• December 12, 2024 – The
Ivy League announced that starting with the 2025 football season; the Ivy League champion would compete in the FCS playoffs. This marked the first time that conference participated in postseason play since the 1945 signing of the Ivy Group Agreement, which initially governed football competition between Ivy schools but was extended to cover all sports in 1954. • March 25, 2025 –
Saint Francis announced that it would reclassify to
NCAA Division III starting in 2026–27, when it will leave the
Northeast Conference for the
Presidents' Athletic Conference. • May 6 –
New Haven announced that it accepted an invite to join the
Northeast Conference effective July 1, 2025, and begin reclassification from
NCAA Division II to be eligible for postseason play in 2028–29. • June 5 –
Villanova announced it would leave CAA Football after the 2025 season for the Patriot League, while otherwise remaining a member of the non-football
Big East Conference. • June 25 – The
Big Sky Conference announced that
Southern Utah and
Utah Tech,
Western Athletic Conference (WAC) members that play football in the
United Athletic Conference (UAC), would join the Big Sky in 2026. • Permanent expansion of the FCS regular season from 11 to 12 games. • Standardization of the regular season starting date as the Thursday 13 weeks before the FCS playoff bracket is released on the Saturday before
Thanksgiving. (The normal start of the FCS regular season had been the Thursday preceding
Labor Day.) • Elimination of rule exceptions allowing contests that meet legislated criteria to be played as early as the second Saturday before Labor Day. Instead, all FCS teams will be able to play during what the Football Bowl Subdivision calls
Week 0. • The
Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) and WAC announced that their football alliance, the UAC, would become an all-sports conference in 2026. At that time, the WAC will rebrand as the UAC, with its membership including all seven remaining UAC members with scholarship FCS programs plus non-football
UT Arlington (the conference would later add another non-football school,
Little Rock). The ASUN membership going forward will consist of five non-football schools,
Pioneer Football League member
Stetson, and
Bellarmine, which plays the non-NCAA variant of
sprint football. • July 22 — CAA Football announced that
Sacred Heart would join the conference in 2026, ending the Pioneers' two-year stint as an FCS independent. Sacred Heart will remain a member of the non-football
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. • October 8: • The Division I Administrative Committee, which officially renamed itself the Division I Cabinet at its scheduled meeting, introduced a proposal to expand allowed logos on student-athletes' uniforms and equipment beyond those of the manufacturer. It also approved changes to the football
transfer portal previously recommended by the FBS and FCS Oversight Committees: • A single transfer window will run from January 2–16. This only affects entry into the portal; a player who enters the portal may transfer outside the window. • The window for players undergoing a head coaching change was modified. The window for these players will open five calendar days after the hiring or public announcement of a new head coach, and run for 15 days. Should a school not hire or announce a new head coach after 30 days from the previous coach's departure, a separate 15-day window will open on the 31st day, provided that the 31st day is on or after January 3. The opportunity for such a window will exist through June 30. • October 18 – Shortly before its homecoming game against
Marist,
Morehead State officially renamed its home of Jayne Stadium to
Phil Simms Stadium. • December 18 –
Chicago State announced that it would play its first season of FCS football in 2026, initially as an
independent before joining NEC football in 2027. ==Kickoff games==