Athletics Veritas is a weekly series aimed at helping higher education executives, faculty, and other stakeholders stay tuned in on trending national issues impacting college athletics, especially NCAA Division I. Athletics Veritas is created by senior DI athletic administrators around the nation.
Term-in-Ology: A Primer on NCAA Division I Conference Membership Criteria
The winds of change are howling and conference realignment is in the news again. The University of Texas and University of Oklahoma have plans to leave the Big 12 Conference for the SEC, raising questions about the future for the Big 12.
Let’s take a look at the NCAA’s criteria for what conferences must fulfill in terms of membership, sport sponsorship, and continuity to maintain an active conference member status in good standing.
First, the NCAA requires that a multisport conference shall be composed of at least seven active Division I members. The member conference shall include at least seven active Division I members that sponsor both men's and women's basketball.
From a sports sponsorship standpoint, a multisport conference shall satisfy the following requirements:
(a) The conference shall sponsor a minimum of 12 Division I sports;
(b) The conference shall sponsor a minimum of six men's sports, one of which shall be men's basketball. In addition to men's basketball, the conference shall sponsor football or two other men's team sports. A minimum of seven members shall sponsor men's basketball. A minimum of six members shall sponsor five other sports, including football or two additional men's team sports; and
(c) The conference shall sponsor a minimum of six women's sports, one of which shall be women's basketball. In addition to women's basketball, the conference shall sponsor two other women's team sports. A minimum of seven members shall sponsor women's basketball. A minimum of six members shall sponsor five other sports, including two additional women's team sports (or a minimum of five members for an emerging sport for women).
In addition to sponsoring these sports, Division I conferences must ensure a certain minimum number of regular-season competitions are completed as specified. Specifically, multisport conference members shall participate in regular-season conference competition as follows:
(a) Basketball teams shall participate in a regular-season conference schedule of a double round robin, in-season competition, or a minimum of 14 regular-season conference contests;
(b) In football or in a minimum of two men's team sports other than men's basketball [as required in Bylaw 20.02.5.2-(b)], teams shall compete in a minimum regular-season conference schedule of five contests. A minimum of five regular-season conference contests must be hosted by one of the two competing teams at its home venue; and
(c) In a minimum of two women's team sports other than women's basketball (as required in Bylaw 20.02.5.2), teams shall compete in a minimum regular-season conference schedule of five contests. A minimum of five regular-season conference contests must be hosted by one of the two competing teams at its home venue.
Important to note: there is a “continuity” clause in the NCAA’s rules applicable to conference membership.
Specifically, a multisport conference shall establish continuity having at least seven active members and fulfill the sport sponsorship and regular-season competition requirements for a period of eight consecutive years.
A conference, like the Big 12, which is classified as a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conference shall be comprised of at least eight full FBS members that satisfy all bowl subdivision requirements. [NOTE: the Big 12 currently has 10 active member institutions.]
When Texas and Oklahoma depart the league, the Big 12 will be down to eight member institutions. As The Athletic recently reported, the Big 12’s future becomes even more tenuous as some of the remaining Big 12 institutions may also become targets of other FBS conferences looking to add and enrich their own conference membership.
NCAA rules go on to state that an institution shall be included as one of the eight full FBS members only if the institution participates in the conference schedule in at least six men's and eight women's conference-sponsored sports, including men's basketball and football and three women's team sports, including women's basketball. A conference-sponsored sport shall be a sport in which regular-season and/or championship opportunities are provided, consistent with the minimum standards identified by the applicable NCAA sport committee for automatic qualification.
There is one primary exception to this FBS provision. An FBS member institution shall be permitted to consider one of its required six men's sports and one of its required eight women's sports a sport in which its conference does not sponsor or conduct a championship, provided that the sport is one in which it participates through another Division I multisport or single-sport conference. Different sports may be counted for men and women.
There is a legislated grace-period available for conferences that fall below the stated conference membership criteria or fail to satisfy the eight full FBS member requirement due to failure of one or more of its members to comply with the FBS member requirements or, more broadly, if a conference falls below general conference membership criteria because a member institution exits the conference. Specifically, a conference shall continue to be considered a multisport conference for two years following the date of withdrawal of the institution(s) that causes the conference's noncompliance with the minimum multisport conference requirements. Interestingly, this grace period was adopted in January 2011, amidst the last wave of landmark conference re-alignment across Division I.
The coming weeks may reveal what path the Big 12 pursues. If more than Oklahoma and Texas depart the conference in the future, the viability of the Big 12 is called to question and if three or more universities opt to exit the league, the legislated grace period may be triggered.
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
