College Realignment Report for February 15, 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 January 31, 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

NDSU Football Joins Mountain West

After 15 years of dominating the FCS, North Dakota State University is finally moving to the FBS. NDSU will make a football-only move from the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) to the Mountain West Conference beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. The Bison will pay the $5 million FCS-to-FCS reclassification fee, as well as $12 million to the Mountain West, and will keep the rest of its athletic teams in the Summit League. NDSU won 10 of the last 15 FCS titles, leading many to wonder when the move would happen. With the addition of NDSU, the Mountain West now has 10 football members for 2026, while the MVFC will be at 9. The MW will have full members in Air Force, Grand Canyon (non-football), Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UC Davis (non-football – for now?), UNLV, UTEP, and Wyoming, with North Dakota State and Northern Illinois as football-only members.

Sacramento State Football Joining MAC

Sacramento State will move from the FCS to the FBS and join the Mid-American Conference as a football-only member beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. The Hornets will pay a steeper entry fee than NDSU, at $18 million to the MAC. Sacramento State will also pay the $5 million FBS reclassification fee. The MAC will be at 12 full members and 13 football members with the addition of Sacramento State. Sacramento State’s other athletic programs will remain in the Big West Conference, as announced last June.

Big Ten to Add Volleyball Championship

The Big Ten Conference is likely to add a women’s volleyball tournament within the next two years. Coaches are reportedly looking to have the championship as soon as the 2026-27 academic year, but the first championship will be no later than 2027. Nebraska won the outright titles in 2023 and 2025, while sharing the title in 2024 with Penn State.

Horizon League Names Bodensteiner as Commissioner

Saint Joseph’s University athletic director Jill Bodensteiner has been named as the next Horizon League commissioner. Bodensteiner will replace Julie Roe Lach, who resigned in October to take a role with the Indiana Pacers. The Horizon League has been relatively stable in the latest realignment cycle, with Purdue Fort Wayne (2020), Robert Morris (2020), and Northern Illinois (2026) joining. Illinois Chicago left in 2022 to join the Missouri Valley Conference.

Iowa State Cancels Rest of Gymnastics Season

Iowa State canceled the rest of its women’s gymnastics season, citing low athlete availability. The Cyclones had to cancel their meet against West Virginia on Friday, February 6, for the same reason and then decided to forego the rest of the season. ISU was slated to compete against Arizona State (February 22), Arizona (February 27), BYU (March 6), Iowa (March 13), and in the Big 12 Championship (March 21).

Mountain West Announces Media Deals

The Mountain West Conference announced a media rights package with CBS Sports, Fox Sports, Kiswe, and The CW Network, just a few days before adding North Dakota State. The deals will run from the 2026-27 academic year through the 2031-32 academic year, except for the CW agreement, which will run through 2030-31. As part of the agreement, 15 football regular season matchups will appear on CBS Sports Network, with one of those to be shown on CBS and Paramount+. Fox will keep the Mountain West football championship game and will show 12 regular season games. The CW will show 13 regular season football games.

For men’s basketball, CBS Sports Network will show 18 regular season games, the quarterfinals and semifinals, and CBS will show the basketball championship. Fox and The CW will show 20 men’s regular season games each. For women’s basketball, CBS Sports Network will show two regular season games and the championship game. The CW will show 15 women’s regular season games, while Fox is not slated to show any women’s basketball games in the current deal. Kiswe will serve as the streaming platform for all games that are not shown on national television as a direct-to-consumer service. The Mountain West states that over 1,000 live regular season and postseason events will be on Kiswe each year. The new streaming service will launch in July 2026, but it’s not known how much it will cost.

NCAA Division 2 News

Shawnee State Gets Expedited Process

Shawnee State University (Portsmouth, Ohio) will undergo an expedited reclassification process from the NAIA to NCAA Division 2. Instead of the normal three-year process, Shawnee State can complete reclassification in two years and be eligible for NCAA championships beginning with the 2028-29 academic year. The NCAA adopted the new policy in January 2025, allowing schools to complete reclassification in one fewer year. The Bears announced a move from the NAIA’s River States Conference to the Mountain East Conference in June 2025.

