College Realignment Report for June 30, 2026

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 June 15, 2026, and provide updates on previously discussed topics. As a reminder, all official moves starting with the 2026-27 academic year can be found here, and those starting in 2027-28 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

Fairfield Joining CAA

Fairfield University (Fairfield, Connecticut) will depart the Metro Conference (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference until 7/1) and join the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) beginning with the 2027-28 academic year. The move will put the CAA at 14 full members and the Metro at 12, assuming no further changes. Fairfield is already an affiliate member of the CAA for men’s lacrosse and women’s field hockey. All other sports, except men’s rowing, would compete in the CAA as well.

D1 Adopts New Eligibility Model

NCAA Division 1 adopted a new eligibility model that will go into effect with the 2027-28 academic year. Under the new model, athletes will have five years of eligibility starting when they enroll in college or when they turn 19, whichever is earlier. The model is intended to eliminate waivers and redshirts, although exceptions will be allowed for pregnancies, military service, and religious missions. The new model was originally proposed in April, and the latest news will undoubtedly bring a new slew of legal challenges for the NCAA to combat.

FBS and FCS Propose New Football Calendars, FBS Postseason Eligibility Changed

The NCAA Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Oversight Committees are proposing a new football calendar. The first change is to remove the spring and summer practice schedule and allow teams to conduct two periods with a total of 21 on-field practices. The second change would change the preseason practice period to allow 21 practices over 27 calendar days. The third change would reduce the transfer portal from 15 days to 10, with the portal opening on the first business day after January 1.

For the FCS, there were two additional proposals. First, FCS programs can engage in a joint practice with another four-year school during the spring. Second, off-campus recruiting allows up to 17 staff members, including the head coach. The FBS will discuss that proposal with conferences before making it official. The final vote for both the FBS and FCS changes will occur in August, and the proposed changes would take effect on Friday, January 1, 2027.

One bit of reclassification news that impacts FCS schools looking to jump to the FBS is postseason eligibility. The Division I Cabinet will allow reclassifying teams to become eligible for the postseason immediately, beginning with the 2026 season. Previously, reclassifying teams had to complete two seasons before becoming eligible, with exceptions for the second season. James Madison was the most high-profile example of being ineligible despite a successful season. The FBS will also allow games to be scheduled in “Week 0” starting with the 2027 season. The FCS will have the same rule in place beginning with the 2026 season.

MAC, Sun Belt Extend Basketball Scheduling Alliance

The Mid-American Conference (MAC) and Sun Belt Conference will extend their scheduling alliance for two more years through the 2028-29 academic year. The two conferences began the scheduling alliance for men’s and women’s basketball in the 2023-24 academic year as a way to improve each other’s NET rankings. The regular season matchups will be played in November and February for the next three seasons.

MEAC to Sponsor Women’s Flag Football and Golf

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) will sponsor women’s flag football and women’s golf as championship sports beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. The MEAC did not provide a list of schools that would compete in either sport. Currently, four MEAC schools offer women’s flag football club teams. Norfolk State and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore have both announced the addition of varsity teams, following the MEAC’s announcement.

In golf, Coppin State and Norfolk State are adding new programs for the 2026-27 academic year, while Delaware State, Howard, Maryland Eastern Shore, and North Carolina Central previously competed in the NEC. Morgan State will add a program for the 2027-28 academic year and South Carolina State doesn’t sponsor women’s golf.

Men’s Soccer Proposal Tabled

The NCAA Division 1 Cabinet will revisit the proposal to allow men’s soccer to be played over two semesters. 20 conferences opposed the proposal due to the duration of the season and the unknown impacts of rules, midseason enrollees, and tournament qualification. The proposed format would have allowed teams to play a maximum of 25 games across both semesters, with as many as 18 in the fall and 10 in the spring. The championship would be played in the spring, while the transfer window would be adjusted from 45 days across two windows to a singe 15-day window beginning the day after the national championship game.

MVC Makes Changes to Basketball Tournaments

The Missouri Valley Conference made two changes to its men’s and women’s basketball tournament beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. First, the women’s tournament will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, alongside the men’s tournament. Both tournaments will be held during the same week. The MVC also changed the format for both tournaments, with the 10 teams in the standings advancing to the tournament and the top two seeds receiving byes directly to the semifinals. Previously, all teams made the tournament and the top four or five seeds received a bye to the quarterfinals (dependent on how many teams competed in the MVC). The 2027 Arch Madness Tournaments will start on Wednesday, March 3, and conclude with both championships on Sunday, March 7.

