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67-600: Men's sports Women's sports The men's hockey team is one of seven teams that left the men's division of the WCHA after the 2020–21 season to reestablish the CCHA, whose original version had disbanded after the 2012–13 season. This move in turn led to the demise of the WCHA men's division. Before joining the WCHA in 2010–11, the Beavers had been members of College Hockey America . The women's hockey team competes in

134-459: A "counter" as "an individual who is receiving institutional financial aid that is countable against the aid limitations in a sport." The number of scholarships that Division I members may award in each sport is listed below. In this table, scholarship numbers for head-count sports are indicated without a decimal point ; for equivalency sports, they are listed with a decimal point, with a trailing zero if required. The NCAA also has rules specifying

201-632: A 1-5 loss in the finals to RIT . Bemidji State won the first ever NCHA playoff tournament at the conclusion of the 1985-86 season and continued momentum into the NCAA DIII tournament winning the Division III Championship in an 8-5 win over Plattsburgh State . BSU made the NCAA Division III tournament three more times in the 1980s, 1987-1989 but finished fourth once and third twice. The Division II Ice Hockey Tournament

268-513: A Division II ice hockey tournament due to lack of membership. Ted Belisle joined the coaching team as an assistant, and BSU won their first CHA regular season championship in the 2003-04 season but lost 2004 CHA Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in overtime 3-4 to (#2) Niagara. The 2004-05 marked a historic season for the BSU hockey program. The team swept through

335-685: A conference and show the NCAA it has the financial ability to support a D-I program. Division I athletic programs generated $ 8.7 billion in revenue in the 2009–10 academic year. Men's teams provided 55%, women's teams 15%, and 30% was not categorized by sex or sport. Football and men's basketball are usually a university's only profitable sports, and are called "revenue sports". From 2008 to 2012, 205 varsity teams were dropped in NCAA Division I – 72 for women and 133 for men, with men's tennis, gymnastics and wrestling hit particularly hard. In

402-756: A decimal point. Numbers for equivalency sports are indicated with a decimal point, with a trailing zero if needed. Notes: The following table lists the men's individual D-I sports with at least 1,000 participating athletes. Sports are ranked by number of athletes. D-I college wrestling has lost almost half of its programs since 1982. The following table lists the women's individual D-I sports with at least 1,000 participating athletes. Sports are ranked by number of athletes. NCAA Division I schools have broadcasting contracts that showcase their more popular sports — typically football and men's basketball — on network television and in basic cable channels. These contracts can be quite lucrative, particularly for D-I schools from

469-422: A later vote of the league's school presidents and athletic directors and has since increased to 45. The Patriot League only began awarding football scholarships in the 2013 season, with the first scholarships awarded only to incoming freshmen. Before the conference began its transition to scholarship football, athletes receiving scholarships in other sports were ineligible to play football for member schools. Since

536-635: A near-complete membership turnover that saw the conference stripped of all but two of its football-sponsoring members. The two remaining football-sponsoring schools, Idaho and New Mexico State , played the 2013 season as FBS independents before becoming football-only members of the Sun Belt Conference in 2014. Both left Sun Belt football in 2018, with Idaho downgrading to FCS status and adding football to its all-sports Big Sky Conference membership and New Mexico State becoming an FBS independent. The WAC added two more football-sponsoring schools with

603-410: A specific bowl game bid for which the conference has a tie-in. Some conferences have numbers in their names but this often has no relation to the number of member institutions in the conference. The Big Ten Conference did not formally adopt the "Big Ten" name until 1987, but unofficially used that name when it had 10 members from 1917 to 1946, and again from 1949 forward. However, it has continued to use

670-830: A substantial number of players in Championship Subdivision programs are on full scholarships. A former difference was that FCS schools had a limit of 30 players that could be provided with financial aid in a given season, while FBS schools were limited to 25 such additions per season. These limits were suspended in 2020 before being completely eliminated for both subdivisions in 2023. Finally, FCS schools are limited to 95 individuals participating in preseason practices, as opposed to 105 at FBS schools (the three service academies that play FBS football are exempt from preseason practice player limits by NCAA rule). A few Championship Subdivision conferences are composed of schools that offer no athletic scholarships at all, most notably

