NCAA Division I

highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association

Division I is the highest level of college sports in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. Its schools generally have the biggest budgets, the best facilities, and offer more their students more athletic scholarships than Divisions II and III.

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

Below is a list of sports conferences belonging to Division I:

Football Bowl Subdivision

change

Football Championship Subdivision

change
  • Big Sky Conference
  • Big South Conference – As of the 2023 football season, the Big South and Ohio Valley Conferences are partners in a football-only alliance that has a single automatic berth in the FCS playoffs.
  • Ivy League
  • Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
  • Northeast Conference
  • Ohio Valley Conference – Partner with the Big South Conference in football.
  • Patriot League
  • Southern Conference
  • Southland Conference
  • Southwestern Athletic Conference

These conferences only play football:

Other conferences

change

These conferences do not play football, but do play basketball:

This conference plays more than one sport, but does not play either football or basketball:

  • Mountain Pacific Sports Federation

These conferences only play ice hockey:

The only Division I all-sports conference that plays either men's or women's ice hockey is the Big Ten. It started a men's hockey league in 2013–14.

The Ivy League technically sponsors ice hockey for both men and women, but does not hold a championship tournament. All Ivy League schools that play ice hockey play in Hockey East. The Ivy League determines its champion from results of ECAC Hockey games that involve two Ivy members.

These conferences only play water polo. Two run men's and women's leagues, and the other runs only a women's league.

One conference competes only in wrestling:

  • Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association

These conferences play only one sport:

  • Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges
  • Pacific Coast Swim Conference

In some sports, the NCAA does not split schools into divisions because only a small number of schools play a given sport. Technically, conferences in these sports are not Division I. However, most of the schools in these conferences are in Division I in other sports.

These conferences only play men's volleyball (note that women's volleyball is split into divisions):

  • Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association
  • Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association

This conference only plays women's beach volleyball:

  • Coastal Collegiate Sports Association

These conferences only compete in skiing:

  • Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association
  • Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association

These conferences only compete in gymnastics:

  • Eastern Intercollegiate Gymnastics League (men only)
  • Midwest Independent Conference (women only)

These conferences only compete in rifle shooting:

  • Great America Rifle Conference
  • Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference
  • Patriot Rifle Conference

This conference only does fencing:

  • Midwest Fencing Conference
  NODES
games 1