The Pac-12 is back!
While the conference went on hiatus after the 2023-24 season, it took two full seasons for the results of the chain reaction that affected every Western conference—along with a few others—to become reality.
There’s also a conference with a new, yet familiar name, as the Metro Atlantic is now just the Metro, and a team that changed its name and color scheme—New Orleans is now part of the LSU system and the LSU New Orleans Privateers’ colors are now gold and purple.
Pac-12 (2 teams in 2025–26 → 9 in 2026-27)
There are again
four Division I conferences with names including a number. The Pac-12, long the conference that prided itself on having an accurate name when other leagues decided they were fine with being inaccurate, is now just like the other three. Still, the gap between the Pac-12’s name and membership total is the smallest of the four conferences—3, compared to 4 for the Atlantic 10, 4 for the Big 12, and 8 for the Big Ten.
Returning Members (2): Oregon State and Washington State (WCC associate members 2024–25 and 2025–26)
New Members (7): Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State (from the Mountain West); Gonzaga (from the WCC); Texas State (from the Sun Belt)
2027 Tournament Format: 9-team stepladder bracket
Mountain West (12 → 10)
While the MW picked up a trio of new all-sports members, it also added a pair of football-only members in North Dakota State and Northern Illinois—with the Huskies needing to find a home for their other sports.
Returning Members (7): Air Force, Grand Canyon, Nevada, New Mexico, San José State, UNLV, Wyoming
New Members (3): Hawai’i and UC Davis (from the Big West); UTEP (from Conference USA)
Departures (5): Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State (to the Pac-12)
2027 Tournament Format: traditional 10-team bracket
Big West (11 → 12)
Sacramento State decided to elevate football to FBS, which meant it couldn’t stay in the Big Sky. It’s football-only membership in the MAC is complemented by a move to the California-centric Big West for its other sports. The conference also picked up a pair of departures from the WAC in Cal Baptist (who has a crosstown rival in UC Riverside) and Utah Valley, the league’s first member from outside of California or Hawai’i in decades.
Returning Members (9): Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Fullerton, CSUN, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara
New Members (3): Cal Baptist and Utah Valley (from the WAC); Sacramento State (from the Big Sky)
Departures (2): Hawai’i and UC Davis (to the Mountain West)
2027 Tournament Format: 8-team stepladder bracket
Departing after 2026–27 (2): UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara (to the WCC)
WCC (12 → 10)
Gonzaga and the two Pac-12 associates are now gone, with Denver joining a group of peer institutions as a replacement.
Returning Members (9): Loyola Marymount, Pacific, Pepperdine, Portland, Saint Mary’s, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Seattle U
New Members (1): Denver (from the Summit)
Departures (3): Gonzaga and associate members Oregon State and Washington State (to the Pac-12)
Arriving in 2027–28 (2): UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara (from the Big West)
2027 Tournament Format: 10-team stepladder bracket
Big Sky (10 → 11)
Sacramento State left for FBS, but the Big Sky was able to add a pair of members in Utah after the WAC’s reinvention—with Southern Utah returning after four years away.
Returning Members (9): Eastern Washington, Idaho, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Portland State, Weber State
New Members (2): Southern Utah and Utah Tech (from the WAC)
Departures (1): Sacramento State (to the Big West)
2027 Tournament Format: 11-team bracket with traditional and stepladder elements
Summit League (9 → 8)
North Dakota State, was able to keep its non-football sports in its longtime primary home conference, which doesn’t sponsor football.
Returning Members (8): Kansas City, North Dakota, North Dakota State, Omaha, Oral Roberts, St. Thomas, South Dakota, South Dakota State
Departures (1): Denver (to the WCC)
2027 Tournament Format: 8-team traditional bracket with split quarterfinal doubleheaders
Mid-American (13 → 12)
Northern Illinois departed to put football in the Mountain West, meaning their other sports primarily moved into the Horizon League. That’s also what the Huskies did when playing football in the Big West back in the 1990s.
