About the Sun Belt Conference

The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) has established itself as a leader among intercollegiate athletics leagues since its move to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in 2001. 
 
Founded in 1976, the Sun Belt now features 14 dynamic member institutions across 10 contiguous states. The Sun Belt boasts broad-based excellence across its 20 sponsored sports, in the classroom and in the communities across the league’s footprint. 
 
In the College Football Playoff era (since 2014), the Sun Belt paces the FBS with a .614 bowl winning percentage. 
 
The 2022 campaign—the conference’s first as a 14-team football league—was a banner year for the Sun Belt, which defeated four autonomy five programs, hosted ESPN’s College GameDay for the second time in conference history and produced a conference-record seven Bowl Season participants—tied for the most among non-autonomy conferences and trailing only the SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Big 12. 
  • Since 2020, just 10 FBS programs have won more than 75 percent of their games. The Sun Belt is tied with the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 with two teams on that list—Coastal Carolina (31-7, .816) and Louisiana (29-9, .763). 
  • The Sun Belt has had multiple 10-win teams for five-straight seasons. 
  • The Sun Belt has had a team listed in the final College Football Playoff rankings for four-straight seasons. 
  • The Sun Belt boasted a 53 percent increase in All-American honors in 2022, with 26 student-athletes combining to earn 53 All-America honors. 
  • The Sun Belt was home to the last two unbeaten teams from a non-autonomy conference, the last one-loss team from a non-autonomy conference and 1-of-2 two-loss teams from a non-autonomy conference in 2022. 
  • The Sun Belt had the long conference championship game to feature a pair of teams with two-or-fewer losses in 2022 and won the lone bowl game to feature a pair of conference champions. 
  • The Sun Belt has had at least one selection in 15 consecutive NFL Drafts and has claimed multiple picks in 20-of-22 since it began sponsoring football in 2001. Three of the Sun Belt's five highest NFL Draft totals have come over the past four seasons with seven selections in 2020, six picks in 2022 and a conference-record nine draftees in 2023. 
 
The Sun Belt’s success extends far beyond the football field and into a number of team and individual successes in each of its sports: 
 
  • The Sun Belt was a multi-bid league in men’s soccer, men’s golf, softball and baseball in 2022.  
  • Two Sun Belt men’s soccer teams reached the Sweet Sixteen, one softball team reached NCAA Super Regionals and one baseball team reached NCAA Super Regionals in 2022. 
  • The Sun Belt was 1-of-5 conferences—joining the ACC, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC—to produce a Super Regional team in both baseball and softball in 2022. 
 
The Sun Belt Conference is showcased nationwide through a media rights partnership with ESPN that runs through the 2030-31 academic year. The Sun Belt enjoyed a viewership of 25 million during the 2022 football season. For the 12th consecutive year in 2022, every Sun Belt home football game will appear on an ESPN platform or another linear network. 
 
The Sun Belt Conference has transitioned to a neutral-site model for many of its championship events to provide an enhanced experience for student-athletes and fans. Pensacola, Fla., will serve as home for the Sun Belt Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships through the 2024-25 season. Cross country (Foley, Ala.), women’s soccer (Foley, Ala.), volleyball (Foley, Ala.), men’s tennis (Rome, Ga.), women’s tennis (Rome, Ga,) and baseball (Montgomery, Ala.) have also established long-term agreements. 
 
As part of the Sun Belt’s commitment to racial justice, the conference launched BE THE CHANGE during the summer of 2020 – focusing attention on American civil rights, promoting civic engagement, and creating dialogue with law enforcement. The conference also established and encouraged its teams and fans to visit the Sun Belt Conference Civil Rights Trail, which highlights historic sites and landmarks found within the league’s geographic footprint. 
 
The Sun Belt supports more than 6,700 student-athletes in sponsoring 20 NCAA sports. 
 
The Sun Belt's 14 member institutions are App State, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, James Madison, Louisiana, ULM, Marshall, Old Dominion, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Texas State and Troy.