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 October 31, 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.
| School(s)/Conference | News Item |
|---|---|
| Alvernia University | Acquiring Marian University (WI) |
| Big Sky Conference | Adding Women’s Swimming & Diving |
| College Football Playoff | Officially Announces Expansion to 24 Teams |
| Marian University (WI) | Being Acquired by Alvernia University |
| Midwest Sprint Football League | Future of the MSFL? |
| NAIA | Adopts 5-Year Eligibility Model |
| NAIA | President Talks Membership |
| NCAA Division 1 Men’s Soccer | Two-Semester Proposal Rescinded |
| NCAA Division 3 | Management and Presidents Councils Recap |
| NJCAA | New Member Visits |
| Northeastern State University | Seeking Football-Affiliate Membership |
| Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference | Planning to Add More Championships |
| Old Dominion Athletic Conference | Will Sponsor Flag Football |
| Our Lady of the Lake University | Adding Football |
| Stonehill College | Leaving NEC for Metro |
NCAA Division 1 News
Big Sky Adding Women’s Swimming & Diving
The Big Sky Conference will add women’s swimming & diving as a championship sport beginning with the 2027-28 academic year. Idaho, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Utah Tech, and UTRGV will move from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) after the current academic year. UTRGV will be an affiliate of the Big Sky, while the other 4 schools are full members. The first women’s swimming & diving championship will be held in February 2028.
College Football Playoff Officially Expands
The College Football Playoff officially announced it would expand to 24 teams beginning with the 2027 season. The CFP and ESPN also have a new five-year media rights agreement through the 2031-32 academic year worth approximately $1.7 billion. The expansion will also cause a few scheduling changes. The ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC will no longer hold championship games on the first weekend of December. Instead, the Army–Navy game will move to the first Saturday, as will the Heisman Trophy ceremony. A full list of the scheduling changes:
- The ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC will be required to play 10 games against A4 opponents (including Notre Dame)
- Group of 6 teams will be required to play at least 10 games against non-FCS opponents
- The ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC champions will receive an automatic bid to the CFP
- The highest-ranked champion from the Group of 6 will receive an automatic bid to the CFP
- The remaining 19 spots will be given to at-large teams based on the CFP rankings
- The first and second round games will be hosted at campus sites of the better-seeded team and played from Thursday through Saturday
- The top 8 seeds will receive a bye to the second round
- Quarterfinal, Semifinal, and National Championship Games will be held at one of the following six bowl games:
- Cotton Bowl Classic, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl, or Sugar Bowl
- ESPN will retain rights to all 24 games, but is eligible to sublicense games throughout the CFP
- No CFP games will be played at the same time as the Army-Navy game
Men’s Soccer Proposal Rescinded
Men’s soccer will not move to a two-semester model after the NCAA Division 1 membership voted to rescind the proposal. The proposal has been controversial and has failed to pass on multiple occasions. In May, the NCAA D1 Men’s Soccer Oversight Committee adopted legislation for men’s soccer to be played in the fall and spring. In June, the NCAA Division 1 Cabinet tabled the proposal following opposition by 20 conferences. In October, the D1 Cabinet brought the proposal back and approved it. The proposal was approved with less than 75%, which automatically moved it to a 30-day rescission period. Two-thirds of the entire eligible D1 membership (including those schools and conferences not sponsoring men’s soccer) were needed to rescind the proposal.
Had the proposal been adopted, the season would have seen some noticeable changes. The proposed format would allow up to 18 games in the fall and 10 in the spring, but keep the regular season maximum at 25. The fall season would end on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and restart in mid-February, with the championship moving from December to the spring. In addition, the transfer portal would change from 45 days across two periods to a single 15-day window beginning the day after the national championship. The NCAA Division 1 Women’s Soccer Oversight Committee reviewed a similar proposal, but did not approve it.
Stonehill Joining Metro
Stonehill College (Metro Conference) will leave the NEC and join the Metro Conference beginning with the 2027-28 academic year. The move has been rumored for weeks, and comes shortly after Le Moyne College announced the same move in October. Stonehill will move all sports to the Metro, except for men’s football, men’s and women’s hockey, women’s equestrian, and women’s field hockey. Stonehill did not mention whether the football team will continue to play in the NEC as an affiliate or move to a new conference. Le Moyne and Stonehill will join the Metro in 2027-28 as Fairfield departs. The Metro will have 14 full members, while the NEC will drop to 7, with questions lingering about the conference’s tenuous position.
NCAA Division 2 News
MSFL’s Future?
