The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South CentralUnited States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it participates in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The Southland sponsors 18 sports, 10 for women and eight for men, and is governed by a presidential Board of Directors and an Advisory Council of athletic and academic administrators. Chris Grant became the Southland's seventh commissioner on April 5, 2022.[1] From 1996 to 2002, for football only, the Southland Conference was known as the Southland Football League.[2]
The conference's offices are located in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas. According to a press release from April 11, 2022, the conference was to undergo a rebrand in 2022 that included a new name and logo.[3] The rebranding was unveiled in March 2023, with a new logo but no change to the conference name.[4]
Since its founding, the Southland Conference has been the home for 18 college and university all-sports programs (see membership timeline below). In addition, the conference has also been home to some schools for one sport only. In the case of football, Troy University fielded a team from 1996 to 2000 and Jacksonville State University did so from 1997 to 2002. This has also been the case for some Olympic sports like men's tennis, in which the University of Texas–Pan American (UTPA; since merged into the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, or UTRGV) and the University of New Orleans (UNO) fielded teams as affiliate members before 2013, when UTPA joined the WAC and UNO became a full Southland member.
The Southland underwent major turmoil in 2021, losing five members. On January 14, the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) announced that four Southland members—Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston, and Stephen F. Austin—would join that conference in July 2022.[7] Within a week, the Southland expelled those four schools, leading the WAC to move their entry up to July 2021.[8][9] A fifth member, Central Arkansas, announced on January 29 that it would join the ASUN Conference effective that July.[10] At the time, the ASUN was a non-football conference, but soon entered into a football partnership with the WAC that gave Central Arkansas and two other incoming ASUN members a football home until an ASUN football league was established.[11]
The Southland began the process of rebuilding its core membership in September 2021, announcing that East Texas A&M University, then named Texas A&M University–Commerce, would start a transition from NCAA Division II and join the conference in July 2022.[12] The SLC also announced a football scheduling alliance with the Ohio Valley Conference, another FCS league that had experienced major membership losses during the early-2020s realignment cycle, for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.[13] However, shortly after A&M–Commerce was announced as a future member, the SLC was set to experience further attrition when the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) announced that it would leave for the WAC after the 2021–22 school year.[14] Ultimately, however, this did not come to pass, as UIW announced it would be staying in the SLC only 7 months after announcing its departure.[15] McNeese was also courted by the WAC, and also flirted with a move to Conference USA, but eventually stayed in the SLC. According to the American Press, the daily newspaper of McNeese's home of Lake Charles, Louisiana, McNeese became "the de facto lead school in the league". It was set to host the SLC's football media day through at least the 2026 season, as well as the conference tournaments in men's and women's basketball, baseball, and softball through 2026.[16]
More recently, Lamar announced it would return to the SLC effective in 2023–24.[17] In addition, on April 11, 2022 the conference announced in a press release that it had partnered with Troika Media Group to institute a rebrand to be implemented before the end of the calendar year. The release stated that the rebrand would include, among other things, a new name for the conference.[18] On July 11, 2022, Lamar and the Southland Conference announced Lamar's accelerated return to the SLC effective immediately.[19] The following day saw the SLC lose two of its women's golf associates when the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and Northeast Conference (NEC) announced a partnership for baseball and men's and women's golf that saw all MEAC schools that sponsored those sports become NEC associates. Accordingly, Delaware State and Maryland Eastern Shore, which had joined SLC women's golf just a year earlier, moved that sport to the NEC.[20]
On March 25, 2024, the Southland expanded again with the announcement that UTRGV would join the conference effective July 1, 2024, joining Lamar from the WAC.[21] Two months later, multiple media reports indicated that Stephen F. Austin would return to the SLC in July 2024;[22][23] this move was officially announced on May 29.[24]
^Formerly known as Texas A&M University–Commerce prior to November 2024.
^ abThis refers to the endowment under direct institutional control, and does not include any funds the school receives from the state's Permanent University Fund as part of the Texas A&M University System.
^Lamar departed in 1987, rejoined in 1999, left again in 2021, returned in 2022.
^Stephen F. Austin was previously a member of the Southland from 1987 until 2021.
^The referenced report was issued before SFA joined the University of Texas System. The legislation that added SFA to the UT System also gave it rights to receive funding from the state's Permanent University Fund.
^UTRGV has multiple campuses within its service area, but its academic and athletic administrations are at the Edinburg campus it inherited from its athletic predecessor of the University of Texas–Pan American (UTPA).
^UTRGV was formally founded in 2013, but did not start instruction until 2015.
^While UTRGV formally joined the Southland in 2024, the athletic program traces its history through UTPA, which was a Southland affiliate in men's tennis from 2000 until 2013. The UTRGV athletic program inherited UTPA's memberships in Division I and the Western Athletic Conference.
^This refers to the endowment under direct UTRGV control, and does not include any funds it receives from the Permanent University Fund as a member of the UT System.
