College Sports Realignment Roundup for March 25, 2025

The news of the day belonged to Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania. The Red Flash announced they will reclassify from NCAA Division 1 to NCAA Division 3 beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. Saint Francis is currently a member of the Northeast Conference and will join the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. Saint Francis will become a full D3 member by the start of the 2029-2030 academic year.

As part of the reclassification process, SFU will have full PAC schedules beginning in 2026-27. However, SFU will not be eligible for PAC championships or tournaments in baseball, basketball, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, and volleyball until the 2029-30 academic year. Cross country, golf, swimming & diving, and track & field athletes are eligible to compete in PAC Championships but will not be eligible for all-conference honors.

Saint Francis sponsors 20 different sports and 18 of those are currently sponsored by the PAC. Women’s field hockey and women’s water polo are not sponsored by the PAC and SFU is exploring affiliate membership options for those two sports. The PAC will have a healthy membership with 13 schools starting in the 2026-27 academic year. Hiram is slated to join in 2025-26 while SFU will join the following academic year.

As for the Northeast Conference, they currently have 8 members slated for the 2026-27 academic year: Central Connecticut State, Chicago State, Fairleigh Dickinson, Le Moyne, Long Island, Mercyhurst, Stonehill, and Wagner. Saint Francis Athletic Director Jim Brazill said in a recent interview that the NEC is currently looking at possible members but did not go into any detail on which schools are being considered. We also have to consider the possibility of more defections from the NEC, which has lost 7 full members since the 2019-20 academic year and has only added 4 full members. 3 of the 4 new full members came from NCAA Division 2.

In terms of sports sponsorship, the NEC will have only 6 women’s swimming & diving programs and 4 men’s volleyball teams. The NEC also has only four men’s swimming & diving programs but Saint Francis doesn’t sponsor a men’s team, keeping the conference at four members.

More Reclassifications to Come

Saint Francis is the first NCAA D1 to D3 reclassification since Hartford started the move beginning with the 2023-24 academic year. Hartford left the America East Conference to join the Conference of New England (then known as the Commonwealth Coast Conference). There will be more of these moves as the House settlement implications draw near, or more likely, become financially clear to institutions in 2026 and beyond.

Additional schools in the Northeast are most likely to make a similar move although I wouldn’t discount the possibility of schools in the South making the reclassification to D3. There’s also the possibility of schools moving from D1 to D2 (especially if they play FCS football). I’m sure some schools are contemplating a move up to NCAA D1 but may be waiting for the House settlement to become finalized or waiting another year to see how the landscape changes. There will continue to be a litany of legal challenges as it has become open season on the NCAA and its attempts at maintaining control of college athletics.

All of this is to say realignment never stops and we don’t know how crazy it could get over the next few months or years. Nevermind what we’ve already seen in the past five years.