737-573: A title game, the NCAA Division I Football Championship . As of the 2018 season, the tournament begins with 24 teams; 10 conference champions that received automatic bids, and 14 teams selected at-large by a selection committee. The postseason tournament traditionally begins on Thanksgiving weekend in late November. When I-AA was formed 46 years ago in 1978, the playoffs included just four teams for its first three seasons, doubling to eight teams for one season in 1981. From 1982 to 1985, there

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804-612: Is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents Bemidji State University . The Beavers are a member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and play at Sanford Center in Bemidji, Minnesota , as of the 2010 season, after previously playing at the John S. Glas Field House . The Bemidji State men's ice hockey program began in 1946. From

871-537: Is a charter member. BSU won the 1981–82 and 1982-83 NCHA regular season championships. Following the 1982-83 season BSU moved to NCAA Division II remaining in the NCHA. During the program's 16-season tenure in the NAIA the team won NAIA national ice hockey championships 9 times, including the first NAIA Championship in 1968. The Beavers won their third straight NCHA regular season championship in 1983-84 and qualified for

938-525: Is considered an FBS member for scheduling purposes. The newest full FBS members are Jacksonville State , James Madison , and Sam Houston , which completed the transition from FCS prior to the 2024 season . The next school to become a full FBS member is Kennesaw State , which joined Conference USA (CUSA) in 2024 and will become a full FBS member a year later. Delaware and Missouri State are set to join CUSA in 2025 and become full FBS members in 2026. Since

1005-685: Is the Atlantic Coast Conference . For the first 60 years after its 1953 founding, the ACC consisted entirely of schools in Atlantic Coast states. However, in 2013 , the conference added three new schools, two of which ( Pittsburgh and, for non-football sports, Indiana-based Notre Dame ) were in states without an Atlantic shoreline. The following year saw the ACC add another non-Atlantic school in Louisville . Then, in 2023 ,

1072-618: Is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States , which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic powers, with large budgets, more elaborate facilities and more athletic scholarships than Division II and Division III as well as many smaller schools committed to the highest level of intercollegiate competition. This level

1139-529: The 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament for the second year in a row. BSU again lost in the opening round, this time to Wisconsin 0-4. The 2008-09 season was the most successful season the team has had at the Division I level. The Beavers finished the regular season 1st in the CHA with a record of 12-5-1 and won the 2009 CHA Championship in 3-2 in overtime over Robert Morris . The team picked up

1206-407: The 2016 season , all FBS conferences have been allowed to conduct a championship game that does not count against the limit of 12 regular-season contests. Under the current rules, most recently changed in advance of the 2022 season, conferences have complete freedom to determine the participants in their championship games. From 2016 to 2021, FBS rules allowed such a game to be held either (1) between

1273-457: The 2022 season , with all participating in one of 14 conferences. The "I-AA" designation was dropped by the NCAA in 2006, although it is still informally and commonly used. FCS teams are limited to 63 players on scholarship (compared to 85 for FBS teams) and usually play an 11-game schedule (compared to 12 games for FBS teams). The FCS determines its national champion through an NCAA-sanctioned single-elimination bracket tournament , culminating in

1340-680: The Football Bowl Subdivision (130 schools in 2017), between 50 and 60 percent of football and men's basketball programs generated positive revenues (above program expenses). However, in the Football Championship Subdivision (124 schools in 2017), only four percent of football and five percent of men's basketball programs generated positive revenues. In 2012, 2% of athletic budgets were spent on equipment, uniforms and supplies for male athletes at NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision school, with

1407-592: The Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and those institutions that do not have any football program. FBS teams have more players receiving athletic scholarships than FCS teams and formerly (until 2024) had minimum game-attendance requirements. The FBS is named for its series of postseason bowl games , with various polls ranking teams after the conclusion of these games, while

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1474-641: The Ivy League and the Pioneer Football League (PFL), a football-only conference. The Ivy League allows no athletic scholarships at all, while the PFL consists of schools that offer scholarships in other sports but choose not to take on the expense of a scholarship football program. The Northeast Conference also sponsored non-scholarship football, but began offering a maximum of 30 full scholarship equivalents in 2006, which grew to 40 in 2011 after

1541-426: The access bowls . FBS schools are limited to a total of 85 football players receiving financial assistance. For competitive reasons, a student receiving partial scholarship counts fully against the total of 85. Nearly all FBS schools that are not on NCAA probation give 85 full scholarships. As of the current 2024 college football season, there are 133 full members of Division I FBS, plus one transitional school that

