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 December 31, 2024, 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 a table below if you are more interested in a summary or specific news item rather than having to scroll to find it.
| School(s)/Conference | News Item | Realignment Change / Effective Year | Current Conference | New Conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMCC | Commissioner Retiring | No – 2025-26 | N/A | N/A |
| America East | Extending Commissioner | No | N/A | N/A |
| Big Sky | New Media Rights Deal with ESPN | No – 2025-26 | N/A | N/A |
| CAA | May Change Baseball Scheduling Format | TBD | N/A | N/A |
| Chicago State | Football in 2026? | TBD – 2026-27 | N/A | N/A |
| CUNYAC | New Commissioner Named | No – 2024-25 | N/A | N/A |
| D1 Hockey Independents | May Start own Tournament | TBD | N/A | N/A |
| D1 Men’s Basketball | Preseason Exhibition rules tweaked | No – 2025-26 | N/A | N/A |
| D1 Women’s Basketball | Units to be award for tournament | No – 2025-26 | N/A | N/A |
| D1 Women’s Wrestling | Will become Championship Sport | Yes – 2025-26 | N/A | N/A |
| D2 Schools | Receiving Supplemental Disbursement | No | N/A | N/A |
| D2 Women’s Lacrosse | Championship expanding to 3 weekends | Yes – 2024-25 | N/A | N/A |
| Gannon University | Integrating Ursuline College into Gannon University | No – 2026-27 | N/A | N/A |
| High Point | Club Sports moved to Athletic Department | Yes – 2024-25 | N/A | N/A |
| Houston | Will Add Scholarships | No – 2025-26 | N/A | N/A |
| Johnson & Wales (NC) | Joining C2C | Yes – 2025-26 | USCAA | C2C (D3) |
| Multnomah | Dropping Athletics | Yes – 2025-26 | CCC (NAIA) | N/A |
| NCAA D1 | Power 4 Proposal | No | N/A | N/A |
| Northern Illinois | Football to the Mountain West | Yes – 2026-27 | MAC (D1) | Mountain West (D1) |
| Ursuline College | Integrating into Gannon University | No – 2026-27 | N/A | N/A |
| Utah | Adding Scholarships | No – 2025-26 | N/A | N/A |
| Venu Sports | Venture Abandoned by investors | No | N/A | N/A |
| Washington State | Not Cutting Football Scholarships | No | N/A | N/A |
Northern Illinois Football to Join Mountain West
Northern Illinois finally makes it official: the Huskies will leave the Mid-American Conference (MAC) to join the Mountain West Conference as a football-only affiliate beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. NIU will pay a $2 million entrance fee to the Mountain West as part of the agreement. The NIU to Mountain West train started in September 2024, slowed down in November, and crept to the finish after a delay in December. The Mountain West has said it doesn’t have any more realignment moves planned after NIU but this is realignment and sudden changes can happen.
As for NIU’s other sports, it is not known which conference they will compete in. The MAC is unlikely but there are several options including but not limited to the Horizon League, Missouri Valley Conference, Ohio Valley Conference, and Summit League. NIU even said in its press release that it will evaluate all options… including staying in the MAC.
Power Conferences Seek More… Power
The ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC are discussing the future of the NCAA in which those four conferences would have greater control over how college athletics are run. One aspect that could change is the control over postseason events including the men’s basketball tournament. The discussions are only part of a “proposal” but one that would reshape college athletics beyond what’s already happened.
Chicago State Adding Football in 2026?
CollegeAD is reporting that Chicago State is planning to field a football team as early as 2026 and play a full Northeast Conference (NEC) schedule in 2027. The Cougars announced a fundraising drive in September 2023 with a $4 million goal that would allow for the creation of a football program among other athletic endeavors. Chicago State joined the NEC beginning with the 2024-25 academic year, which is where the football program would compete.
NCAA Division 1 Sports Changes
The NCAA will begin awarding financial units to Division 1 schools for the women’s basketball tournament. The NCAA will have a pool of $15 million based on the 2025 tournament that will be distributed in the 2025-26 academic year. The pool will increase to $20 million in 2026 (distributed in 2026-27) and increase further to $25 million in 2027 (distributed in 2027-28). For tournaments in 2028 and later, the pool will increase by roughly 2.9% annually.
In men’s basketball, the NCAA will now allow up to two preseason exhibition games against four-year schools without the need for a waiver. The schools also no longer need to donate the proceeds to charity as the modification allows them to allocate the revenue how the school sees fit.
Women’s wrestling will become a championship sport at the Division 1 level. It will be the 91st championship sport for D1. D2 and D3 are expected to also vote in favor of adding women’s wrestling as a championship sport.
The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) may revert its baseball scheduling format to be more region-specific. According to Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball, the CAA had RPIs of 7 and 10 in the previous two seasons.
The five independent Division 1 men’s hockey programs are discussing a possible postseason tournament. According to Mike McMahon of College Hockey Insider, Lindenwood would host the tournament with Alaska Anchorage, Alaska Fairbanks, Long Island, and Stonehill participating. The schools would need an exemption from the NCAA to go beyond the 34-game maximum. College Hockey News reports that Tennessee State still plans to compete starting in the 2025-26 academic year and might also be included in the tournament. CHN also reports that those six teams may attempt to form a conference should the moratorium on single-sport conferences be lifted but LIU and Stonehill may be angling for a spot in the Atlantic Hockey Association.