Sonoma State Evaluates Athletics Return

Sonoma State University (Rohner Park, California) could bring back its athletics program as soon as the 2027-28 academic year, according to school president Michael Spagna. Spagna noted that he wants to bring back athletics as long as it can be self-sustaining, which is why a potential return will not occur sooner. In January 2025, SSU announced it would drop athletics after the 2024-25 academic year, which led to some backlash. The school hired Mammoth Sports Consulting to review the feasibility of bringing back athletics. MMS recommended 13 sports return for the 2026-27 academic year. The 13 sports are listed below.

The report did not recommend bringing back men’s baseball or women’s softball for a variety of reasons, but listed them as future possibilities if the athletic budget allows it. Women’s flag football was mentioned as a potential future sport as well. The report also recommended reinstating the Instructionally Related Activity fee allocation to athletics at 62.25%. The desired affiliation would be a return to the NCAA Division 2 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA).

NCAA Division 3 News

American Southwest Signs FloSports Deal

The American Southwest Conference announced a media rights deal with FloSports beginning with the 2026-27 academic year and running through the 2030-31 academic year. The ASC becomes the 19th NCAA conference to sign with FloSports, and the 10th NCAA D3 conference. The debate surrounding whether streaming paywalls will continue as more deals are made and more data points are collected.

Concordia Chicago Cancels STUNT Season

Concordia University Chicago (Illinois) announced it will not compete during the 2026 STUNT season. The school said it was due to “unforeseen circumstances within the program.” All athletes will retain this year of eligibility. Concordia Chicago was slated to compete in the Mid America Central Conference this year.

NJCU Eliminating Athletics

New Jersey City University (Jersey City, New Jersey) will eliminate all of its varsity athletic teams except for men’s basketball. The merger between NJCU and Kean University (Union, New Jersey) was announced in March 2025, with the elimination of NJCU’s athletics teams as part of the proposal. In April 2025, NJCU announced it would move to a new conference alongside current CUNYAC members beginning with the 2027-28 academic year. The NJAC will remain at 10 members in 2026-27, as NJCU leaves and SUNY New Paltz (New Paltz, New York) will join.

NJCU will see the following sports discontinued: coed esports, men’s baseball, men’s basketball, men’s indoor and outdoor track & field, men’s soccer, men’s volleyball, men’s wrestling, women’s basketball, women’s cross country, men’s indoor and outdoor track & field, women’s soccer, women’s softball, women’s volleyball, and women’s wrestling. Men’s basketball will compete outside the NCAA.

Since the 2025-26 academic year, at least 15 schools have dropped athletics due to closure, merger, or voluntary discontinuation. Cal Maritime kept four varsity programs: men’s basketball, men’s soccer, women’s basketball, and women’s soccer. As noted in the NCAA Division 2 section of this post, Sonoma State may bring back athletics for the 2027-28 academic year.

Maine at Augusta Applies for D3 Membership

The University of Maine at Augusta is applying for a provisional membership in NCAA Division 3. UMA is currently a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). The likely landing spot for the school would be the North Atlantic Conference (NAC), which currently has fellow University of Maine campuses Farmington and Presque Isle as members. Husson University (Bangor), Maine Maritime (Castine), and Thomas College (Waterville) are also located in Maine. The NAC is set to lose SUNY Cobleskill and SUNY Delhi in 2026-27, leaving the conference with 8 members, assuming no more changes occur. UMA offers 16 varsity sports as shown in the table below (esports is coed).

NAIA News

Lourdes Closing

Lourdes University (Sylvania, Ohio) will close after the 2025-26 academic year due to financial issues and declining enrollment. Lourdes competes in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC), which saw Concordia Ann Arbor (Michigan) close after the 2024-25 academic year and will see Siena Heights University (Michigan) close alongside Lourdes after 2025-26. The WHAC will have 10 members beginning with the 2026-27 academic year, assuming no additional changes. Lourdes sponsored 19 varsity sports, with all competing in the WHAC, except women’s wrestling, which competes in the Mid-South Conference.

Providence Christian Closing

Providence Christian College (Pasadena, California) announced it will close at the end of the 2025-26 academic year. PCC discontinued athletics at the end of the 2024-25 academic year, leaving the school in a very precarious position. The school noted that declining enrollment, rising costs, and loss of federal funds were the primary drivers for closing. PCC was a member of the California Pacific Conference (Cal Pac) until it dropped athletics. Providence Christian is one of 15 NCAA or NAIA schools to announce it will drop athletics or close in the previous few years.

Photo Courtesy of North Dakota State Athletics