The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The 14 member institutions of the Sun Belt are distributed across the Southern United States.
Central Florida left the league following the 1991–92 academic year due to a dispute over television rights, among other reasons.[2][3] Lamar, Texas–Pan American, and Jacksonville departed at the end of the 1997–98 academic year. Florida International University joined the Sun Belt in 1998, and the University of Denver was added in 1999. Louisiana Tech departed after the 2000–01 academic year.
The Sun Belt Conference headquarters are currently housed at the Caesars Superdome.
In 2004, Troy University became a football-only member before joining for all sports in the 2005–06 academic year. In 2005, Florida Atlantic became a football-only member before joining for all sports in the 2006–07 academic year. In 2006, Louisiana–Monroe joined the conference as an all-sports full member when the Warhawks left their former home, the Southland Conference.
Longtime Sun Belt member Western Kentucky joined the Sun Belt's football conference in 2009 after its board of regents voted to upgrade the school's football program to Division IFBS.[4]
On November 11, 2009, New Orleans announced it was investigating a move from Division I to the NCAA'sDivision III. In order to maintain athletic scholarships, UNO instead opted for entry into Division II. On April 20, 2011, UNO officially received transition approval from the NCAA Division II Membership Committee.[5] (UNO later decided to remain in Division I, and joined the Southland Conference, which has four other members in Louisiana, in 2013.)
The former Sun Belt Conference logo used until its rebranding in 2013
On April 9, 2012, Georgia State, one of the founding members of the Sun Belt Conference, announced that it would be returning to the conference as a full member in 2013. As part of the move, the football program began a transition from FCS to FBS in the 2012 season; it played a full Sun Belt schedule as a "transitional" FBS member in 2013, and became a full FBS member, with bowl eligibility, in 2014.[6] On May 2, 2012, Texas State University announced it would leave the WAC after just one year and join the Sun Belt in July 2013 to begin play for the 2013–14 academic year. At the press conference to announce Texas State's addition, Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson also hinted that more changes could be on the way for the conference.[7] On May 25, 2012, the conference announced that the University of Texas at Arlington (a non-football member) had accepted an invitation to join the conference and would become a full member by 2013.[8]
On May 4, 2012, FIU and North Texas announced that they would be leaving the Sun Belt for Conference USA on July 1, 2013, as part of a Conference USA expansion effort involving four other schools.[9] On November 29, 2012, Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee State announced that they would also leave the Sun Belt for Conference USA.[10] The move for Florida Atlantic and MTSU was originally scheduled to take place in 2014; however, the two schools announced on January 28, 2013, that they would leave for Conference USA a year early, departing on July 1, 2013, with FIU and North Texas. Western Kentucky also accepted an invitation to join Conference USA on April 1, 2013, and departed from the Sun Belt on July 1, 2014.[11]
The former Sun Belt Conference logo used from 2013 to 2020
These moves depleted the Sun Belt and made the need to expand their membership more urgent than ever, as the Sun Belt was left with ten full members and only eight members that sponsor football (the minimum number required for a conference to sponsor football at the FBS level) for the 2013 season. Appalachian State University accepted an invitation on March 27, 2013, to join the Sun Belt effective July 1, 2014.[12]Georgia Southern University accepted a similar Sun Belt invitation at the same time as Appalachian State.[13] Appalachian State and Georgia Southern both joined for all sports from the Southern Conference on July 1, 2014. Both schools had been very successful within the Football Championship Subdivision, combining to win nine national championships since 1985. They upgraded to the Football Bowl Subdivision, and were eligible for Sun Belt conference championships in 2014, but were not postseason-eligible in football until 2015.
