Conference realignment: 10 FCS teams will reportedly join FBS

There are currently 131 football programs at FBS level, divided into 10 conferences, Power Five and Group of Five.

The number of schools playing college football in FBS could soon rise to 141 and the number of conferences to 11.

according to Friday morning report by ESPN’s Pete Sammelthe Atlantic Sun Conference and the WAC’s current 10 FCS programs have agreed to create a new conference with the express purpose of moving to the FBS level.

Sources say this is a football-only conference and will move to the FBS ranks as soon as it becomes viable.

According to Tamer, the league’s founding documents said it meant the group would transition “from what is now known as FCS football to what is now known as FBS football as soon as possible”. It is

Schools are:

• Stephen F. Austin (WAC)
• Abilene Christian (WAC)
• Utah Tech University (WAC)
• Southern Utah (WAC)
• County Tarleton (WAC)
• Austin Pea (Atlantic Sun)
• Eastern Kentucky (Atlantic Sun)
• Central Arkansas (Atlantic Sun)
• North Alabama (Atlantic Sun)

Fresh off the football program, UT Rio Grande Valley will join the newly formed conference as the 10th member in 2025 (the other nine schools will form the new conference from 2024).

The exact process of moving the entire conference to the FBS level is unclear, Thamel reported — Division 1 has a moratorium on single sports conferences — but ESPN sources say the move works. and expressed optimism that it would be supported by the NCAA.

The newly proposed conference does not yet have a name, and documents refer to it as “ASUN-WAC football,” Tamer writes. Also, there was no discussion of how this meeting would fit into his expanded 12th inning college football playoffs. The 2024 team, which includes the highest-ranked Group of Five champions.

Current NCAA regulations require a two-year transition period for FCS programs to transition to the FBS level.