The Midwest Sprint Football League is officially down to 1 team for the 2027-28 academic year. Bellarmine University (Louisville, Kentucky) announced it will join the Collegiate Sprint Football League (CSFL) for the 2027 season. The most logical outcome is that Quincy University (Illinois) will also join the CSFL in 2027, bringing the league to 13 teams. The MSFL has seen a quick exodus in the last two years. Oakland City University (Indiana) discontinued athletics this year due to financial issues at the school, while Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (Indiana) elevated its sprint football team to a full-fledged varsity program this year. Calumet College (Indiana) and Midway University (Kentucky) will also move to the NAIA’s Mid-States Football Association (MSFA).
Meanwhile, the CFSL has grown to 12 members and will presumably add Quincy next year if the school decides to maintain the program. Molloy University (New York) joined in 2024, D’Youville University (New York) joined this year, and New York Institute of Technology will add a sprint football team in 2027. The CSFL is heavily weighted towards the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, but the geographic split made sense when the MSFL had a full complement of teams.
Northeastern State Hoping for Football Affiliate Membership
Northeastern State University (Tahlequah, Oklahoma) athletic director John Sisemore provided some updates on the football program’s future in a recent interview on the Voice of the RiverHawks. He spoke about NSU’s departure from the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), which occurred at the start of the 2024 season. NSU left to rebuild the program and to prevent hurting the MIAA’s strength of schedule. Sisemore stated he is working to join a conference as a football affiliate and has been “given a roadmap to get back in the MIAA”, but did not provide specifics on the potential conference. He would like to have a football-affiliate agreement for the next year or two before possibly returning to the MIAA.
NCAA Division 3 News
Alvernia Acquiring Marian
Alvernia University (Reading, Pennsylvania) will acquire Marian University (Fond du Lac, Wisconsin). An estimated timeline for the full merger was not provided in the press releases. There are no current plans to make “immediate changes to academic programs, employment, tuition, athletics, campus operations or the student experience.” Alvernia competes in the Middle Atlantic Conference, while Marian is a member of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC).
Management and Presidents Council Meeting Recap
The NCAA Division 3 Management and Presidents Councils held a recap meeting to discuss the 2027 NCAA Convention and other items. At the convention, five proposals will be discussed. One of them is a change to spring football practices, which would take 8 of the 16 allotted days and allow for 4 days of non-contact practice and 4 days of full-pad practice. The Presidents Council is opposed to the spring practice change proposal because a working group studying practice periods across all sports already exists. Some additional details about the spring football period are provided below:
- Establish a 3-day transition period where 2 days are helmet-only and the third day may be should pads and helmet
- Establish 4 of the 16 days as “walkthrough” days with no pads or helmets
- The remaining 9 days will allow for 2 days of helmets-only, 3 days of shoulder pads and helmets, and 4 days of full pads
- Define permissible activities based on the protective equipment worn
- Limit full padded practices to no more than 75 minutes of full-contact drills
The convention will also vote on the age-based eligibility proposal, use of agents before enrolling in any college, and to establish a flag football National Collegiate Championship proposal. The proposed eligibility model would be similar to the recently implemented five-year models in Divisions 1 and 2. The current rules permit student-athletes four seasons across 10 semesters or 15 quarters of full-time enrollment, but do not impose a clock. There are also waivers available for hardship, season of participation, and extensions. The new model will change to the following:
- Seasons and quarters will no longer determine eligibility
- Eligibility will begin upon full-time enrollment at any higher education school or the first academic year after the student’s 19th birthday, whichever occurs first
- There will be a maximum of 5 years of eligibility
- Dual high school and college enrollment courses will not impact a student-athlete’s eligibility
- Note: There is a proposed amendment to remove the 19th birthday language and to use only the initial full-time enrollment as the start of the five-year eligibility period
- Waivers will no longer exist, except for pregnancy, military service, and religious missions
- If adopted, the eligibility model will become effective immediately in January 2027 at the NCAA Convention
- For athletes enrolled in 2026-27 or before, they would have the choice to pick the older model or the new model
- For athletes enrolling in 2027-28 or later, they would compete under the age-based model only
- The older model will no longer apply after the 2030-31 academic year, with all schools moving to the new age-based model for all student-athletes starting in the 2031-32 academic year
- Schools will have to submit waivers by July 31, 2027, for student-athletes using the old eligibility model
A survey will be sent out in February 2027 to all D3 members to provide feedback. The joint Championship for women’s lacrosse will occur in 2027 (Baltimore, Maryland) and 2028 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and is expected to continue in future years. The NCAA Division 3 Analysis Working Group will conduct a membership segmentation study after the 2027 convention. It’s not clear if it is related to previous sport sponsorship changes, but there have been ongoing tensions within NCAA Division 3, and talks of a split are not new. From Louise McCleary, Vice President of NCAA Division 3:
“They are going to work on a third case study after convention. And that third case study is around membership segmentation. They are working on it, not because they believe or they support it, but because they have heard from different segments of the membership: What would happen if division subdivided or divided? What would be the implications financially both for the institutions and the NCAA? How would playing rules work? How would legislation work? How would championships work? The working group is going to take that on to make sure, similar to the eligibility and NIL case studies, that the membership has the full picture ahead of them if they’re considering something in that area.”