1608-650: The 2,400-seat John S. Glas Field House did not meet. With the news of the Bemidji Regional Events Center BSU applied to join the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in early 2009. Bemidji State along with University of Nebraska-Omaha (transferring from the CCHA ) was accepted into the WCHA as the 11th and 12th members. BSU officially became a member on July 1, 2010. The Beavers opened WCHA play in

1675-400: The 2006 season, it was possible for the number of Bowl Subdivision schools to drop in the future if those schools were not able to pull in enough fans into the games. Additionally, 14 FCS schools had enough attendance to be moved up in 2012. Under current NCAA rules, these schools must have an invitation from an FBS conference in order to move to FBS. The difference in the postseasons in each of

1742-432: The 2014–15 fiscal year, the conferences that earned the most revenues (and that distributed the most revenues to each of their member schools) were: The NCAA has limits on the total financial aid each Division I member may award in each sport that the school sponsors. It divides sports that are sponsored into two types for purposes of scholarship limitations: The term "counter" is also key to this concept. The NCAA defines

1809-577: The 2020 arrival of Tarleton and Utah Tech (then Dixie State) from Division II; both schools planned to be FCS independents for the foreseeable future. The WAC would reinstate football at the FCS level in 2021, coinciding with the arrival of four new members with FCS football; for its first season, it entered into a formal partnership with the ASUN Conference to give it enough playoff-eligible members to receive an automatic playoff berth. This partnership

1876-427: The 2020–21 season. These seven schools announced in early 2020 that they would reestablish the CCHA, and added an eighth member before starting play in the revived league in 2021. The Beavers claimed their first CCHA regular season championship and second MacNaughton Cup at the conclusion of the 2023-2024 season. As of the end of the 2023–24 season. Senior CLASS Award Second Team Player of

1943-425: The CHA winning the CHA regular season championship and winning the 2005 CHA Championship over Alabama-Huntsville. The 3-0 shutout win gave the Beavers their first berth in the NCAA Division I Ice Hockey Tournament in program history. the team came close to a major upset, losing 3-4 in overtime to the #1 ranked Denver in the opening round. Bemidji beat Niagara 4-2 to win the 2006 CHA Championship and advance to

2010-573: The Division I Men's Basketball Championship and ticket sales for all championships. That money is distributed in more than a dozen ways — almost all of which directly support NCAA schools, conferences and nearly half a million student-athletes. About 60% of the NCAA's annual revenue — around $ 600 million — is annually distributed directly to Division I member schools and conferences, while more than $ 150 million funds Division I championships" (NCAA 2021). Finances Under NCAA regulations, all Division I conferences defined as "multisport conferences" must meet

2077-623: The FCS from a lower division (or from the NAIA ) are also ineligible for the playoffs. Division I FCS schools are currently restricted to giving financial assistance amounting to 63 full scholarships. As FCS football is an "equivalency" sport (as opposed to the "head-count" status of FBS football), Championship Subdivision schools may divide their allotment into partial scholarships. However, FCS schools may only have 85 players receiving any sort of athletic financial aid for football—the same numeric limit as FBS schools. Because of competitive forces, however,

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2144-618: The FCS national champion is determined by a multi-team bracket tournament. For the 2020–21 school year, Division I contained 357 of the NCAA's 1,066 member institutions, with 130 in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), 127 in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and 100 non-football schools, with six additional schools in the transition from Division II to Division I. There was a moratorium on any additional movement up to D-I until 2012, after which any school that wants to move to D-I must be accepted for membership by

2211-631: The I-AA playoffs was Jackson State in 1997 ; the SWAC never achieved success in the tournament, going winless in 19 games in twenty years (1978–97). It had greater success outside the conference while in Division II and the preceding College Division. From 2006 through 2009, the Pioneer Football League and Northeast Conference champions played in the Gridiron Classic . If a league champion

2278-553: The Midwest (Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, Notre Dame), Upper South (Louisville, Memphis) and Southwest (Houston, SMU). The non-football conference that assumed the Big East name when the original Big East split in 2013 is another example of this phenomenon, as half of its 10 inaugural schools (Butler, Creighton, DePaul, Marquette, Xavier) are traditionally regarded as being Midwestern. An even more extrema example of this phenomenon