High Point University has moved its club sports into the school’s athletic department, effective immediately. HPU says there will be over 30 teams and 850 athletes in the “Intercollegiate Club Sports” with more sports added in the future. There will not be any scholarships offered yet but it may be possible in the future.
The University of Houston plans to add scholarships using a “phased-in approach” starting in 2025-26. Football will remain at 85 scholarships and the school will commit to sharing at least $18 million in revenue with student-athletes.
The University of Utah plans to add scholarships in the 2025-26 academic year, according to a letter by athletic director Mark Harlan. Harlan said the original goal was to fund 30 full scholarships but also noted “…our supporters pushed us well beyond that in the month of December.” Utah also plans to reach the maximum allowed limit for revenue sharing in 2025-26, which is estimated to be $20.5 million.
Washington State University is not planning to cut football scholarships, according to Athletic Director Anne McCoy in an interview with The Spokesman-Review. It was reported in December that the football team would see a scholarship reduction from 85 to 79. Washington State funded all 85 scholarships for the 2024 season and new rules under the House settlement allow schools to fund as many as 105 starting with the 2025-26 academic year.
Big Sky Extends Media Rights Deal with ESPN
The Big Sky Conference announced it has extended its media rights deal with ESPN through the 2029-30 academic year. The new agreement will begin with the 2025-26 academic year and see four football games televised on national TV. In addition, one regular season men’s basketball game will be shown on national TV along with three men’s conference tournament games and one women’s conference tournament game. One of the two men’s semifinal games will be broadcast nationally as will both the men’s and women’s conference championship games.
America East Extends Commissioner Through 2028
The America East Conference and Commissioner Brad Walker have agreed to an extension through the 2027-28 academic year. Walker started as the AEC commissioner in September 2021. The America East hasn’t seen much realignment with Stony Brook (CAA) and Hartford (D3 Conference of New England) departing in 2022. Bryant joined the AEC in 2022 after spending its first 14 NCAA D1 seasons in the Northeast Conference.
ESPN, Fox, and WBD Abandon Venu Sports Venture
Venu Sports, the joint venture streaming service between ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros., has been abandoned. The three companies issued joint statements announcing the news, which came four days after Disney announced it would combine Hulu + Live TV with Fubo. Fubo filed an injunction in August 2024 to prevent Venu Sports from coming to market in a move that ultimately led to a short-lived streaming service that never launched.
NCAA Division 2 Sports Changes
The NCAA announced it will distribute $2.8 million in surplus funds to the Division 2 members, which will equate to approximately $8,000 per school.
The women’s lacrosse championship will expand to three weekends beginning with the 2024-25 academic year. The expansion of the bracket from 16 to 24 teams was noted in December but the championship info for the first three rounds was not known.
Gannon University and Ursuline College to Merge
Gannon University (Erie, Pennsylvania) and Ursuline College (Pepper Pike, Ohio) are officially merging in a process that will take 18 – 24 months, which puts the eventual timeline around the beginning of the 2026-27 academic year on July 1, 2026. In September 2024, the two schools announced an intent to form a strategic partnership. The two schools will continue to operate separate campuses as part of the agreement and there are no changes to either athletic program. Gannon University competes in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) while Ursuline College is a member of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC). Ursuline College will become known as the Ursuline College Campus of Gannon University.
NCAA Division 3 Sports Changes
Dr. Kurt Patberg has been named the commissioner of The City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC). Patberg was acting commissioner of the newly created College Conference of the South (CCS) at the NCAA Division 3 level for the 2022-23 academic year. He also has commissioner experience at the NCAA D2 and NAIA levels since the 1990s. He was the commissioner of the D2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) from 1991 through 1997, the D2 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) from 1997 through 2000, and the NAIA’s Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) from 2008 through 2013. Mammoth Sports Consulting manages the CUNYAC as part of a unique deal that lasts three years and possibly as long as five years.
Johnson & Wales University Charlotte (Charlotte, North Carolina) will join the Coast-To-Coast Conference (C2C) beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The Wildcats are a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) and are in the Exploratory Year at the NCAA D3 level for the 2024-25 academic year. JWU Charlotte would complete a three-year reclassification process that would make them a full member of NCAA Division 3 beginning with the 2028-29 academic year.
AMCC Commissioner Retiring
Donna Ledwin will retire from her post as the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) commissioner at the end of the academic year on June 30, 2025. Ledwin was the first and only commissioner of the AMCC after taking the role in 2002. The AMCC was formed in 1997 and was granted NCAA Division 3 status beginning with the 2002-03 academic year. The AMCC has seen four full members join in Ledwin’s time: Hilbert College in 2005, Mount Aloysius in 2006, Alfred State in 2019, and Carlow in 2023. Six schools departed the AMCC in Ledwin’s tenure including Lake Erie in 2007, Frostburg State in 2009, Franciscan University (OH) in 2019, D’Youville in 2020, Medaille in 2022, and Wells in 2024. Medaille College and Wells College both closed.
NAIA Sports Changes
The Multnomah Campus of Jessup University (Portland, Oregon) will drop athletics after the 2024-25 academic year and not offer sports effective in 2025-26. Multnomah and Jessup (Rocklin, California) merged, effective with the 2024-25 academic year and there were no planned athletic changes at the time. Multnomah was a full member of the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC), which will have 11 full members in 2025.
Photo Courtesy of NIU Athletics