The Sun Belt also granted football-only invites to Idaho and New Mexico State on March 28, 2013.[14] Idaho and New Mexico State were both former Sun Belt members (Idaho for football only, New Mexico State for all sports) from 2001 to 2005. The large number of defections from the WAC forced that conference to drop football after the 2012 season. Idaho and New Mexico State were the only remaining WAC members that sponsored football, and competed as FBS independents for the 2013 season before competing in the Sun Belt in 2014. Idaho is located by far the farthest away from the other Sun Belt conference members, but it was rejected by the Mountain West Conference,[15] leaving it with no other choice.[16][17]
On September 1, 2015, Coastal Carolina University accepted an invitation to join the Sun Belt Conference. The university joined in all sports except for football starting July 1, 2016, with football joining in 2017.[18]
The conference announced on March 1, 2016, that the affiliation agreement with Idaho and New Mexico State would not be extended past the 2017 season.[19]
Sun Belt Member locations – Departing Member, – Full member, – current associate member, – future full member
Following the July 30, 2021 announcement of the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Oklahoma both moving from the Big 12 Conference to the Southeastern Conference,[21] the world of college athletics faced the prospect of realignment once again. The Big 12 responded on September 10 by adding three schools from the American Athletic Conference (The American) and BYU, an FBS independent and otherwise a member of the non-football West Coast Conference, effective in 2023.[22] The American in turn responded on October 21 by adding six schools from Conference USA (C-USA), with 2023 as the most likely entry date.[23][24] Following this move, rumors began to circulate that the Sun Belt was planning to take on another three members (the University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM), Marshall University, and former Sun Belt member Old Dominion University) from C-USA, likely in response to that conference's remaining teams worried of the conference folding.[25] These moves would help to establish the market areas for the Sun Belt and The American, which cover similar geographic footprints. The American would now have most of its members in metropolitan areas, while the Sun Belt would instead have its members in smaller college towns.
On October 22, The Action Network reported that Southern Miss had been accepted as a new Sun Belt member, with 2023 as the likely entry date. The report also stated that the Sun Belt would add three more members—the aforementioned Marshall and Old Dominion, plus James Madison University, a member of the FCSColonial Athletic Association (CAA).[26] Southern Miss[27] and Old Dominion[28] were respectively announced as incoming members on October 26 and 27. At the time, both were to join no later than 2023. On October 29, the day after Marshall named its next president,[29] both the Sun Belt and Marshall issued tweets announcing that school's entry; a formal announcement followed the next day[30] and an introductory press conference was held on November 1.[31] As for James Madison, its board met on October 29 to discuss a potential Sun Belt invitation, but its timeline was also affected by a Virginia state law that requires legislative approval for a four-year public school to move upward in athletic classification, including FCS to FBS. The legislative committee that must review the move did not meet until November 5, after the state's gubernatorial election.[32] The committee unanimously approved JMU's move from FCS to FBS, and the Sun Belt move was officially announced on November 6.[33][34] The original Action Network report also stated that the two full non-football SBC members, Little Rock and UT Arlington, would no longer be members of the conference after the 2022–23 school year.[26]
Initial plans were for James Madison to compete as a de facto Sun Belt affiliate in sports other than football and men's soccer during the 2022–23 season.[35] However, those plans would eventually change, with JMU and the SBC jointly announcing on February 2, 2022, that JMU would become a full SBC member, including football, in 2022–23.[36]
By the end of January 2022, both non-football members would announce their departures for other conferences, effective that July. On December 8, 2021, the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees voted to accept an invitation for Little Rock to join the Ohio Valley Conference,[37] and UT Arlington, which had been a Western Athletic Conference member in the 2012–13 school year, announced its return to that conference on January 21, 2022.[38]
Shortly thereafter, Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss announced that they planned to leave C-USA for the Sun Belt in July 2022. They claimed to have notified C-USA of their plans in December 2021, apparently seeking to negotiate a 2022 exit. C-USA had indicated in late January 2022 that it expected the three schools to remain in that league through the 2022–23 school year.[39] Marshall escalated the situation by filing suit against C-USA in its local court in an attempt to force a 2022 move.[40] On March 29, Conference USA agreed to let Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss move to the Sun Belt starting July 1, 2022.[41]
On April 6, with the entrance of three new men's soccer-sponsoring schools in James Madison, Marshall, and Old Dominion, the Sun Belt announced that men's soccer would be reinstated as a sponsored sport. The three aforementioned programs joined current Sun Belt members Coastal Carolina (previously affiliates with Conference USA) as well as Georgia State and Georgia Southern (previously affiliates with the Mid-American Conference). Additionally, it was announced that Kentucky, South Carolina, and West Virginia would join as men's soccer affiliate members beginning in fall 2022, giving the conference an inaugural soccer membership of 9.[42] Kentucky and South Carolina were previously also affiliated with C-USA, while West Virginia was affiliated with the MAC. The SBC later announced it would add UCF as a men's soccer affiliate when that school joined the Big 12 Conference in 2023.[43] In men's soccer, the conference is not a "mid-major" conference, but a "power" conference due to the quasi-alliance of the Big 12 and SEC schools, plus the presence of Marshall, which has played in two national championship games in the 2020s, winning one.