2345-542: The NCAA tournament. In the 1984 tournament BSU won its first NCAA title at the Division II level with BSU sweeping Merrimack in a best-of-three series winning 6-3 and 8-1. Beginning in the following season, the Division II tournament was combined with the NCAA Division III level. The Beavers won the NCHA regular season championship for the third straight season and qualified for the school's first NCAA Division III ice hockey championship. BSU came in second after

2412-611: The National Semifinal game with a 1-4 loss to the RedHawks. In addition to the on-ice success, in 2008 Bemidji began exploring options to strengthen the program. The CHA had lost many of the original member to programs at Findlay and Wayne State folding and other teams transferring to other college hockey conferences. Travel expenses to remaining members in Huntsville, Alabama , and Western New York and Pennsylvania

2479-610: The WCHA, now a women-only league. The men's ice hockey team qualified for the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament . The team defeated number one seed Notre Dame in a first round upset. The team later defeated Cornell to advance to its first Division I Frozen Four appearance, but then lost to Miami University in the semifinals. As of May 2011, the Men's Track and Field Program will be discontinued due to future budget constraints. Bemidji State Beavers men%27s ice hockey The Bemidji State Beavers men's ice hockey team

2546-1161: The Year Rookie of the Year Student-Athlete of the Year Coach of the Year Most Valuable Player in Tournament First Team Second Team Rookie Team Player of the Year Defensive Player of the Year Rookie of the Year Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year Goaltending Champion Coach of the Year First Team Second Team Third Team Rookie Team First Team All-CCHA Second Team all-CCHA CCHA All-Rookie Team GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes NCAA Division I NCAA Division I ( D-I )

2613-599: The addition of Arizona and Arizona State, and "Pac-12" (instead of "Pacific-12") in 2011 when Colorado and Utah joined . Conferences also tend to ignore their regional names when adding new schools. For example, the Pac-8/10/12 retained its "Pacific" moniker even though its four most recent additions (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah) are located in the inland West, and the original Big East kept its name even after adding schools (either in all sports or for football only) located in areas traditionally considered to be in

2680-548: The biggest conferences. For example, the Big Ten conference in 2016 entered into contracts with Fox and ESPN that pay the conference $ 2.64 billion over six years. The NCAA also holds certain TV contracts. For example, the NCAA's contract to show the men's basketball championship tournament (widely known as March Madness) is currently under a 14-year deal with CBS and Turner that runs from 2010 to 2024 and pays $ 11 billion. For

2747-568: The champions of its East and West divisions. Also, three of its member schools traditionally do not finish their regular seasons until Thanksgiving weekend. Grambling State and Southern play each other in the Bayou Classic , and Alabama State plays Tuskegee (of Division II ) in the Turkey Day Classic . SWAC teams are eligible to accept at-large bids if their schedule is not in conflict. The last SWAC team to participate in

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2814-556: The completion of the transition with the 2016 season, member schools have been allowed up to 60 full scholarship equivalents. Several Bowl Subdivision and Championship Subdivision conferences have member institutions that do not compete in football. Such schools are sometimes unofficially referred to as I-AAA. The following non-football conferences have full members that sponsor football: The following Division I conferences do not sponsor football . These conferences still compete in Division I for all sports that they sponsor. Of these,

2881-661: The conference announced it would expand in 2024 to the Pacific coast with San Francisco Bay Area rivals California and Stanford , and also add SMU from Dallas–Fort Worth . ** – "Big Four" or "Power Four" conferences that had guaranteed berths in the "access bowls" associated with the College Football Playoff before its 2024 expansion to 12 teams *** – "Group of Five" conferences The Division I Football Championship Subdivision ( FCS ), formerly known as Division I-AA , consists of 130 teams as of

2948-573: The eponymous post-season championship tournament. The Ivy League was reclassified to I-AA (FCS) following the 1981 season , and plays a strict ten-game schedule. Although it qualifies for an automatic bid, the Ivy League has not played any postseason games at all since becoming a conference, citing academic concerns. The Ivy League member to play in a bowl game was Columbia in the 1934 Rose Bowl . The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) has its own championship game in mid-December between