MPSF Adding STUNT

The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) will sponsor women’s STUNT beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. Cal Baptist, Cal Poly, UC Davis, and the University of the Pacific (CA) will compete in the inaugural season. The MPSF sponsors 17 Olympic sports

OVC Takes Over Football Branding

The Ohio Valley Conference will take over the branding in the OVC-Big South Football Association partnership, effectively sponsoring the sport for the first time since 2022. The OVC and Big South partnered up from 2023 through 2025 to have all teams in one conference for automatic qualification purposes. The OVC will have 8 teams from last year’s OVC-Big South Football Association: Charleston Southern, Eastern Illinois, Gardner-Webb, Lindenwood, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee at Martin, Tennessee State, and Western Illinois.

The slight rebranding is a tacit acknowledgement from the Big South that it will not be sponsoring football again in the near future. The Big South last sponsored football in 2022, when it had six teams: Bryant, Campbell, Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, North Carolina A&T, and Robert Morris. The Big South hasn’t added a full member since 2018, when USC Upstate joined. Since then, Campbell (2023), Hampton (2022), and North Carolina A&T (2022) departed and are currently in the CAA. The Big South’s football and full membership struggles were looked at in detail in late October 2023, which have only been further hampered by additional realignment moves.

Pac-12 Extends Commissioner

The Pac-12 Conference has extended the contract of Commissioner Teresa Gould through the 2030-31 academic year. Gould started with the Pac-12 in March 2024 and has rebuilt the conference from only Oregon State and Washington State to include Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, San Diego State, Texas State, and Utah State, beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. The Pac-12 will have 9 full members and 8 football-playing members in 2026-27.

Summit League Expands Media Rights Partnerships; Drops Men’s Tennis

The Summit League will expand its media rights agreements, which it currently has with CBS Sports and Midco Sports. The deals will run through the 2029-30 academic year, with the CBS Sports Network increasing the number of regular season games from 7 to 9. Two women’s basketball regular season games will be included in those 9 televised games. Both the men’s and women’s championship games will be shown on CBS Sports Network, as will some of the semifinal matchups.

The Summit League will not sponsor men’s tennis beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. Denver, Illinois State, and North Dakota announced the discontinuation of their men’s tennis programs earlier this year, leaving just three programs. Drake and Omaha will depart to join the Mid-American Conference (MAC) as affiliate members, while Oral Roberts is the last men’s team remaining for now.

Swimming & Diving Championships Get Overhaul

The NCAA Division 1 Swimming & Diving Championships received an overhaul for the 2026-27 academic year. The NCAA will bring back consolation “B” finals after not having them for the 2025-26 academic year, with these taking place before the A finals. The championships will also reorder the four-day event schedule, among other administrative changes.

NCAA Division 2 News

UIndy Joining G-MAC

The University of Indianapolis (Indiana) will make a full membership move from the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) to the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) beginning with the 2027-28 academic year. All of UIndy’s athletics programs, except women’s triathlon, will compete in the G-MAC. Both the G-MAC and GLVC will have 14 full members in 2027-28, assuming no further realignment. It will be the first membership for either conference since 2024, when Trevecca Nazarene left the G-MAC to join the Gulf South Conference.

CIAA Extends Commissioner

The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) announced the extension for Commissioner Jacqie McWilliams Parker. Parker will serve five more years through the 2030-31 academic year. She’s been in charge of the CIAA since 2012, which has been relatively stable during her tenure. Claflin joined in 2018, while Bluefield State re-joined in 2023 after a 90-year absence. Two schools have departed since she took over: Chowan, which left for the Conference Carolinas, and Saint Augustine’s, which dropped athletics beginning with the 2024-25 academic year.

GLIAC Adds Flag Football

The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) will sponsor women’s flag football beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. Five teams will compete in the inaugural season: Davenport (MI), Lewis, Purdue Northwest, Saginaw Valley State, and UW-Parkside. Illinois Springfield will join the GLIAC as an affiliate member for the 2027-28 academic year. Five NCAA D2 conferences now sponsor women’s flag football.

MIAA Extends Commissioner

The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) extended commissioner Mike Racy for five years, putting him in charge of the conference through the 2030-31 academic year. Racy has been the MIAA’s commissioner since 2017, which has seen only a half-dozen changes during his tenure. 2019 accounted for four of the six changes, with two teams leaving and two teams joining the MIAA. Lindenwood left to join NCAA Division 1 and the Ohio Valley Conference and Southwest Baptist left for the D2 Great Lakes Valley Conference. Replacing those two were Newman (KS) and Rogers State from the defunct Heartland Conference. In 2024, Lincoln University (MO) left for the GLVC, while Arkansas-Fort Smith joined from the Lone Star Conference. UAFS was also a member of the Heartland before joining the LSC.

