Delaware moving to FBS' Conference USA in 2025. Move to 'broaden exposure' for UD

The University of Delaware is joining a new sports league, and it will need plenty of money and a map.

Conference USA will admit Delaware as its 11th full-time member beginning with the 2025-26 school year, UD announced Tuesday afternoon.

That means a move to the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the Blue Hens, presently in the Football Championship Subdivision.

Such a move had been anticipated for more than a year as Delaware began raising funds for a proposed $85 million indoor practice facility connected to a newly enclosed north end of Delaware Stadium and began to appear imminent this fall.

A press conference is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Whitney Athletic Center.

“Joining Conference USA will present opportunities to not only broaden exposure of our athletics programs,” UD President Dennis Assanis said in the announcement, “but also enhance awareness and visibility of our excellent academic offerings, our ground-breaking research initiatives and our enduring impact on our community and the world.”

The move will cost UD roughly $6 million due to CAA exit, Conference USA entrance and NCAA reclassification fees, the latter of which is now $5 million. Delaware is raising funds from outside sources to cover those costs, it said.

The league presently has nine members in eight states: Sam Houston State and UTEP in Texas; New Mexico State; Louisiana Tech; Jacksonville State in Alabama; Florida International; Middle Tennessee; Western Kentucky and Liberty in Virginia.

Georgia’s Kennesaw State next year makes the same move up from the Football Championship Subdivision to become its 10th member that Delaware will then make in 2025.

Liberty, located in Lynchburg, is about a five-hour drive from Newark. The next nearest are Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, each about an 11-hour haul.

Athletic director Chrissi Rawak termed joining Conference USA “a very proud moment for our entire university.”

“With this step forward,” she added, “we will continue to offer an incredible student-athlete experience and elevate the visibility of all that is remarkable about UD.”

According to its statement, UD felt moving to Conference USA provided a more competitive opportunity for its teams and greater exposure for the university. That was determined after employing outside firms for feasibility and what it termed “likelihood of success” studies, plus discussions with NCAA peers.

In addition to football, Delaware will move to Conference USA in baseball, softball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s golf, women’s soccer, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s cross-country, women's indoor and outdoor track & field and volleyball. It hasn’t been determined where its other seven teams will land.

Due to Title IX gender-equity rules and football now needing 22 more scholarships, Delaware will also add a women’s sport in the next few years. UD didn’t announce which sport, but ice hockey is expected to be a frontrunner.

All teams remain Coastal Athletic Association members through 2024-2025. All except football may compete for league titles and NCAA Tournament berths.

The football team will be eligible for the Conference USA regular-season title in 2025 and the league championship game and a bowl in 2026. A 2024 UD football schedule is yet to be announced. The CAA said Tuesday that Delaware will play conference games in 2024 while being ineligible for the league title and those games will not count in the standings.

Delaware, with a $48 million budget, already spends more money on athletics than every other C-USA school except Liberty, according to USA Today’s annual NCAA finances report, the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database and U.S. Department of Education Equity in Athletics Data Analysis.

C-USA is also in the first year of a five-year media rights deal with CBS and ESPN that includes nationally televised mid-week football games. It earns each C-USA school about $750,000 annually, according to reports.

“Adding the University of Delaware is a tremendous opportunity for Conference USA as we strategically position ourselves for continued success,” conference commissioner Judy MacLeod said in the announcement. “We are excited to add the state’s flagship university with its rich history in athletics and academics.”

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware Blue Hens moving to FBS' Conference USA in 2025