NACC Planning to Add More Championships, Talks Membership
The Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) is planning to sponsor more championship sports in the future, according to Commissioner Jeff Ligney. Ligney made the comments while giving a broad overview of how the NACC might act if it seeks to add additional members in the future, mentioning women’s flag football, women’s bowling, fencing, triathlon, and shooting sports as potential future championships. Ligney also mentioned that the shifting realignment landscape, particularly within the upper Midwest, is a potential factor if the conference adds additional members.
“…What I told our presidents, we don’t have to act. We have to be prepared to act. We have to be prepared to make a quick decision. So having all the information on who we might want, what’s our priorities, sports sponsorship, how does that factor in? Does the school coming in going to help us? Are they going to bring a football team? As opposed to schools that don’t bring a football team. We’ve talked a lot about, do we solve sports sponsorship issues internally or externally? Do we go find a full member? Do we go find an affiliate member? Or do we encourage some of our own schools to start certain sports? You’re going to see us work with new sports. Flag football’s coming now. Women’s bowling, I think, is going to be coming very soon. I think we have six schools now that have women’s bowling. There’s other sports: fencing, triathlon, shooting sports…”
“…And then the third piece is membership. Our goal with membership is stability. We don’t have a particular number in mind. We obviously want to be bigger than smaller. As one of my consultant friends say, ‘Always better to have one or two more schools than you need than one or two less than you need.’ It’s keeping an eye on that, keeping an eye on regionally what’s happening with the conferences and institutions in Division 3. We have schools looking at going NAIA, as Mount Mary did a couple of year ago. Schools looking at just going playing small Christian college, schools looking at D2 and D1 even. Saint Thomas (MN) a couple years ago went D1 from D3. So, it’s keeping an eye on all of that, just keeping a pulse on what’s happening. Again, if we do need to make a decision, we’re able to do it pretty nimbly.”
ODAC to Sponsor Flag Football
The Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) will begin sponsoring women’s flag football in the 2027-28 academic year. 8 teams are expected to compete during the inaugural season: Batten, Bridgewater College, Guilford, Hollins, Randolph, Roanoke, Shenandoah, and Sweet Briar.
NAIA News
NAIA Adopts 5-Year Eligibility Model
The NAIA approved a 5-year eligibility model that will go into effect for the 2027-28 academic year. Nearly 92% of the NAIA membership voted to approve the model. The model will allow student-athletes to compete for as many as 5 years, with some small but significant differences from the NCAA model. The NAIA will not have a clock, meaning a student-athlete could complete their eligibility at any pace. Some additional details from the October 31 Realignment Report:
- 10 semesters or 15 quarters of attendance limit.
- 5 Seasons of Competition will be the maximum allowed.
- Eliminating the 20% rule for seasons of competition.
- Implement a “Progress Rule” for athletes going into the 5th season of competition based on certified credits (96 semester/144 quarter required, with 64 semester/96 quarter hours in general education and/or major).
- Evaluating transfers from a 4 or 5-year clock model (i.e., NCAA, NCCAA, USCAA) under the new NAIA eligibility model.
- Eliminating the medical hardship waiver.
- Transfers that competed in at least one contest would be charged with a full season of competition.
- Athletes who were previously under a 4-year model (i.e., NCAA Division 3) would not be allowed to compete for a 5th season in the NAIA’s new model.
- No age restrictions or clock rule will be imposed.
- If an NCAA athlete’s clock has run out, but they have remaining Terms of Attendance or Seasons of Competition under the NAIA bylaws, then they are eligible to transfer to an NAIA institution to compete for a fifth season.
- Athletes who have completed 4 seasons of athletic competition in a sport, such as those enrolling for the first time in the 2022-23 academic year, are not eligible to compete for a fifth season in 2027-28.
NAIA President Talks About Ideal Membership
NAIA President Jim Carr recently spoke about the NAIA’s membership goals on the Victory Sports Network podcast. Carr mentioned that conversations with NCAA Division 2 and 3 membership have increased in recent months and years. Carr also talked about adding another 10-35 members, some of the challenges out West with the Cal Pac disbanding, and alluded to maybe adding conferences once again. Carr specifically mentioned D2 and D3 schools with football programs that could be left without a home for the sport, referencing issues facing Central Washington and Western Oregon, and the possibility of the NAIA providing a landing spot.
