Division I Member Schools

With more than 360 member schools, Division I provides opportunities for over 200,000 student-athletes to compete in NCAA sports each year. 

After the NCAA created its three divisions in 1973, Division I was subdivided for football purposes in 1978 into Division I-A (the principal football schools), Division I-AA (remainder of football-playing schools) and Division I (schools not sponsoring football). In 2006, Division I-A and I-AA were renamed Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision, respectively.

Currently, 134 FBS programs can gain eligibility for postseason bowls including the College Football Playoff, which is managed by the 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dame outside the NCAA governance structure. .  

A total of 128 FCS members conduct their postseason within a bracketed, NCAA-run tournament. The remaining 99 Basketball Subdivision (BBS) schools do not sponsor football.

The subdivisions apply only to football; all other sports are Division I and compete in NCAA-run championships.

To be a Division I member, FBS schools must sponsor a minimum of 16 sports, which must include at least a minimum of six sports involving all-male teams or mixed teams of males and females, and a minimum of eight varsity intercollegiate sports (including a maximum of two emerging sports) involving all-female teams. FCS and BBS schools must sponsor a minimum of 14 sports, either by sponsoring seven varsity intercollegiate sports, including at least two team sports involving all-male teams or mixed teams of males and females, and seven varsity intercollegiate sports (including a maximum of two emerging sports), including at least two team sports involving all-female teams; or by sponsoring six varsity intercollegiate sports, including at least two team sports involving all-male teams or mixed teams of males and females, and eight varsity intercollegiate sports (including a maximum of two emerging sports), including at least two team sports involving all-female teams. In FBS and FCS, one of the sponsored varsity intercollegiate sports must be football.

Learn more about becoming a member of Division I.