Associate members
The Southland added four associate members in golf effective with the 2021–22 school year. One school joined in men's golf only, two in women's golf only, and one in both.[39][40] A fifth school joined at the same time for both men's and women's tennis,[41] and two more schools joined in July 2022, one for men's and women's golf and tennis and the other for beach volleyball.[42][43] However, as noted previously, two of these schools left a year later when their full-time home of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference entered into a women's golf partnership with the Northeast Conference. The Southland Conference announced UIC joining the conference as an affiliate in men's tennis for the 2022–23 season on July 14.[44]San Jose State was added as a multi-year beach volleyball affiliate beginning with the 2023 season (2022–23 school year).[45] UIC would only spend one season in SLC men's tennis, moving that sport to the Mid-American Conference in July 2023.[46]
^ abAbilene Christian and Central Arkansas play football in the United Athletic Conference, a football-only partnership between the ASUN and WAC.
^Arkansas State changed its nickname to Red Wolves after leaving the Southland Conference.
^Louisiana–Monroe changed its nickname to Warhawks after leaving the Southland Conference.
^Southwestern Louisiana changed its institutional name to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1999, after leaving the Southland Conference. Still later, the school changed its athletic branding to "Louisiana", with no city identifier.
^Texas State dropped its city of San Marcos from its institutional name in 2013, a year after leaving the Southland Conference.
^Nearly a year before the merger, the University of Texas System announced that UTRGV would directly inherit the UTPA athletic program.[49] The new nickname of Vaqueros was announced in November 2014.[50] The UTRGV athletic program thus claims all of UTPA's athletic history and records.
^The UTRGV athletic program continues to be based at the former UTPA main campus in Edinburg.
Full membersFull members (non-football)Associate members (football only)Affiliate member (other sport)Other ConferenceOther Conference
1. - Southwestern Louisiana became the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (Louisiana–Lafayette, now athletically branded as simply Louisiana) in 1999.
2. - Northeast Louisiana became the University of Louisiana at Monroe (Louisiana–Monroe) in 1999.
3. - UTPA merged with the University of Texas at Brownsville to become the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) in 2015.
Sports
The Southland Conference sponsors championship competition in eight men's and 10 women's NCAA sanctioned sports.[51] The most recently added sport is beach volleyball, with SLC competition starting in 2019–20.[52]
Among notable NBA stars attending Southland Conference schools include Karl Malone (Louisiana Tech), Joe Dumars (McNeese), Jeff Foster (Southwest Texas State, now known as Texas State), and Andrew Toney (Southwestern Louisiana, now known as Louisiana).
Women's basketball
Former member Louisiana–Monroe (then Northeast Louisiana) advanced to the 1985 NCAA Women's Final Four.
Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights/licensing, student fees, school funds and all other sources including TV income, camp income, food and novelties. Total expenses includes coaching/staff, scholarships, buildings/ground, maintenance, utilities and rental fees and all other costs including recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues and insurance costs.
Note 1 - Data from U.S. Department of Education Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool Database. Ranking based on revenue position in selection of records using NCAA Division I-FBS, NCAA Division I-FCS, and NCAA Division I without football criteria. (354 records were retrieved.) OPE Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool used in order to provide ranking for private institutions in the conference.
Note 2 - Current non-football programs. Note: UTRGV joined the SLC as a non-football member for the 2024-25 school year.
Note 3 - Joined SLC effective July 1, 2024.
Note 3 - Reporting period is from midyear 2022 to midyear 2023.
^Capacity for UTRGV's first season of varsity football in 2025.
^UTRGV also schedules home basketball games at Bert Ogden Arena (capacity 7,700).[67]
Media
Southland Conference Television Network
The Conference began its own syndicated broadcast entity in 2008, the Southland Conference Television Network. It aired in over 25 markets in the league's four-state region, plus on national networks such as Fox College Sports, ESPN GamePlan, and ESPN3. In 2008-09, the network featured 35 broadcasts, and over 30 in each of the next four seasons.
For 2013 and 2014, the syndicated network was restricted to only regular season football games. The remainder of the schedule was available on ESPN3 or regional sports networks, including regular season and tournament basketball as well as championships in soccer, volleyball, softball and baseball. ESPN3 also carried an exclusive package of football games beyond the syndicated network's schedule.
SLCTV dissolved on July 1, 2015. Beginning with the 2015–16 school year, the Southland Conference entered into an agreement with the American Sports Network to syndicate and televise selected games,[70] while also continuing its association with ESPN3.[71] A separate deal allowed Louisiana-based Cox Sports Television to air select games.[72]
After ASN folded following the 2016–17 academic year, the Southland announced a television agreement with Eleven Sports.[73] During 2017-18, conference-controlled games aired on ESPN3, Eleven Sports, Fox Sports Southwest and Cox Sports Television. For 2018-19, ESPN productions began to be split between ESPN3 and ESPN+ platforms. On October 8, 2020, the Southland Conference announced a multi-year extension through the 2024–25 academic year as well as an expansion of its media rights agreement with ESPN.[74]
^"2014 HBU Baseball Media Guide". December 23, 2014. Houston Christian University Athletics. pp. 1, 68. Opened during the 1993 season, the 500-seat ballpark boasts one of the better playing surfaces in the state.