3015-471: The existence of an official NCAA championship in the latter subdivision. Before the 2023 season, the NCAA required that FBS schools average at least 15,000 attendance, allowing schools to report either total tickets sold or the number of persons in attendance at the games. The requirement was a minimum average of 15,000 people in attendance every other year. These numbers are posted to the NCAA statistics website for football each year. With new rules starting in

3082-566: The first NCAA Division I tournament win in the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament with a 5-1 upset over Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey , a #1 seed and ranked 2nd in the national rankings. The Beavers advanced for the first time in the Division I tournament and beat Cornell 4-1 to advance to the school's first ever Frozen Four held at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. Bemidji faced Miami (Ohio) in

3149-599: The following criteria: FBS conferences must meet a more stringent set of requirements for NCAA recognition than other conferences: † "Power Four" conferences that had guaranteed berths in the New Year's Six , the bowl games associated with the College Football Playoff , before the playoff's 2024 expansion to 12 teams ‡ "Group of Five" conferences Sports are ranked according to total possible scholarships (number of teams x number of scholarships per team). Scholarship numbers for head-count sports are indicated without

3216-608: The inaugural 1946-47 season through the 1966-67 season BSU played as an independent member of Division I. In 1968 the team became a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The program continued to operate as an independent member, now in the NAIA from 1968-69 through the 1979-80 season. For the 1980-81 season the program joined the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA), in which Bemidji State

3283-472: The last NCAA DII Tournament in 1999 and the following season the Beavers moved to NCAA Division I level. Bemidji State joined two other former Division II ice hockey members Alabama–Huntsville and Findlay along with former DI independent teams Air Force , Army , and Niagara and expansion program Wayne State to form College Hockey America at the Division I level after the NCAA ended sponsorship of

3350-660: The latter of which will move football to the Patriot League in 2025). The MAAC stopped sponsoring football in 2007, after most of its members gradually stopped fielding teams. Among current MAAC members that were in the conference before 2007, only Marist , which plays in the Pioneer Football League, still sponsors football. From 2013 to 2021, the Western Athletic Conference was a non-football league, having dropped football after

3417-505: The median spending per-school at $ 742,000. In 2014, the NCAA and the student athletes debated whether student athletes should be paid. In April, the NCAA approved students-athletes getting free unlimited meals and snacks. The NCAA stated "The adoption of the meals legislation finished a conversation that began in the Awards, Benefits, Expenses and Financial Aid Cabinet. Members have worked to find appropriate ways to ensure student-athletes get

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3484-534: The membership totals to 14 in 2023 and 16 effective in 2024. On the other hand, the Pac-12 Conference used names (official or unofficial) that have reflected the number of members from the establishment of its current charter in 1959 until its collapse in 2024 . The conference unofficially used "Big Five" (1959–62), "Big Six" (1962–64), and "Pacific-8" (1964–68) before officially adopting the "Pacific-8" name. The name duly changed to "Pacific-10" in 1978 with

3551-410: The name even after it expanded to 11 members with the addition of Penn State in 1990, 12 with the addition of Nebraska in 2011 , and 14 with the arrival of Maryland and Rutgers in 2014 . The Big 12 Conference was established in 1996 with 12 members, but continues to use that name even after a number of departures and a few replacements left the conference with 10 members, and later expansions brought

3618-620: The new Bemidji Regional Events Center on October 15, 2010 against North Dakota in a 2-5 loss. Bemidji picked up their first WCHA win at St. Cloud State 3-2 in overtime. Bemidji ended the regular season with a conference record of 8-15-5 as the 10th seed entering the 2011 WCHA Tournament . In the first round of the WCHA playoffs the Beaver beat 3rd-seeded Nebraska-Omaha two games to none with 4-3 and 4-2 wins. The series sweep sent Bemidji to its first ever WCHA Final Five and upset Minnesota–Duluth 3-2 in overtime, before losing to Denver 2-6 in

3685-457: The nutrition they need without jeopardizing Pell Grants or other federal aid received by the neediest student-athletes. With their vote, members of the council said they believe loosening NCAA rules on what and when food can be provided from athletics departments is the best way to address the issue." According to the finance section of the NCAA page, "The NCAA receives most of its annual revenue from two sources: television and marketing rights for

