OVC-Big South Football Association

The OVC-Big South Football Association is a college football conference formed in 2023 through a partnership between the Ohio Valley Conference and the Big South Conference, combining their football-playing member institutions into a single association to compete for an automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Playoffs. The association was announced in February 2022 and began play with the 2023 season, with the Board of Presidents and Chancellors of the nine regionally aligned member institutions solidifying their long-term commitment in June 2023 through an enhanced agreement extending the partnership through 2030 and beyond. The eight member schools are Charleston Southern University, Eastern Illinois University, Gardner-Webb University, Lindenwood University, Southeast Missouri State University, Tennessee State University, the University of Tennessee at Martin, and Western Illinois University. The association is designed to provide its members with long-term structural stability, a competitive league schedule, and consistent access to the FCS postseason — key priorities for mid-sized programs that might otherwise face uncertainty competing in the broader landscape of FCS conference realignment.