“I’ll talk individually about [NCAA] Division 2 compared to Division 3. First of all, we have a lot more conversations than we’ve ever had. I think partly because of the chaos going on at the NCAA, and people in general, or in higher ed or college athletics, are thinking much more actively about where they are and where they should be and what are the opportunities elsewhere. When we go in and talk with those institutions, we have our return on athletics initiative that helps them to understand what kind of impact athletics is currently having on their campus. Then, if they were to come into an NAIA conference and look more like an NAIA institution, what that would do for them. It gets the attention of presidents, enrollment people, finance people, all those kinds of things. Then, when you couple that with kind of some of the things you’re talking about at the Division 2 level, we can pretty quickly show for most, if not all, especially if you’re a smaller institution, that you can save some money in a lot of different areas. Put a lot of those dollars into scholarships, being another aid, and things like that, and become much more competitive in football, though really across all sports in the NAIA.
Then for Division 3, there’s certainly much more of a recognition now of the value of financial aid that can be called athletic aid. As you know, Division 3 some of us joke about it as a former Division 3 student-athlete, you know they’re technically not giving athletic aid, but in the NAIA we can go out and promote that and sell that we’re giving your son or daughter an athletic scholarship, and that just means a lot to people these days.”
“We’re around 240 right now. I think in that kind of 250-to-275 range is a really good number for us. I guess we’re starting to think internally more from a regional concept, how do we make sure that we’re strong in the parts of the country where we’re currently strong, maintain that, but then also potentially grow out from there a little bit. 80-90% of the action happens at the conference level and the region. For most of our schools, and those schools we’re trying to attract, one of the primary considerations, if not the consideration, is what conference am I going to be in. Out west, in particular, we’ve seen some challenges out there [referring to the Cal Pac disbanding], so we’re working hard with people in the Northwest and in California to try to strengthen that area. Of course, Midwest, South, we’re very strong. We can even get stronger and potentially even add some conferences. So, it’s a little bit about the number, the overall number, but it’s really about making sure that we have 20 really strong conferences or more.”
[On expanding the football postseason] “I’m sure there are some thoughts out there. I haven’t been involved in any conversations at this point. I don’t know what your opinion is, but in my mind, it took us a long time to go from 16 to 20. We’re, I think, working pretty well through the current format and football is a different animal for anybody that knows how the playoffs work, just because of large roster sizes and, many times, having to travel a long way with very short notice. It’s not like they’re all doing it one time and then they can just play until the end. So, logistically, it’s much more of a challenge, and it’s expensive, and those kinds of things. I’m not saying we won’t look at 24, but people may not like this answer; it demands a little more research and data to really understand. Adding four teams may not seem like a lot, but if it means two more flights, that’s a big deal to those two teams that are having to charter those flights. Now, we do have a much better model in place for reimbursement for the cost of travel, and that seems to be working well too. I think we’re in a better place to expand a little more quickly than we would have been 5-10 years ago because of that.
At least at this point, I haven’t heard anything. I would have to look into a little bit more about the same kinds of points people were making going from 12 to 24 with the College Football Playoff. What does it do to the regular season? Where are the automatic qualifiers versus at-large? What are the selling points? We’re kind of right in the sweet spot of where NAIA Championships are supposed to be, kind of that low 20-something percent, but we’re kind of at the low end for football if we’re at a hundred. A lot of sports are more in that 22-to-24 percent range.”
OLLU Adding Football
Our Lady of the Lake University (San Antonio, Texas) will add a football program beginning with the 2027-28 academic year. OLLU will compete in the Sooner Athletic Conference, which will have 10 football members in 2027. The 10 football teams will be temporary, as Texas Wesleyan will depart to join NCAA Division 2 and the Lone Star Conference beginning with the 2028-29 academic year. The school noted that the startup costs will be covered by a donor commitment, with the revenue generated from the program expected to exceed the annual operating costs.
NJCAA Makes 3 Member Visits
The NJCAA visited three potential new members: Brazosport College (Lake Jackson, Texas), College of Western Idaho (Nampa, Idaho), and Mid-State Technical College (Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin). The applications of Mid-State Tech and Western Idaho were previously reported here in October. Brazosport made its announcement in April 2026, with a helpful timeline. The school will continue the NJCAA application process through the 2026-27 academic year, recruit during the 2027-28 academic year, and begin competing in the NJCAA in the 2028-29 academic year. The school will launch baseball and softball in the first year and is aiming to add other sports in the future. The NJCAA also announced it would eliminate competitive cheer as an NJCAA sport and will consolidate tennis into Division 2.
Photo Credit to Stonehill Athletics