On June 6, the SBC presidents & chancellors approved adding two new women's sports, beach volleyball and swimming & diving, no later than the 2023–24 school year. They also announced that the conference would explore adding another women's sport, field hockey, at an undetermined future date.[44]
On January 18, 2023, the SBC officially announced that its beach volleyball league would launch that spring, with the four full members sponsoring the sport joined by Charleston, Mercer, UNC Wilmington, and Stephen F. Austin as affiliate members.[45]
On August 17, 2023, the SBC officially announced the return of women's swimming and diving as a sponsored sport.[46] However, the SBC would only sponsor the sport for two seasons before dropping it after the 2024–25 season.[47]
On June 30, 2025, Texas State accepted an offer to join the Pac-12 Conference by July 1, 2026, following the unanimous approval of the Texas State University System board of regents.[48] On July 14, the SBC voted to replace Texas State with another regional member, Louisiana Tech of Conference USA, by as early as 2026.[49] This addition would keep the installment of conference divisions intact, with Louisiana Tech replacing Texas State in the West Division.
↑Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
↑Louisiana Tech left after the 2000–01 school year (when the conference didn't sponsor football at that time) and will rejoin no later than July 1, 2027.
↑Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
↑The main UCF campus has an Orlando mailing address but is in unincorporated Orange County.
123The three beach volleyball associates (Charleston, Mercer and North Carolina–Wilmington [UNCW]) are listed as having joined in 2022, even though they were not announced as incoming affiliates until January 2023. The SBC's first beach volleyball season of 2023, which featured the four schools, was part of the 2022–23 school year.
↑Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
↑Represents the calendar year when spring sports competition ends.
↑The main UCF campus has an Orlando mailing address but is in unincorporated Orange County.
↑Central Florida (UCF) had joined the following subsequent conferences: the Trans Atlantic Athletic Conference (TAAC; now the Atlantic Sun Conference [ASUN]) from 1992–93 to 2004–05; Conference USA (CUSA) from 2005–06 to 2012–13; and the American Athletic Conference (AAC or The American) from 2013–14 to 2022–23.
↑Florida Atlantic (FAU) competed as an affiliate member for football during the 2005 fall season (2005–06 school year).
↑The main FIU campus has a Miami mailing address but is in unincorporated Miami-Dade County.
↑New Mexico State was a full member from 2000–01 to 2004–05; and later competed as an affiliate member for football from the 2014 to 2017 fall seasons (2014–15 to 2017–18 school years).
↑New Orleans was transitioning from NCAA Division I to NCAA Division II and joined the Gulf South Conference (GSC) for some sports (excluding basketball) during the 2011–12 school year, only for the school to later announce its intentions to stay at NCAA Division I.[77][78]
↑North Carolina–Charlotte had joined the following subsequent conferences: the Metro Conference from 1991–92 to 1994–95; Conference USA (CUSA) from 1995–96 to 2004–05, and again from 2013–14 to 2022–23; and the Atlantic 10 Conference (A10) from 2005–06 to 2012–13.
↑South Florida (USF) had joined the following subsequent conferences: the Metro Conference from 1991–92 to 1994–95; Conference USA (CUSA) from 1995–96 to 2004–05; and the original Big East Conference from 2005–06 to 2012–13.
12Texas–Pan American (UTPA) was merged into the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) in 2015; the merged school inherited UTPA's athletic program, with the new nickname of Vaqueros, and membership in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
↑Texas–Pan American (UTPA; now Texas–Rio Grande Valley [UTRGV] since 2015) had joined the following subsequent conferences: as an NCAA D-I Independent from 1998–99 to 2008–09; the Great West Conference from 2009–10 to 2012–13; and the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) from 2013–14 to 2023–24.
↑Texas–Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) joined the Southland as the UTRGV Vaqueros since 2024.
↑Due to COVID-19 concerns, Howard chose not to play soccer in the 2020–21 school year, although the Sun Belt chose to hold a men's soccer season, with the four remaining men's soccer members playing a fall conference schedule and spring non-conference games to accommodate the NCAA's move of the Division I tournament from fall 2020 to spring 2021.
↑North Texas dropped men's soccer after the 1993 fall season (1993–94 school year).
↑Vanderbilt dropped men's soccer after the 2005 fall season (2005–06 school year).
In addition to the five Sun Belt commissioners, three future league leaders served on the Sun Belt staff prior to becoming conference commissioners, including Doug Elgin (Missouri Valley), John Iamarino (Northeast, Southern), and Tom Burnett (Southland).
