Empire 8

{{OSM Location map|float=right|title=Empire 8 Conference|width=500|height=300|coord=|nolabels=1|zoom=7 The Empire 8 can trace its beginnings back to 1964 with the founding of the Independent College Athletic Conference (ICAC). At this time, the conference was made up of Alfred University, Clarkson University, Hobart College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), St. Lawrence University, and Union College. After Union left the league, Ithaca College and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) joined the ICAC. In 1991, the ICAC regrouped to become the Empire Athletic Association (EAA), with Clarkson leaving and Hartwick College joining to replace the spot. Hobart/William Smith, RPI, and St. Lawrence left in 1993, to be replaced by Elmira College, Nazareth College, and Utica University. Alfred re-joined and St. John Fisher College joined the league in 1998. The EAA became the Empire 8 Athletic Conference in 1999, hosting 13 sports. Stevens Institute of Technology joined as a field hockey member beginning in 2006 and became a full member in 2007. RIT announced on June 5, 2009 that it planned to leave the Empire 8 for the Liberty League beginning in the fall of the 2011–12 season. Houghton College also announced that they would join the Empire 8 in the 2012–13 season as they transitioned from a school of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) to NCAA Division III status; they became full D-III members in 2016. The most recent changes to the conference's membership were published in the 2018–19 school year. First, Stevens announced in August 2018 that it would leave the E8 at the end of the 2018–19 school year to rejoin the Middle Atlantic Conferences after an absence of more than 40 years. Stevens joined the MAC's Freedom Conference. In January 2019, the E8 reported that Stevens would eventually be replaced by Keuka College in 2020–21, and in March, The Sage Colleges merged Russell Sage College and Sage College of Albany, effectively making the former women-only Russell Sage co-educational in fall 2020. On July 15, 2020, the Empire 8 postponed all fall sports, but provided conference championships in those sports in spring 2021. On August 26, 2021, the E8 admitted Medaille for 2022–23, joining from the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference. In 2023, three State University of New York schools will all join the Empire 8, beginning in the 2024–25 academic year: Starting with the State University of New York at Brockport (SUNY Brockport) and the State University of New York at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo) on August 21; followed by the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) on November 20. • 2027 – Keuka will leave the Empire 8 to join the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference after the 2026–27 academic year. == Member schools ==

Current members The Empire 8 currently has twelve full members, all but three are private schools: ;Notes: Affiliate members The Empire 8 currently has eleven affiliate members; all but three are public schools: Notes: Future affiliate members The Empire 8 will have one new affiliate member; which is a public school: ;Notes: Former members The Empire 8 had ten former full members, all were private schools: ;Notes: Former affiliate members The Empire 8 had ten former affiliate members, all but four were public schools: ;Notes: Membership timeline DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1964 till:2040 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:5 left:5 bottom:40 top:5 Colors = id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.7,0.9,0.8) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.9,0.8,0.7) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.9,0.7,0.8) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.8,0.9,0.7) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for another sport only id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference when the other color has already been used PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1991 text:Alfred (1964–1991) bar:1 color:FullxF from:1998 till:1999 text:(1998–present) bar:1 color:Full from:1999 till:end text: bar:2 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1991 text:Clarkson (1964–1991) bar:3 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1993 text:Hobart/William Smith (1964–1993) bar:4 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1993 text:RPI (1964–1993) bar:5 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1993 text:St. Lawrence (1964–1993) bar:6 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1971 text:Union (N.Y.) (1964–1971) bar:7 color:FullxF from:1971 till:1999 text:Ithaca (1971–2017) bar:7 color:Full from:1999 till:2017 text: bar:8 color:FullxF from:1971 till:2011 text:RIT (1971–2011) bar:9 color:FullxF from:1991 till:1999 text:Hartwick (1991–present) bar:9 color:Full from:1999 till:end text: bar:10 color:FullxF from:1993 till:end text:Elmira (1993–present) bar:11 color:FullxF from:1993 till:end text:Nazareth (N.Y.) (1993–present) bar:12 color:FullxF from:1993 till:1999 text:Utica (1993–present) bar:12 color:Full from:1999 till:end text: bar:13 color:FullxF from:1998 till:1999 text:St. John Fisher (1998–present) bar:13 color:Full from:1999 till:end text: bar:14 color:AssocF from:2004 till:2009 text:Norwich (fb., 2004–2009) bar:15 color:AssocF from:2004 till:2010 text:Springfield (Mass.) (fb., 2004–2010) bar:16 color:AssocOS from:2006 till:2007 text:Stevens (f.h., 2006–2007; full, 2007–2019) bar:16 color:FullxF from:2007 till:2019 text: bar:17 color:AssocOS from:2006 till:2023 text:Washington & Jefferson (f.h., 2006–2023) bar:18 color:AssocOS from:2009 till:2017 text:Moravian (m.gf., 2009–2017) bar:19 color:AssocOS from:2009 till:2017 text:Scranton (m.gf., 2009–2017) bar:20 color:AssocOS from:2009 till:2017 text:Susquehanna (m.gf., 2009–2017) bar:21 color:AssocF from:2011 till:2015 text:Frostburg State (fb., 2011–2015) bar:22 color:AssocF from:2011 till:2015 text:Salisbury (fb., 2011–2015) bar:23 color:FullxF from:2012 till:end text:Houghton (2012–present) bar:24 color:AssocF from:2012 till:2019 text:Buffalo State (fb., 2012–2019) bar:25 color:AssocF from:2014 till:2024 text:SUNY Brockport (fb., 2014–2024; full, 2024–present) bar:25 color:Full from:2024 till:end text: bar:26 color:AssocF from:2015 till:end text:SUNY Cortland (fb., 2015–present) bar:27 color:AssocF from:2015 till:end text:SUNY Morrisville (fb., 2015–present) bar:28 color:FullxF from:2017 till:end text:Russell Sage (2017–present) bar:29 color:FullxF from:2017 till:2020 text:Sage (2017–2020) bar:30 color:AssocOS from:2017 till:2018 text:SUNY Canton (m.gf., 2017–18 & 2024–present) bar:30 color:AssocOS from:2024 till:end text: bar:31 color:AssocOS from:2017 till:end text:SUNY Oswego (m.gf., 2017–present) bar:32 color:FullxF from:2020 till:2027 text:Keuka (2020–2027) bar:33 color:FullxF from:2022 till:2023 text:Medaille (2022–2023) bar:34 color:FullxF from:2024 till:end text:SUNY Geneseo (2024–present) bar:35 color:FullxF from:2024 till:end text:SUNY Poly (2024–present) bar:36 color:AssocF from:2024 till:2025 text:Hilbert (fb., 2024–2025) bar:37 color:AssocF from:2025 till:end text:Alfred State (fb., 2025–present) bar:38 color:AssocOS from:2026 till:end text:SUNY Oneonta (m.ten., 2026–future) bar:N color:powderblue from:1964 till:1991 text:ICAC bar:N color:blue from:1991 till:1998 text:EAA bar:N color:powderblue from:1998 till:end text:Empire 8 ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1965 TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(0,20) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Empire 8 Athletic Conference membership history" • > If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following three options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. == Championships ==

The Empire 8 sponsors intercollegiate athletic competition in the following sports: Men's sponsored sports by school Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Empire 8 Women's sponsored sports by school Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Empire 8 == References ==