3752-485: The same season. The Pioneer Football League earned an automatic bid beginning in 2013. The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) began abstaining from the playoffs with the 2015 season. Like the SWAC, its members are eligible for at-large bids, and the two conferences have faced off in the Celebration Bowl as an alternative postseason game since the 2015 season. Schools in a transition period after joining

3819-441: The semifinal game. With a WCHA Conference record of 20 wins, 6 losses, and 2 ties, The Bemidji State Beavers became WCHA Regular Season Champions at the conclusion of the 2016-2017 season. They compiled 64 conference points, 10 more than runner-up Michigan Tech, and won the school's first coveted MacNaughton Cup. Bemidji State was one of the seven WCHA members that jointly announced in 2019 that they would leave that league after

3886-447: The sport in which multi-sport athletes are to be counted, with the basic rules being: Subdivisions in Division I exist only in football . In all other sports, all Division I conferences are equivalent. The subdivisions were recently given names to reflect the differing levels of football play in them. As of the 2023 season, the main distinctions between Bowl Subdivision and Championship Subdivision schools are scholarship policies and

3953-573: The subdivisions grant the FCS an advantage to have the best record in college football history, 17–0, while the FBS only allows a 15–0 record. FBS attendance requirements were abolished early in the 2023 season, effective immediately. In their place, Division I added new requirements for athletic funding. Effective in 2027–28, FBS schools must fund the equivalent of at least 210 full scholarships across all of their NCAA sports; spend at least $ 6 million annually on athletic scholarships; and provide at least 90% of

4020-417: The total number of allowed scholarship equivalents across 16 sports, including football. Division I Football Bowl Subdivision ( FBS ), formerly known as Division I-A , is the top level of college football . Schools in Division I FBS compete in post-season bowl games , with the champions of five conferences, along with the highest-ranked champion of the other five conferences, receiving automatic bids to

4087-529: The two that most recently sponsored football were the Atlantic 10 and MAAC. The A-10 football league dissolved in 2006 with its members going to CAA Football, the technically separate football league operated by the all-sports Coastal Athletic Association. In addition, four A-10 schools ( Dayton , Fordham , Duquesne , and Massachusetts ) play football in a conference other CAA Football, which still includes two full-time A-10 members ( Rhode Island and Richmond ,

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4154-400: The winners of each of two divisions, with each team having played a full round-robin schedule within its division, or (2) between the conference's top two teams after a full round-robin conference schedule. Before 2016, "exempt" championship games could only be held between the divisional winners of conferences that had at least 12 football teams and split into divisions. The prize is normally

4221-717: Was a 12-team tournament; this expanded to 16 teams in 1986. The playoffs expanded to 20 teams starting in 2010, then grew to 24 teams in 2013. Since the 2010 season, the title game is held in early January at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas . From 1997 through 2009, the title game was played in December in Chattanooga, Tennessee , preceded by five seasons in Huntington, West Virginia . The Football Championship Subdivision includes several conferences which do not participate in

4288-613: Was also a concern. BSU began looking at the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) as a solution. In a first step the university signed a scheduling agreement against WCHA schools, many within a few hours drive to Bemidji, Minnesota . Other than the WCHA BSU's only option was to end the historic program. In 2009 it was announced the university and city of Bemidji would build a 4,000-5,000 seat state-of-the-art arena to meet WCHA requirements, that

4355-657: Was invited to the national championship playoff as an at-large bid (something the Pioneer league, at least, never received), the second-place team would play in the Gridiron Classic. That game was scrapped after the 2009 season when its four-year contract ran out; this coincided with the NCAA's announcement that the Northeast Conference would get an automatic bid to the tournament starting in 2010. The Big South Conference also received an automatic bid in

4422-657: Was previously called the University Division of the NCAA, in contrast to the lower-level College Division; these terms were replaced with numeric divisions in 1973. The University Division was renamed Division I, while the College Division was split in two; the College Division members that offered scholarships or wanted to compete against those who did became Division II, while those who did not want to offer scholarships became Division III. For college football only, D-I schools are further divided into

4489-454: Was reinstated beginning in 1992-93 season and BSU won The Division II championship three straight years 1993-1995. In the 1996 championship the Beavers came up short to Alabama-Huntsville . The following season Alabama-Huntsville would get revenge, beating Bemidji State in the 1998 championship game. That would be the last year BSU participated in the DII tournament, the Beavers failed to qualify for

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