List of Defunct College Football Conferences - Conferences Undergoing Name Changes

Conferences Undergoing Name Changes

Conferences which today exist under the same charter but different names:

• College Athletic Conference (1962–1991) – Adopted its current name of Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference in 1991, presumably to reflect its traditional geographic focus in the South.
• Dixie Conference (1963–2003) – Now known as the USA South Athletic Conference.
• Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference (1985–1992), Gateway Football Conference (1992–2008) – Before 1985, the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference was a women's athletic conference whose membership featured several schools now in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). When the MVC stopped sponsoring its hybrid Division I-A (now FBS) and Division I-AA (now FCS) football league in 1985, the Gateway Conference took on football as its only men's sport. The initial football membership included the two I-AA football programs then in the MVC, plus the four final members of the AMCU football league (see "Existing conferences that dropped football" below). When the women's portion of the Gateway Conference merged with the MVC in 1992, the football conference maintained the Gateway charter, with a name change to Gateway Football Conference. In 2008, the Gateway Conference, by now featuring five current MVC members, changed its name to the Missouri Valley Football Conference to better align itself with the MVC. The two conferences, however, remain legally separate, although they operate out of the same offices in St. Louis.
• Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference (1987–1999) – Changed name to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference after it began to admit schools outside Indiana. Still exists as of 2012.
• Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1912–1992) – Changed name to the current Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association in 1992, three years after it admitted its first schools outside Missouri.
• Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (1969–1992), Nebraska-Iowa Athletic Conference (1992–2000) – Names changed as a result of geographic expansion. Known as the Great Plains Athletic Conference since 2000.
• North State Conference – Also known as the North Carolina State Intercollegiate Conference from 1931 to 1957. Changed its name to the Carolinas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1961 and the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference in 1995 before adopting its current identity as Conference Carolinas in 2007. No longer sponsors football.
• Before its most recent expansion, the organization now known as the Pacific-12 Conference officially used three different names and unofficially used two others since the establishment of its current charter in 1959:
  • Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) — Official name from 1959 through June 1968.
  • Big Five — Unofficial name used from 1959 to June 1962, when the conference consisted of charter members California, Stanford, UCLA, USC, and Washington.
  • Big Six — Unofficially adopted when Washington State joined in July 1962, and used through June 1964.
  • Pacific-8 Conference — Unofficially adopted when Oregon and Oregon State joined in July 1964; officially adopted in July 1968.
  • Pacific-10 Conference — Adopted in July 1978 with the arrival of Arizona and Arizona State, and used until Colorado and Utah joined in July 2011.
• The Big Ten Conference is actually that league's second official name. The conference has also unofficially used two other names.
  • Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives — Official name from formation in 1896 until the "Big Ten" name was officially adopted in 1987.
  • Western Conference — Unofficial name used in the conference's early years.
  • Big Nine — Unofficial name first used in 1899, matching the number of members at that time. The name briefly fell out of use when Michigan was expelled from the conference in 1907, but returned when Ohio State joined in 1912. The name was again used from 1946, after Chicago left the conference, until 1949, when Michigan State joined.
  • Big Ten — Although not officially adopted until 1987, it was unofficially used for two long periods:
    • 1917–1946 (return of Michigan until departure of Chicago)
    • 1949–1987 (arrival of Michigan State until "Big Ten" officially adopted)