only for the 2026 and 2027 seasons could be an indicator that the SCAC is working on adding another football member for 2028.
As for Gallaudet, the Bison will be in their third football conference in as many years. Gallaudet was part of the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) in 2024, but it disbanded after the season. Gallaudet was the last program to move, announcing it would compete in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) for the 2025-26 academic year. Gallaudet went 1-8 overall and 1-7 in its only ODAC season. The Bison may be looking for a fourth football conference in five years by the start of the 2028 season if the SCAC arrangement is not extended.
WIAC Hires UMAC Commissioner
The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) named Corey Borchardt as the conference’s next commissioner. Borchardt served as commissioner of the NCAA D3 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) from July 2008 and is taking over for Danielle Harris, who left to become commissioner of the NCAA D2 RMAC. The WIAC and UMAC are two of the more stable D3 conferences, with very few changes to full membership. The WIAC’s last full membership change was in 2015 when the University of Wisconsin-Superior left to join the UMAC. In Borchardt’s tenure, the UMAC added North Central (MN) in 2013 and Superior in 2015. Three schools left the UMAC: Presentation (SD) left in 2012 and closed in 2023, St. Scholastica joined the D3 MIAC in 2021, and Northland (WI) closed in 2025.
NAIA News
Jarvis Christian Joining HBCUAC
Jarvis Christian University (Hawkins, Texas) will leave the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) to join the HBCU Athletic Conference (HBCUAC) beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. Most of JCU’s sports will move from the RRAC to the HBCU. Men’s golf is currently in the RRAC, but the HBCUAC doesn’t sponsor the sport. The RRAC is set to see three schools depart in the next two academic years: in 2026-27, Jarvis Christian will join the HBCUAC and Xavier University (LA) will join the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC). In 2027-28, Texas A&M-Texarkana will join the NCAA Division 2 Lone Star Conference. That leaves the RRAC at 10 members by the start of the 2027-28 academic year, while the HBCUAC will grow to 16 members.
NAIA Selection Committee and Championship Changes
The NAIA made a series of committee and championship changes at its 2026 convention. The National Administrative Council (NAC) will restructure the National Selection Committees beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. The NSCs will no longer use coaches as voting members, instead relying exclusively on trained athletic administrators. The NSCs will also provide regular in-season polls alongside the ARC ratings.
The men’s and women’s soccer championships are set to be expanded from 40 teams to 48. Both of these changes require additional review, as the postseason access ratio would be exceeded. Men’s volleyball will adopt a 12-team, single-elimination format beginning with the 2027-28 academic year. The sport will also use a best-of-five format and eliminate best-of-three matches beginning with the 2026-27 academic year.
Non-NCAA and NAIA
Harrisburg Area Community College Cuts Varsity Athletics, Then Reverses Course
Harrisburg Area Community College (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) announced it was effectively dropping athletics beginning with the 2026-27 academic year… and then walked that decision back. The NJCAA member originally was going to drop all varsity sports except coed esports and women’s flag football, while continuing to support intramural programs. Less than a week later, HACC decided to reinstate the basketball, cross country, soccer, and volleyball programs through the 2026-27 academic year after reviewing proposals from students and the surrounding community. The school is under immense financial pressure and is facing a projected deficit of roughly $10 million for the 2026-27 academic year.
Photo Courtesy of Saint Anselm Athletics