Athletic conference

An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams, playing competitively against each other at the professional, collegiate, or high school level. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller divisions, with the best teams competing at successively higher levels. Conferences often, but not always, include teams from a common geographic region.

United States and Canada

In the United States and Canada, the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) are divided into the western (NHL, NBA) and eastern (NHL, NBA) conferences, with multiple divisions within each conference (three in each NBA conference, two in each NHL conference). In both leagues, a total of sixteen teams (eight from each conference) qualify for the leagues' postseason playoffs. In the NHL, division winners are guaranteed to qualify and are awarded the highest seeds, meaning they will have home-ice advantage in a given round against a non-division-winner. Starting with the 2015–16 season, NBA division winners are not guaranteed to qualify for the playoffs. The playoff spots instead go to the eight top teams in each conference by overall record, with home-court advantage in each playoff series based solely on record. Major League Soccer also divides itself into an Eastern and Western Conference, though it does not have divisions within them; it too allocates an equal number of teams from each conference to play for its MLS Cup Playoffs (since 2015, this has been six teams each).

List of college athletic conferences in the United States

In college athletics in the United States, institutions typically join together in conferences for regular play under different governing bodies.

Varsity sports

There are several national and regional associations governing the varsity teams of colleges and universities. Varsity teams are typically funded by an institution's athletic department, and under some governing bodies players are eligible for athletic scholarships.

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

Division I

Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. Although officially instituted during the 1998-1999 season, the HCAC actually traces its history to the formation of the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference (ICAC) in 1987.

Original members of the HCAC included Anderson, Bluffton, Franklin, Hanover, Manchester, Mount St. Joseph, Wabash, and Wilmington. Of the ten current members, six were founding members of the former ICAC.

Former members include DePauw (1987-1998),Taylor (1988-1991), Wabash (1987-1999), and Wilmington (1998-2000). Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology (1988-1998) re-joined as of July 1, 2006.

History

The Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference (ICAC) was formed in June 1987, with 1990-1991 being the first full season of competition (all eight teams competing in eight varsity sports).

Charter members in 1987 included Anderson University, DePauw University, Franklin College, Hanover College, Manchester College, and Wabash College. Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology and Taylor University later joined in 1988.