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 7, 2025, and provide updates on previously discussed topics. As a reminder, all official moves starting with the 2025-26 academic year can be found 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 that specific section. If a division is not highlighted, there has been no news since the most recent post.
Editor’s note: The Realignment Report will move to a monthly format starting in July 2025. The new format will provide a big picture look at realignment with less focus on each individual sporting change. News items such as full membership moves, commissioner changes, and TV rights deals will continue to appear in the monthly posting.
NCAA Division 1 News
House Opt In Date Changed
The House v. NCAA settlement may have been finalized last week, but there are plenty of outstanding issues for both parties to sort through. The NCAA has shifted the date schools need to opt into the settlement from June 15 to June 30. Schools are not required to opt into the settlement, and those choosing not to will not be subjected to roster limits, but cannot share revenue with student athletes. The NCAA also provided additional guidance in the form an an extensive FAQ document. Some key takeaways:
- Schools cannot decide to opt into the settlement on an individual team basis. Either all sports opt in or no sports opt in.
- The same logic applies to multidivisional schools. If a D2 or D3 school has two or more sports competing in D1, all sports will have to opt in or out.
- Conferences are allowed to establish roster limits below the ones outlined in the settlement, but those cannot be lower than the scholarship limits imposed in the 2024-25 academic year.
- Schools and conferences that do not opt in can have roster sizes above the limits in the settlement, but also must abide by the financial aid limits imposed in the 2024-25 academic year.
- Athletes provided financial aid before 2025-26 at schools that opt into the settlement will not lose said aid if they transfer or are cut from a roster.
- Schools must submit roster lists and be within the roster limits for the entire academic year.
- Designated Student-Athletes (DSA) are players who would have been cut due to the roster limits. Players on a roster for 2024-25 before April 7, or recruited prior to April 7 (for 2025-26 enrollees), can be considered a DSA.
- DSAs do not count towards the roster limits for the entirety of the athlete’s eligibility.
- Athletes who suffer season-ending injuries will count towards the limit unless the final deadline to submit rosters hasn’t passed.
- Career-ending injuries occurring during the season will count toward the roster limit for that season.
- Permanently ineligible athletes can be replaced on a roster during the season.
- Student-athlete benefits are counted against the year in which the payments are made.
- Buyouts are allowed and will count against the cap of the school that makes the buyout.
D1 Soccer Overhaul?
Back in February, it was reported that NCAA Division 1 soccer might see drastic changes over the next few years. Fast forward a few more months and the U.S. Soccer Federation has established the NextGen College Soccer Committee (NCS) to “…integrate the college game more deeply into the broader U.S. Soccer ecosystem…”. Back in February, that was interpreted as having schools break away from the NCAA to contest a championship and move from a fall-only schedule to a fall and spring schedule. Coaches are in favor of a different scheduling arrangement as the current model crams an entire season into 12 weeks. As with anything NCAA-related these days, legal issues are likely to arise. One bold, but possible outcome: National Governing Bodies overseeing each sport in the future. As it stands, it’s difficult to assess any plan from the U.S. Soccer Federation without more details.
CAA Adds Divisions for 4 Sports
The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) will implement a divisional format in four sports beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Baseball, men’s and women’s soccer, and softball will use North and South divisions next year, with some uneven numbers depending on the sport. Baseball will have five north teams and six south teams, while playing 30 regular season games. Softball will have the same uneven divisional split as baseball, but with 24 regular season games. Men’s soccer will have two five-team divisions with 8 conference games and women’s soccer will have two six-team divisions with 9 conference matchups. The new divisional structure is shown in the table below.
| Baseball (M) | Soccer (M) | Soccer (W) | Softball (W) |
|---|---|---|---|
| North | North | North | North |
| Hofstra | Drexel | Drexel | Drexel |
| Monmouth | Hofstra | Hofstra | Hofstra |
| Northeastern | Monmouth | Monmouth | Monmouth |
| Stony Brook | Northeastern | Northeastern | Stony Brook |
| Towson | Stony Brook | Stony Brook | Towson |
| Towson | |||
| South | South | South | South |
| Campbell | Campbell | Campbell | Campbell |
| Charleston | Charleston | Charleston | Charleston |
| Elon | Elon | Elon | Elon |
| North Carolina A&T | UNC Wilmington | Hampton | Hampton |
| UNC Wilmington | William & Mary | UNC Wilmington | North Carolina A&T |
| William & Mary | William & Mary | UNC Wilmington |
Iona Adds Three Club Sports
Iona University (New Rochelle, New York) will add three club sports for the 2025-26 academic year. Chess, women’s flag football, and wrestling will compete next academic year, although the school didn’t have additional details. Both flag football and wrestling are among the most popular sports for colleges to add over the next few academic years.