On October 12, 2011, ESPN reported that Wright Waters would retire, effective July 1, 2012.[79] On February 15, 2012, Karl Benson was hired as the new commissioner of the Sun Belt, after having been the commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference for 17 years. Waters would later move his departure date to March 15, allowing Benson to take over at that time.[6]
Keith Gill was named the commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference on March 18, 2019. He is the first African American to lead any FBS conference.[80][81]
Sports
As of the current 2025–26 school year, the Sun Belt Conference sponsors championship competition in nine men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports.[82] The most recent change to sports sponsorship was the reinstatement of women's swimming and diving in 2023–24.
When Marshall was formally introduced as an incoming Sun Belt member, SBC commissioner Keith Gill also announced that the conference would reinstate men's soccer once all new members joined. Men's soccer resumed play in 2022–23 with six full members joined by three associates; a fourth associate joined in 2023–24. Beach volleyball started play with eight members, evenly divided between full members and associates.
Southern Miss vs. LSU baseball in 2008Georgia Southern vs. Georgia State men's basketball in 2020Louisiana–Monroe vs. Army football in 2023
"RS" is regular season, "T" is tournament. Championships from the previous academic year are flagged with the calendar year in which the most recent season or tournament ended.
The Sun Belt also has an all-sports competition called the Vic Bubas Cup, which is awarded to the school with the best performance across every sport the Sun Belt Conference sponsors.[83] South Alabama has won the most Bubas Cups, with 16.
NCAA champions
The only school to have won a national title while an SBC member is Old Dominion, which won one title in women's basketball and five in the non-SBC sport of field hockey during its first conference tenure from 1982 to 1991. Six other current members have won NCAA Division I team championships prior to joining the conference. Coastal Carolina won its only D-I national title on the day before it officially joined the SBC, while representing the Big South Conference.
Sun Belt Member locations – Football member (East) – Football member (West)
The Sun Belt first began sponsoring football in 2001. It originally consisted of seven football playing schools, three of which are still members of the conference. Up until 2009, the conference only had a contract with one bowl, the New Orleans Bowl. Following the Sun Belt's improved football success and geographical membership changes, other bowls began to sign contracts with the Sun Belt Conference. As of October2021[update], the conference had seven bowl game tie-ins (Cure, Boca Raton, LendingTree, New Orleans, Myrtle Beach, Frisco, and Camellia)
Throughout the years, the conference has experienced flux in membership changes, similar to many other FBS conferences. The conference announced that beginning in 2018, the conference (10 teams after the departure of Idaho and New Mexico State)[84] would be divided into two divisions for football: East: Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, and Troy; West: Arkansas State, Louisiana, Louisiana–Monroe, South Alabama, and Texas State. The divisional alignments changed again with the 2022 expansion, with the new dividing line being the Alabama–Georgia border. The winner of each division will meet in the Sun Belt Championship game.[85]
Since the 2022–23 season, the Sun Belt Conference men's and women's basketball tournaments, held in early March, have involved all 14 of the conference's teams, and have been bracketed in a semi-stepladder format. The bottom four seeds play in the first round; seed 5 through 10 receive byes to the second round, and the top 4 seeds to the quarterfinals. All rounds are held in Pensacola, Florida at Pensacola Bay Center since 2022.[91] Winners of the tournaments earn automatic bids to their respective NCAA Division I basketball tournament.
The Sun Belt Conference has sponsored an annual baseball tournament to determine the conference winner since 1978. South Alabama has won the most championships, at 13.
Teams in bold represent current conference members.
↑Louisiana's women's basketball team primarily plays at the Cajundome but occasionally plays at Earl K. Long Gymnasium on the main campus.
Athletic department revenue by school
Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights and licensing, student fees, school funds and all other sources including TV income, camp income, concessions, and novelties.
Total expenses includes coach and staff salaries, scholarships, buildings and grounds, maintenance, utilities and rental fees, recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues, and insurance.
The following table shows institutional reporting to the United States Department of Education as shown on the DOE Equity in Athletics website for the 2023–24 academic year.[97]
↑Mettler, Shane (November 5, 2021). "Dukes Get Approval For Move To FBS, Join Sun Belt". Daily News-Record. Retrieved November 20, 2021. Sources said JMU's other sports would begin competition in the Sun Belt during the 2022-23 school year and it is expected the Dukes will be eligible for conference championships in their debut seasons.
↑"2014-15 Panther Men's Basketball"(PDF). Georgia State University Athletics. p.1. Archived from the original(PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 11, 2015. Arena: GSU Sports Arena (3,854)
↑"Notes to the Financial Statements § Note 10 - Endowments". Financial Report for the Years Ended June 30, 2019 and 2018. University of Louisiana Monroe Foundation. December 17, 2019. p.26.
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