NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic powers, with large budgets, more elaborate facilities and more athletic scholarships than Division II and Division III as well as many smaller schools committed to the highest level of intercollegiate competition.
This level was previously called the University Division of the NCAA, in contrast to the lower-level College Division; these terms were replaced with numeric divisions in 1973. The University Division was renamed Division I, while the College Division was split in two; the College Division members that offered scholarships or wanted to compete against those who did became Division II, while those who did not want to offer scholarships became Division III.
For college football only, D-I schools are further divided into the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and those institutions that do not have any football program. FBS teams have more players receiving athletic scholarships than FCS teams and until 2024, had minimum game-attendance requirements. The FBS is named for its series of postseason bowl games, with various polls ranking teams after the conclusion of these games, while the FCS national champion is determined by a multi-team bracket tournament.
For the 2020–21 school year, Division I contained 357 of the NCAA's 1,066 member institutions, with 130 in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), 127 in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and 100 non-football schools, with six additional schools in the transition from Division II to Division I. There was a moratorium on any additional movement up to D-I until 2012, after which any school that wants to move to D-I must be accepted for membership by a conference and show the NCAA it has the financial ability to support a D-I program.
Finances Division I athletic programs generated $8.7 billion in revenue in the 2009–10 academic year 10 years ago. Men's teams provided 55%, women's teams 15%, and 30% was not categorized by sex or sport. Football and men's basketball are usually a university's only profitable sports, and are called "revenue sports". From 2008 to 2012, 205 varsity teams were dropped in NCAA Division I – 72 for women and 133 for men, with men's tennis, gymnastics and wrestling hit particularly hard.Maryland athletics' financial woes reveal a broken college sports revenue model, June 28, 2012,
In the Football Bowl Subdivision (130 schools in 2017), between 50 and 60 percent of football and men's basketball programs generated positive revenues (above program expenses).NCAA Revenues/Expenses Division I Report, 2004–2010, p. 13 However, in the Football Championship Subdivision (124 schools in 2017), only four percent of football and five percent of men's basketball programs generated positive revenues.NCAA Revenues/Expenses Division I Report, 2004–2010, p. 14
In 2012, 2% of athletic budgets were spent on equipment, uniforms and supplies for male athletes at NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision school, with the median spending per-school at $742,000.
In 2014, the NCAA and the student athletes debated whether student athletes should be paid. In April, the NCAA approved students-athletes receiving free unlimited meals and snacks. The NCAA stated "The adoption of the meals legislation finished a conversation that began in the Awards, Benefits, Expenses and Financial Aid Cabinet. Members have worked to find appropriate ways to ensure student-athletes get the nutrition they need without jeopardizing Pell Grants or other federal aid received by the neediest student-athletes. With their vote, members of the council said they believe loosening NCAA rules on what and when food can be provided from athletics departments is the best way to address the issue."
According to the finance section of the NCAA page, "The NCAA receives most of its annual revenue from two sources: television and marketing rights for the Division I Men's Basketball Championship and ticket sales for all championships. That money is distributed in more than a dozen ways—almost all of which directly support NCAA schools, conferences and nearly half a million student-athletes. About 60% of the NCAA's annual revenue—around $600 million—is annually distributed directly to Division I member schools and conferences, while more than $150 million funds Division I championships" (NCAA 2021).
Football conferences Under NCAA regulations, all Division I conferences defined as "multisport conferences" must meet the following criteria: A total of at least seven active Division I members. However, the NCAA's Grace Period rule (Bylaw 20.02.9.2) allows conferences to operate for up to two years with less than the minimum. Separate from the above, at least seven active Division 1 members that sponsor both men's and women's basketball. Sponsorship of at least 12 NCAA Division I sports. Minimum of six men's sports, with the following additional restrictions: Men's basketball is a mandatory sport, and at least seven members must sponsor that sport. Non-football conferences must sponsor at least two men's team sports other than basketball. At least six members must sponsor five men's sports other than basketball, including either football or two other team sports. Minimum of six women's sports, with the following additional restrictions: Women's basketball is a mandatory sport, with at least seven members sponsoring that sport. At least two other women's team sports must be sponsored. At least six members must sponsor five women's sports other than basketball, with at least two of those five being team sports. If a conference officially sponsors an NCAA "emerging sport" for women (as of 2026–27, equestrianism, flag football, rugby union, or triathlon), that sport will be counted if five members (instead of six) sponsor it.
FBS conferences FBS conferences must meet a more stringent set of requirements for NCAA recognition than other conferences: A total of at least eight active FBS members. To be counted toward this total, a school must participate in conference play in at least six men's and eight women's sports, including men's and women's basketball, football, and at least two other women's team sports. Each school may count one men's and one women's sport not sponsored by its primary conference toward the above limits, as long as that sport competes in another Division I conference. The men's and women's sports so counted need not be the same sport.