WCC Adds 3 Championships
The West Coast Conference has added conference tournaments for three sports beginning with the 2026-27 academic year: men’s soccer, women’s soccer, and women’s softball. Soccer will be a four-team bracket with semifinals on Wednesday and the final on Saturday. Softball will also be a four-team bracket, but will feature double elimination and take place from Thursday through Saturday. The WCC is the only conference that does not use a tournament to determine its NCAA tournament automatic qualifier for soccer or softball.
NCAA Division 2 News
Fresno Pacific Joins CCAA
Fresno Pacific University (Fresno, California) will change conferences beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. The Sunbirds will leave the Pacific West Conference (Pac West) and join the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). Not all sports will be joining the CCAA: the swimming & diving teams will remain in the Pacific Collegiate Swimming & Diving Conference (PCSC), the tennis programs will remain in the Pac West, and the water polo teams will stay members of the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA). At the start of the 2026-27 academic year, the Pac West will have 11 full members while the CCAA will be up to 13. The CCAA will lose Sonoma State, but add UC Merced for the 2025-26 academic year.
Missouri Western State Brings Back Track & Field, Augusta Adds Indoor Programs
That was quick! Missouri Western State (St. Joseph, Missouri) dropped its track & field programs at the end of May, but an outpouring of support led them to swiftly reinstate the programs. MWSU will compete in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, which will be back at 10 men’s and 11 women’s programs.
Staying with the D2 track & field theme, Augusta University (Augusta, Georgia) will add men’s and women’s indoor track & field for the 2025-26 academic year. The Jaguars already have outdoor programs competing in the Peach Belt Conference. The addition of Augusta will give the Peach Belt six members for each sport.
NCAA Division 3 News
Blackburn Adds Wrestling
Blackburn College (Carlinsville, Illinois) will add women’s wrestling beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The press release showed the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) in the lower corner, while the schedule page says “coming in fall 2025”. The SLIAC will also add McMurry University (Abilene, Texas) and Huntingdon College (Montgomery, Alabama) for women’s wrestling in 2025-26, while Fontbonne University (Clayton, Missouri) will close. The changes will give SLIAC 7 women’s teams.
NAIA News
Bismarck State Adds Football, Frontier Looks to Expand
Bismarck State College (Bismarck, North Dakota) will add a football team beginning with the 2027-28 academic year, which will put the Frontier Conference at 15 football teams. The conference will look to add an additional team to reach 16 teams and have two 8-team divisions.
Central Christian Joins Cal Pac for Volleyball, Adds Cheerleading
The California Pacific Conference (Cal Pac) appears to have added a men’s volleyball affiliate member beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The conference’s website lists Central Christian College (McPherson, Kansas) as a men’s volleyball member for the upcoming season. The Cal Pac also lists California Maritime and Northern New Mexico as full members for 2025-26, although that conflicts with previous reports. Cal Maritime announced its withdrawal from the NAIA and Cal Pac in September 2024, while documents obtained from NNMU place them as an “associate” member of the conference.
Central Christian will also relaunch its coed competitive cheerleading team beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. The school previously had cheerleading from 1943-44 through the 2004-05 academic year. The newly reformed team will likely compete as an independent.
Fisk To End Gymnastics Program
Fisk University (Nashville, Tennessee) will compete in one final season of women’s gymnastics for the 2025-26 academic year before discontinuing the sport in 2026-27. Fisk competes as an independent. Morgan Price’s success on the team helped elevate the program with back-to-back individual collegiate titles. Unfortunately, Fisk had financial issues sustaining the program in the past, and the school’s press release cited scheduling and recruiting issues as key reasons for the decision.
GSAC Adds Flag Football
The Great Southwest Athletic Conference (GSAC) will begin sponsoring women’s flag football in the 2025-26 academic year and announced six inaugural members. Arizona Christian, Benedictine Mesa (AZ), Hope International, La Sierra, Ottawa (AZ), and Simpson (CA) will join the conference. The first five schools will be full members of the GSAC, while Simpson will join as an affiliate. The GSAC becomes the third NAIA conference to sponsor the sport, following the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference and Sun Conference.
KCAC Commissioner Resigns
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) Commissioner Ted Breidenthal has resigned and will leave his post on August 22. Breidenthal joined the KCAC in 2023 and saw Evangel University (Springfield, Missouri) join the conference alongside him in 2023. The KCAC has full members located in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Breidenthal was previously with the Continental Athletic Conference (CAC) from 2008 through 2023, and replaced Scott Crawford as KCAC’s commissioner. Crawford was named the commissioner of the NAIA’s Frontier Conference in 2023.
Photo Courtesy of Fresno Pacific