Summit League

Summit League
FormerlyAssociation of Mid-Continent Universities (1982–1989)
Mid-Continent Conference (1989–2007)
AssociationNCAA
FoundedJune 18, 1982;
42 years ago (1982-06-18)[1]
CommissionerJosh Fenton[2] (since 2021)
Sports fielded
  • 19
    • men's: 9
    • women's: 10
DivisionDivision I
Subdivisionnon-football
No. of teams9 full (7 associates)
HeadquartersSioux Falls, South Dakota
Region
Official websitethesummitleague.org
Locations
Location of teams in

The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States, from Minnesota in the east, to the Dakotas, Nebraska and Colorado to the West, and Missouri and Oklahoma to the South. Founded as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities in 1982,[1] it rebranded as the Mid-Continent Conference in 1989,[3] then again as the Summit League on June 1, 2007.[4] The league headquarters are in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The membership currently consists of nine full members plus seven associate members. The most recent change in the core conference membership is the 2021 arrival of the University of St. Thomas, which began an unprecedented transition from NCAA Division III to Division I.[5] A year earlier, the University of Missouri–Kansas City returned as a full member after a seven-year absence with the new athletic identity of the Kansas City Roos,[6] while Purdue University Fort Wayne left for the Horizon League.[7] A total of 32 schools have been full members; the last charter member remaining in the league, Western Illinois University, left for the Ohio Valley Conference on July 1, 2023 in most sports, with men's soccer playing one more season before leaving at the conclusion of the fall 2023 season.[8]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference AMCUfounding was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Home". thesummitleague.org.
  3. ^ Wigness, Mitch (August 14, 2018). "Moving to the Summit Series: Tennis". fightinghawks.com. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
  4. ^ Sun, Chhun (May 15, 2007). "Mid-Continent Conference changing name to the Summit League". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
  5. ^ Ryan, Megan. "St. Thomas gets approval from NCAA to go Division I". Star Tribune. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  6. ^ "UMKC Athletics Completes New Brand Identity" (Press release). Kansas City Athletics. July 1, 2019. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
  7. ^ "Purdue University Fort Wayne to Join Horizon League" (Press release). Horizon League. August 5, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  8. ^ "Western Illinois to depart Summit League beginning next season". thesummitleague.org. May 12, 2023. Retrieved September 8, 2023.