PSAC Names Next Commissioner

The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) named its next commissioner. Carlin Chesick will take over on Wednesday, July 1, for outgoing commissioner Steve Murray, who is retiring. Chesick has spent 21 years with the PSAC, including her most recent role as Senior Associate Commissioner since 2021. Murray had been the PSAC commissioner since 1998, and the conference has seen only a few changes. Gannon (Erie, Pennsylvania) joined in 2008, Pittsburgh-Johnstown and Seton Hill (Greensburg, Pennsylvania) joined in 2013, Shepherd University (Shepherdstown, West Virginia) joined in 2019, and Lackawanna College (Scranton, Pennsylvania) will join in 2027. Two schools departed in Muray’s time: Cheyney (Cheyney, Pennsylvania) in 2018 due to financial issues and Mercyhurst (Erie, Pennsylvania) in 2024 to join NCAA Division 1.

NCAA Division 3 News

Millsaps Joining SCAC

Millsaps College (Jackson, Mississippi) will depart the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) and join the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) beginning with the 2027-28 academic year. Millsaps is already set to compete as an affiliate member of the SCAC in women’s flag football for the 2026-27 academic year. The remainder of the sports will join the following year. The SCAC is set to lose McMurry and Schreiner to the American Southwest Conference in 2026, while Millsaps will join in 2027 to give the conference 11 full members.

UMAC Names Commissioner

The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) named Mark Becker as its next commissioner. Becker was the Associate Commissioner for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) for the last four years. Becker will replace Corey Borchardt, who took the WIAC Commissioner role. Becker will inherit a conference that has only seen two full membership changes in the last decade: St. Scholastica (MN) left to join the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) in 2021, while Northland (WI) closed at the end of the 2024-25 academic year.

NAIA News

Carolina University to Join AAC

Carolina University (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) will leave the Continental Athletic Conference and join the Appalachian Athletic Conference beginning with the 2027-28 academic year. Carolina already competes in the AAC as an affiliate member in men’s volleyball, while all teams, except coed Esports, will compete in the AAC. Carolina will become the 16th full member of the Appalachian Athletic Conference in 2027-28, assuming no additional membership changes. (Note: The AAC press release doesn’t list SCAD Atlanta as a full member for the 2026-27 academic year. The Andrew and Faulkner press releases from June 15 regarding football joining the AAC as an affiliate also omit SCAD Atlanta. The SCAD Atlanta athletic website still shows them as an AAC member).

KCAC Adds Men’s Volleyball

The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) will sponsor men’s volleyball beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. The KCAC will have seven teams compete in the first season: Avila, Central Christian (KS), Kansas Wesleyan, Mission (MO), Oklahoma Wesleyan, Ottawa (KS), and Saint Mary (KS). Avila and Central Christian previously competed as independents, Kansas Wesleyan and Ottawa competed in the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC), and Mission, Oklahoma Wesleyan, and Saint Mary will be new programs.

NAIA Adds Flag Football as Championship Sport, Makes Numerous Sports Changes

The NAIA has added women’s flag football as a championship sport beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. It’s the 30th championship sport for the NAIA, which has seen flag football grow from an emerging sport from 2021 through 2025, to an invitational sport in 2026, and now a championship one. The NAIA last added a championship sport in 2024 when it elevated men’s lacrosse from invitational status. The first NAIA women’s flag football National Championship will have a 12-team single-elimination bracket.

The NAIA also made a series of changes for certain sports, including changes for a few championships. Men’s and women’s bowling national championships will start on Wednesday, women’s beach volleyball invitationals will be one week later beginning with the 2027-28 academic year, and the men’s volleyball national championship will expand to 16 teams in a single-elimination bracket beginning with the 2027-28 academic year.

Non-NCAA/NAIA News

In May 2025, The Pennsylvania State University Commonwealth System announced that 7 campuses would close: DuBois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre, and York. The closures were announced after cost-cutting measures were implemented, which is a trend seen across the country. The University of Wisconsin saw 6 of its satellite campuses close due to lower projected enrollment: Platteville Richland (2023), Milwaukee at Washington County (2024), Oshkosh Fond du Lac (2024), Green Bay Marinette (2025), Milwaukee at Waukesha (2025), and Oshkosh Fox Cities (2025).

All seven campuses compete in the Penn State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) and will close after the 2026-27 academic year. The closures led the PSUAC to expand its playoffs for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 academic years, giving athletes additional chances to compete. While Wilkes-Barre’s campus will close after 2026-27, the athletic teams were mostly discontinued in the 2025-26 academic year. The conference will have just six members remaining in the 2027-28 academic year: Beaver, Greater Allegheny, Hazelton, Lehigh Valley, Schuylkill, and Scranton. Since the start of the 2025-26 academic year, nearly 30 athletic programs have been impacted due to acquisitions or mergers, closures, or voluntary decisions.

Photo courtesy of Fairfield athletics