ConferenceNicknameFoundedMembersSportsHeadquartersTotalNCAATitlesMen'sNCAA TitlesWomen'sNCAA TitlesCo-edNCAA Titles American Conference ‡ American 1979 13 20 Irving, Texas 55 37 18 0 Atlantic Coast Conference † ACC 1953 18 28 Charlotte, North Carolina 150 87 58 5 Big Ten Conference † Big Ten 1896 18 28 Rosemont, Illinois 317 229 72 16 Big 12 Conference † Big 12 1996 16 25 Irving, Texas 166 163 3 0 Conference USA ‡ CUSA 1995 10 19 Dallas, Texas 1 1 0 0 Division I FBS Independents Independents – 2 1 – Mid-American Conference ‡ MAC 1946 12 25 Cleveland, Ohio 4 4 0 0 Mountain West Conference ‡ MW 1999 10 21 Enterprise, Nevada 21 13 5 3 Pac-12 Conference ‡ Pac-12 1915 9 19 San Ramon, California 501 309 174 18 Southeastern Conference † SEC 1932 16 22 Birmingham, Alabama 223 118 104 1 Sun Belt Conference ‡ Sun Belt 1976 14 20 New Orleans, Louisiana 29 16 12 1
† "Power Four" conferences that had guaranteed berths in the New Year's Six, the bowl games associated with the College Football Playoff, before the playoff's 2024 expansion to 12 teams ‡ "Group of Six" conferences
Notes
FCS conferences ConferenceNicknameFoundedFootballmembersSportsHeadquarters Big Sky Conference Big Sky 1963 13 16 Ogden, Utah Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference CAA Football 2007 13 1 Richmond, Virginia Independents 2 1 Ivy League 1954 8 33 Princeton, New Jersey Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference MEAC 1970 6 16 Norfolk, Virginia Missouri Valley Football Conference MVFC 1982 9 1 St. Louis, Missouri NEC NEC 1981 8 24 Somerset, New Jersey Ohio Valley Conference OVC 1948 8 20 Brentwood, Tennessee Patriot League 1986 10 24 Center Valley, Pennsylvania Pioneer Football League PFL 1991 11 1 St. Louis, Missouri Southern Conference SoCon 1921 10 20 Spartanburg, South Carolina Southland Conference SLC 1963 12 17 Frisco, Texas Southwestern Athletic Conference SWAC 1920 12 18 Birmingham, Alabama United Athletic Conference UACThe United 1962 8 16 Jacksonville, Florida
Notes
Sports
Men's team sports No.SportFoundedTeamsNCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report, October 2012, page 192. .Roster limits SeasonMost Championships1 Football 1869 (FBS)1978 (FCS) 266(138 FBS, 128 FCS) 23(10 FBS,13 FCS) Fall Princeton (28)2 Basketball 1939 365 32 Winter UCLA (11)3 Baseball 1947 309 30 Spring USC (12)4 Soccer 1959 204 23 Fall Saint Louis (10)5 Ice hockey 1948 65 6 Winter Denver (10)6 Lacrosse 1971 77 10 Spring Syracuse (10)7 Volleyball 1970 30 9 Spring UCLA (19)8 Water polo 1969 29 4 Fall California (14)
Notes The NCAA officially classifies the men's championships in volleyball and water polo as "National Collegiate" championships, that being the designation for championships that are open to members of more than one NCAA division. The ice hockey championship, however, is styled as a "Division I" championship because of the previous existence of a separate Division II championship in that sport. Football: D-I football programs are divided into FBS and FCS. After the settlement of the House v. NCAA legal case took full effect in 2025–26, scholarship limits in all D-I sports were replaced by roster limits, which are now identical in FBS and FCS. The House settlement, by its terms, was binding on the original conference defendants in the case—the "Power Four" conferences and the Pac-12 Conference, which had "power" status before its 2024 collapse. Other D-I schools and conferences were allowed to opt into the House framework, and most did so. The most notable opt-outs were the Ivy League, which maintains its non-scholarship status, and the three service academies that play FBS football (Air Force, Army, Navy), which are barred by the Department of Defense from directly paying athletes. Soccer: As of the upcoming 2026 NCAA soccer season (part of the 2026–27 academic year), four of the 10 FBS conferences do not sponsor men's soccer: the Big 12, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, and the SEC. Several other D-I conferences also do not sponsor the sport: the Big Sky, MEAC, Southland, SWAC, and United Athletic Conference (the last of which replaced the Western Athletic Conference in July 2026). The Mountain West Conference is the most recent conference to add men's soccer; it will sponsor the sport for the first time in the 2026 season. The United Athletic Conference no longer sponsors men's soccer. Ice hockey: Almost all D-I ice hockey programs are in the Northeast, the Upper Midwest, or the Colorado Front Range. Only one D-I all-sports conference, the Big Ten, sponsors a men's hockey league. All other conferences operate as hockey-specific leagues. Of the 65 teams that competed in D-I hockey in 2025–26, 18 are otherwise classified as either D-II or D-III; a number of schools from D-II play in D-I ice hockey as the NCAA no longer sponsors a championship in D-II and many have traditional/cultural fan bases that support ice hockey, and the D-III schools were "grandfathered" in to D-I through their having sponsored hockey prior to the creation of D-III. Lacrosse: The vast majority of D-I lacrosse programs are from the Northeast, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic. Only four D-I programs are not in the Eastern Time Zone: Air Force and Denver on the Colorado Front Range, Marquette in Milwaukee, and Utah.