The Ohio Valley and Big South will continue to be partners in an FCS football conference this year, but the fourth season of the association will utilize only the OVC name and logo.
Joint conferences in FCS football are accustomed to name changes, but one of them has decided to rebrand again by drawing on a previous successful legacy.
Ohio Valley Conference football is back for the 2026 season.
The OVC and Big South Conference will continue their combined football-only association for the fourth straight season, but instead of competing as the OVC-Big South – and before that, the Big South-OVC – the eight schools will utilize only the OVC name and logo.
The membership has always slanted toward the OVC – there will be six football programs from the OVC and two from the Big South this year – so there’s been foreshadowing of the upcoming change during their partnership.
OVC football spanned 75 seasons from 1948 to 2022 with its rich heritage including national championship teams and finalists, All-Americans and national players of the year, and alumni in the NFL. The smaller Big South first sponsored football in 2002 and had as many as nine programs in 2021, but while both conferences have lost membership during conference realignment, the Big South has been hit particularly hard before and since the two-conference football alliance began in 2023. The schools have pointed to similarities in geography (Midwest and South) and academic and athletic philosophies as key features of the partnership.
Tennessee Tech (16-6) also competed in the OVC-Big South from 2023-25, while Bryant (4-2) and Robert Morris (2-4) were members of the football association in 2023.While reflecting on the upcoming change, OVC commissioner Matt Wilson said, “The return to a unified OVC football identity represents more than a rebrand – it signifies a reset, a refocus and the start of an exciting new direction for our league. Over the last three seasons, our association has provided the competitive foundation we needed. Now, with the eight programs in the association aligned under one brand, we have the clarity, momentum and shared purpose to elevate what OVC football can be for years to come.”
The two-conference partnership is contracted through 2030. This season, Ohio Valley Conference football will consist of Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, Southeast Missouri, Tennessee State, UT Martin and Western Illinois from the OVC, and Charleston Southern and Gardner-Webb from the Big South.
Tennessee Tech, last year’s OVC-Big South champion, is moving to the Southern Conference. The first two seasons of the football association had multiple champions, with Gardner-Webb earning the conference’s automatic FCS playoff bid over UT Martin in 2023, and Southeast Missouri gaining the auto-bid and going to the 2024 playoffs along with Tennessee State and UT Martin as part of a four-way title share that also included Tennessee Tech.
“The rebranding reflects an evolution in identity, not a change in partnership,” Charleston Southern president B. Keith Faulkner said. “As a founding member of the association, we are proud of the strong foundation established over the last three seasons and are grateful for the shared commitment shown by every institution involved.”
The 2026 FCS season kicks off on Aug. 27.
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