The Sun Belt Conference announced Monday that it would be realigning. This came shortly after James Madison University Dukes (JMU) decided to pack its bags and head to the American conference. The move is set to take place in 2028.

In a time when NIL and TV rights deals have become the face of college football, schools want what’s best for their programs and the athletes. Conferences rake in hundreds of millions of dollars, and the schools associated with those conferences want a piece of the pie. When the bakery runs out of goods, you go to a better one with more options.

According to Sports Illustrated, administrators at JMU and Appalachian State have privately told boosters that the league is undercompensated under the current TV agreement. With the departure of JMU, the Sun Belt will drop to 13 teams.

𝗦𝗨𝗡 𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧. Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Keith Gill on conference realignment. ☀️ 📰 » https://t.co/pnuMKk7IkW https://t.co/IIJsTcaA7i

— Sun Belt (@SunBelt) October 12, 2026

Sun Belt commissioner Keith Gill said, “Since expanding to 14 football-playing members, the Sun Belt Conference has experienced the best four-year stretch in the conference’s 50-year history.”

“With James Madison’s recent announcement of its planned departure, the conference leadership will examine and evaluate all opportunities as it continues its work to ensure the sustained rise of the Sun Belt Conference—the premier FBS non-autonomy conference in the country.”

The Conference has assured that it will remain competitive across multiple sports, promote rivalries, and pursue excellence at a reasonable cost.

Board of Directors President Dr. Kyle Marrero said, “Through a tumultuous period in collegiate athletics, the Sun Belt has remained steadfast in its commitment to regional rivalries, geographic alignment and broad-based competitive excellence-pillars that have ushered in the most successful era in the conference’s history.”

JMU might be the first to realize how much money is on the line in these new TV deals, and soon everyone else will follow suit.

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