Returning Members (12): Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, UMass, Miami (Ohio), Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan
Departure (1): Northern Illinois (to the Horizon, football to the Mountain West)
2027 Tournament Format: 8-team stepladder bracket
Horizon League (11 → 12)
Returning Members (11): Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy, Green Bay, IU Indy, Milwaukee, Northern Kentucky, Oakland, Purdue Fort Wayne, Robert Morris, Wright State, Youngstown State
Arrival (1): Northern Illinois (from the MAC)
2027 Tournament Format: 11-team (men’s, Detroit Mercy is ineligible for the postseason) and 12-team (women’s) brackets with reseeding
Conference USA (12 → 10)
UTEP joins some old WAC rivals in the Mountain West this season, while neighbors New Mexico State remain a significant distance from their remaining CUSA rivals.
Returning Members (10): Delaware, FIU, Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State, Liberty, Middle Tennessee, Missouri State, New Mexico State, Sam Houston, Western Kentucky
Departures (2): Louisiana Tech (to the Sun Belt) and UTEP (to the MW)
2027 Tournament Format: 10-team traditional bracket with split quarterfinal doubleheaders
Sun Belt (14 → 14)
With Texas State’s somewhat unexpected move to the Pac-12 and a settlement related to Louisiana Tech’s move from CUSA reached, the conference stays at 14—at least until JMU leaves in the near future.
Returning Members (13): App State, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, James Madison, Louisiana, Marshall, Old Dominion, South Alabama, Southern Miss., Troy, ULM
New Member (1): Louisiana Tech (from Conference USA)
Departure (1): Texas State (to the Pac-12)
2027 Tournament Format: 14-team stepladder bracket
Departing either after 2026–27 or 2027–28 (1): James Madison (to the American)
Western Athletic Conference → United Athletic Conference (7 → 9)
The double-U-A-C became the single-U-A-C. The conference’s three remaining Texas members joined the five ASUN institutions that sponsor FCS football in forming a newly-branded league. Little Rock eventually joined from the OVC. Curiously, both the Trojans and UT Arlington Mavericks are former Sun Belt members who were forced out after the 2021-22 academic year because they didn’t sponsor football.
Returning Members (3): Abilene Christian, Tarleton State, UT Arlington
New Members (6): Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama, and West Georgia (from the ASUN); Little Rock (from the OVC)
Departures (4): Cal Baptist and Utah Valley (to the Big West); Southern Utah and Utah Tech (to the Big Sky)
2027 Tournament Format: 8-team bracket with TBD format
Atlantic Sun (12 → 8)
The seven ASUN members who don’t sponsor scholarship football stayed behind, with West Florida, which plays football in the UAC, joining for its reclassification to Division I. The UAC and ASUN have a robust interconference scheduling relationship, with each team playing four games against the opposite conference in the UniSun Sports Alliance.
Returning Members (7): Bellarmine, FGCU, Jacksonville, Lipscomb, North Florida, Queens, Stetson
New Member (1): West Florida (from the Gulf South (DII), reclassifying)
Departures (5): Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama, and West Georgia (to the UAC)
2027 Tournament Format: 8-team stepladder bracket
Ohio Valley (11 → 9)
Returning Members (9): Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, Morehead State, SIUE, Southeast Missouri State, Southern Indiana, Tennessee State, UT Martin, Western Illinois
Departures (2): Little Rock (to the UAC) and Tennessee Tech (to the SoCon)
2027 Tournament Format: 8-team stepladder bracket
The OVC is connected to the one ripple in the realignment pool that didn’t directly result from the Pac-12’s reorganization: longtime member Tennessee Tech left for the SoCon.
Southern Conference (10 → 11 for men’s, 8 → 9 for women’s)
Returning Members (10 men’s, 8 women’s): Chattanooga, ETSU, Furman, Mercer, Samford, The Citadel (no women’s team), UNCG, VMI (no women’s team), Western Carolina, Wofford
New Member (1): Tennessee Tech (from the OVC)
2027 Tournament Format: 11-team (men’s) and 9-team (women’s) traditional brackets
Upcoming Changes Not Previously Mentioned
After this season, Fairfield will move from the renamed Metro (formerly the MAAC) to the Coastal Athletic Association, while the Metro adds Le Moyne from the NEC to remain at 13 members.
