Current emerging sports Equestrian As of the 2016–17 school year, 18
Division I (D-I), five
Division II (D-II), and 21
Division III (D-III) schools participated in varsity competition. The total number of NCEA participants rose to 24 for 2018–19. However, as of the 2023–24 school year, equestrianism is considered an Emerging Sport only in Divisions I and II; competition among Division III schools has remained independent of the NCAA. A total of 16 D-III members sponsored varsity equestrian teams in 2019–20. With that in mind, a group of 21 D-III members submitted a proposal to bring equestrianism in that division under the Emerging Sports umbrella; this proposal was approved by the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics in September 2019. From there, the proposal was reviewed by three other NCAA committees before a final vote by the entire Division III membership during the 2020 NCAA Convention in January of that year. If the proposal had passed, the number of NCAA equestrian programs would have increased to 40—the number required for an Emerging Sport to enter the process for consideration as an official NCAA championship. However, the Division III membership defeated the proposal to bring D-III equestrian under the NCAA umbrella; the vote was 195–174 against inclusion, with over 100 abstentions. Division III voted down a second attempt to bring equestrian under the NCAA umbrella in 2022. The
University of Georgia has won 8 titles, the most of the NCEA as of 2025. In 2016 it was nearly removed from the list, but at the NCAA Convention, the college administrators voted for it to continue.
Flag football On February 12, 2025, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics recommended that all three divisions add
flag football to the Emerging Sports program. All three divisions were expected to vote on the proposal no later than the January 2026 NCAA convention; if approved, official inclusion was intended to take place in 2026–27. When the committee made its recommendation, at least 65 NCAA members sponsored flag football at either the club or varsity level, with others slated to add the sport in the 2025–26 school year. The
Division III Atlantic East Conference became the first NCAA conference to officially sponsor the sport in the spring 2025 season, and the
Division II Conference Carolinas is holding its first flag football season in spring 2026. The first Division I conference to announce the addition of flag football was the
Big South Conference, which will start sponsoring the sport in 2027–28. At the January 2026 NCAA convention, all three divisions approved the addition of flag football to the Emerging Sports program, effective immediately. Schools sponsoring the sport in 2025–26 will count toward the threshold of 40 programs needed for eventual official championship status.
Rugby Penn State University is the women's college team with the most titles (with 16 titles overall including 14 during the period when NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program has been in effect). As of the 2016–17 school year, there were seven D-I, three D-II, and four D-III schools participating in varsity competition. As of the 2017–18 school year, four D-I, eight D-II, and seven D-III schools participated in varsity competition. During the 2026 NCAA convention in January, D-II members voted to exempt women's rowing from division rules that require a minimum number of sponsoring schools (currently 35) to maintain a separate championship. Had this exemption not been approved, the D-II championship would have been discontinued after the 2026–27 school year, with no NCAA championship available for D-II rowing schools.
Ice hockey In 2001, women's ice hockey became an official NCAA sport. The
University of Wisconsin–Madison has the most
National Collegiate championships, with nine. The Wisconsin program has produced many Olympians for the
United States,
Canada, and other countries. As of the most recent 2025–26 season, 123 schools participate in varsity women's ice hockey—45 in the National Collegiate division (40 D-I, five D-II) and 78 in D-III. It only took three years to reach this status. The first eight championships were won by universities located in
Los Angeles—six by
USC and two by
UCLA. The first championship by a school outside that city was
TCU's 2025 title. In the 2022–23 school year, 67 D-I and 17 D-II schools participated in varsity competition. Following approval by all three divisions at the 2025 NCAA annual convention, the first official championship, which uses the National Collegiate format, was held in winter 2026. Wrestling was officially removed from the Emerging Sports program once its championship status was confirmed. As of the first season of official championship competition in 2025–26,
111 NCAA members sponsor varsity teams. The majority are in Division III, with 66. Of the remaining programs, 39 are D-II and only six are D-I. A separate national governing body overseeing college wrestling, the
National Collegiate Wrestling Association, uses collegiate rules in both its men's and women's divisions.
Acrobatics & tumbling This sport, which combines the internationally recognized gymnastics disciplines of
acrobatic gymnastics and
tumbling, was a relatively new Emerging Sport, having been officially added in 2020–21. (The sport currently recognized as "gymnastics" by the NCAA is internationally known as
artistic gymnastics.) On June 3, 2019, the NCAA announced that its Committee on Women's Athletics had recommended the addition of acrobatics & tumbling and wrestling to the Emerging Sports program, effective with the 2020–21 school year. At the time of the formal addition of acrobatics & tumbling to the Emerging Sports program, the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association, which has governed this discipline at college level, indicated that 30 NCAA schools would sponsor the sport in 2020–21. and
Conference Carolinas added it for 2020–21. On May 15, 2025, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics recommended that all three divisions sponsor legislation to create a single National Collegiate championship (i.e., open to members of all divisions) in acrobatics & tumbling. By that time, 54 NCAA members had either sponsored, or announced their intentions to sponsor, that sport. All divisions then needed to sponsor legislation for a vote by each division, which would take place no sooner than the 2026 NCAA Convention. Following approval, an NCAA committee would then be established to prepare for an inaugural championship to take place in spring 2027. with Divisions II and III soon following suit. All three divisions approved the new championship during the January 2026 NCAA convention, with the first edition being held in spring 2027. and it became part of the Emerging Sports program for Division III in 2024. Championships are governed by USA Cheer. The first NCAA conference to sponsor stunt was the
Great Midwest Athletic Conference, a Division II league that added the sport for the 2022–23 school year. Initially, four full members and one affiliate competed; for 2023–24, two more full members added the sport and one other affiliate joined. On the same day that the Committee on Women's Athletics recommended the addition of acrobatics & tumbling as an official championship sport, it recommended the same for stunt. At that time, more than 40 NCAA members sponsored the sport, with at least 15 of them having added the sport in the 2024–25 school year. The procedure for elevating stunt to official championship status is identical to that for acrobatics & tumbling. The first official stunt championship, which would also use the National Collegiate format, would be held no earlier than spring 2027.
Timeline of Emerging Sports ==Scholarship limits by sport==