By Dylan Lux / The Jambar
Conference realignment has been involved in the college sports landscape for nearly 40 years — and it shows no signs of slowing down.
A primary reason for a university to move from one conference to another are television deals. More specifically, the revenue colleges can gain from them. All in all, colleges changing conferences comes down to finances.
Collegiate conferences were originally formed with regionality, as the primary decider of who goes to what conference.
In 1978, there were fourteen conferences, following the NCAA moving from one division to three. For football, the NCAA had I-A and I-AA levels — later known as FBS and FCS, respectively.
Throughout history, many programs have moved conferences. Some have also started to sponsor more or less sports such as the Big East Conference.
Vince Nicastro, deputy commissioner of the Big East, said the conference has undergone several changes over the last five years and will continue to do so based on conference value.
“We continuously assess our membership position — both full and affiliate members — and look for opportunities to add value to the conference. In 2019, we added [the University of Connecticut] back to the Big East and this has worked out incredibly well,” Nicastro said.
The Big East began sponsoring football in 1991, featuring many current FBS programs. In 2013, the conference realigned, with the non-football schools forming a new Big East, for sports such as basketball. Schools with football programs joined the American Athletic Conference.
At the FBS level, there has been movement in the Power Five conferences over the last three years. Leagues such as the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference and the Pac-12 Conference have completely changed their rosters.
The Big Ten added teams such as the University of Oregon, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Southern California and the University of Washington from the Pac-12.
The Big 12 also took four teams from the Pac-12, including the University of Arizona and Arizona State University, as well as the University of Colorado and the University of Utah.
The conference also added the formerly independent program Brigham Young University. The Big 12 continued to add universities such as the University of Cincinnati, the University of Houston and the University of Central Florida.
The Atlantic Coast Conference took two of the remaining four Pac-12 teams — Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley. Now, the Pac-12 contains only two teams — Oregon State University and Washington State University.
The conference has plans for expansion, as six teams from the Mountain West Conference look to move to the Pac-12 in 2026.
The FCS level also has many yearly changes through conference realignment. Since the 2022 offseason, six schools have made the jump from FCS to FBS, while six schools have moved from Division II to the FCS.
Youngstown State University is a part of the Missouri Valley Football Conference for football. Next year, the MVFC will lose Missouri State University, who plans to move to the FBS level to compete in Conference USA.
The University of Delaware is also moving up to Conference USA, as they leave behind the Coastal Athletic Association and the FCS.
The University of Texas at El Paso will move to the Mountain West, as well as long-standing Mid-American Conference member Northern Illinois University.
The Pac-12 will begin its reconstruction with new teams from the Mountain West, including California State University, Fresno and College Football Playoff competitor Boise State University.
