Liberty League, Buffalo State reach agreement on Football Associate Membership
TROY, N.Y. – Commissioner Tracy King announced that the Liberty League has reached an agreement with Buffalo State College to join the league as an associate member in football beginning with the 2019 football season. Buffalo State will become the Liberty League’s seventh football member, assuring that the league will retain its automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Football Championship.
“I am pleased to announce that Buffalo State has agreed to join the Liberty League as a football associate member,” said King. “This move is being made with the support and cooperation of the Empire 8 Athletic Conference and ensures that both conferences will continue to maintain access to the Division III football playoffs. I would like to thank Buffalo State athletics director Jerry Boyes and Empire 8 commissioner Chuck Mitrano for their support and foresight in making this partnership happen. This is a win for New York football student-athletes.”
In addition to Buffalo State joining the league in 2019, the Liberty League and Empire 8 have reached a scheduling agreement that includes crossover games between the two conferences during a four-year period from 2019 to 2022. The conferences earlier announced a postseason bowl game in which the top team from each conference not selected for the NCAA playoffs will participate. The inaugural game will be held at the conclusion of the current season.
?"We are extremely excited to be joining the Liberty League," Boyes said. "This move allows us to stabilize Division III football in New York State as well as guarantee our program a consistent and competitive 10-game schedule while preserving our long-standing rivalries."
“For a number of years, the Liberty League and the Empire 8 have both relied on associate members from outside the region in order to satisfy the requirements for an NCAA football bid. In the previous 14 years, the Liberty League has had five different associate members participate in football,” said King. “The geography has proven to be challenging for those institutions, but with the Liberty League and Empire 8 now consisting of entirely New York football teams, I believe we have a greater chance at achieving long-term stability.”
In April 2015, associate members Springfield College and WPI announced that they would be departing the Liberty League after the 2016 season in order to participate in football in their primary conference, the NEWMAC, which was adding football as a conference sport. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, another Liberty League associate member, announced it would also be joining the NEWMAC as an associate member. The loss of the three institutions left the Liberty League with just five football playing members – Hobart, RPI, Rochester, St. Lawrence and Union – with seven members needed in order to receive an NCAA bid.
The addition of Ithaca College as a full member for the 2017-18 academic year gave the Liberty League six full-member institutions that sponsor football. For conferences that fall below the seven required teams, NCAA Division III rules provide conferences with a two-year grace period in which they will retain their automatic bid. At the end of two years, a conference must be back up to seven members or it will lose its NCAA bid. The Liberty League will have six teams in 2017 and 2018. Buffalo State will move from the Empire 8 to the Liberty League in 2019, giving each conference seven teams.
Empire 8 football also includes Alfred, Hartwick, St. John Fisher and Utica along with associate members Brockport, Cortland and Morrisville State.