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Metro Transit (Minnesota)

Metro Transit is the primary public transportation operator in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest operator in the state. In, the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of.

The system is a division of the Metropolitan Council, the region's metropolitan planning organization (MPO), carrying 90% to 95% of the transit riders in the region on a combined network of regular-route buses, light rail and commuter rail. The remainder of Twin Cities transit ridership is generally split among suburban "opt-out" carriers operating out of cities that have chosen not to participate in the Metro Transit network. The biggest opt-out providers are Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA), Maple Grove Transit and Southwest Transit (SW Transit). The University of Minnesota also operates a campus shuttle system that coordinates routes with Metro Transit services. It is considered to be one of the fastest growing mass transit networks in the US.

In 2017, buses carried about 68% of the system's passengers. Just above 16% of ridership was concentrated on Metro Transit's busiest route, the Green Line light rail. The region's other light rail line, the Blue Line, fell close behind, carrying 13% of Metro Transit passengers. Nearly 2% rode the A Line arterial rapid bus line. The remaining approximately 1% rode the Northstar Commuter Rail service. In 2015, Metro Transit saw its highest yearly ridership ever, with a total of 85.8 million trips, 62.1 million (72%) of which were on buses. The remaining 23.7 million (28%) of passengers traveled on the region's rail lines, including the then new Green Line. The single-day ridership record is 369,626, set on September 1, 2016.

Metro Transit drivers and vehicle maintenance personnel are organized through the Amalgamated Transit Union. The agency also contracts with private providers such as First Transit to offer paratransit services which operate under the Metro Mobility brand.

History
The agency was established by the Minnesota State Legislature in 1967 as the Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC), with the purpose of overseeing transit planning and improvements for the region. The idea for such an agency was first floated in 1950 and gained momentum at the Legislature in 1965 when it was supported by two separate studies. The Twin Cities' primary transit operator, Twin City Lines traces its history back to the first horsecar lines in the late 19th-century. In the eclipse of public takeover, Twin City Lines had 635 buses: 75% of those were over 15 years old and 86 buses were so old that they were banned in Minneapolis. The public complained that Twin City Lines buses were too slow, uncomfortable, and lacked connection with the other seven private suburban bus companies. The 64th Legislature failed to pass the establishment of a transit commission with regulatory, planning, and other powers in 1965. The 65th Legislature established MTC two years later after overwhelming support from 23 cities and Twin City Lines itself. Originally, the bill also would have provided MTC the authority to acquire private bus companies though condemnation, but was removed after lobbying from Twin City Lines. MTC composed of nine members, eight appointed by local governments and a chair appointed by the governor. The iconic "Circle T" came into use shortly after its creation, becoming a regionally recognizable symbol today.

With the new commission lacking expertise themselves, MTC retained two transit consulting firms. Simpson & Curtin were hired to analyze the current transit network and recommend improvements. Alan M. Voorhees & Associates took on the role of developing a long-range transit plan, including rapid transit. MTC had been involved in talks with Twin City Lines about purchasing them since fall 1968. MTC was reluctant to negotiate, since they did not have condemnation powers; while Twin City Lines was also reluctant because they did not want to be condemned. In October 1969 Simpson & Curtain, over two other alternatives, recommended public ownership of Twin City Lines, ridiculing them for "a record of long-term neglect". The other alternatives were to subside the bus company or jawboning the company to make improvements. On September 18, 1970, MTC acquired the dilapidated Twin City Lines bus system from businessman Carl Pohlad after mounting pressure for public ownership. At 5am that morning, buses rolled out with "Circle T" decals applied to old buses over the night, with a long-term rebranding effort ahead. From Simpson & Curtain, MTC already had a 13-point bus improvement plan, and had gained federal commitment of $9.7 million to help fund the acquisition and the first phase of the plan. MTC established a five year, $20 million program to modernize the system: kicking off the first year purchasing 93 new buses, building 135 new bus shelters, installing new bus stop signs, and the creation of a 24-hour information center. By 1975, MTC had acquired four private suburban companies, introduced 665 new buses to the fleet, and created the first highway express bus.

Shortly the acquisition of Twin City Lines, a long battle began to return rail transit to the region and efforts for additional lines continue at a snail's pace. It would take 32 years to see the first line implemented. In 1972, the Regional Fixed Guideway Study for MTC proposed a $1.3 billion 37- or 57-mile (sources differ) heavy rail rapid transit system, but the then-separate Metropolitan Council disagreed with that idea—refusing to even look at the plan—and continuing political battles prevented its implementation. The Met Council had its own plans for bus rapid transit in the Cities. Another system using smaller people movers was proposed in the 1975 Small Vehicle Fixed Guideway Study and gained the most traction with the Saint Paul city council, but was eventually dropped in 1980. In the 1980s, light rail was proposed as an alternative and several possible corridors were identified, including the Central Corridor, for which a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) was drawn up in 1982.

In 1994, MTC became a division of the Metropolitan Council, prompting a name change to Metropolitan Council Transit Operations (MCTO). Realizing the new name was not embraced by the public, the agency rebranded itself in late 1997 to Metro Transit. The effort was to create a "new name for a new beginning" in a period where support for light rail transit was beginning to peak. In 1998, Hennepin County Commissioner and Hennepin County Regional Rail Authority chairman Peter McLaughlin and Congressman Martin Sabo respectively secured local and federal funding for the Hiawatha Line. A year later Governor Jesse Ventura was able to secure state funding. Light rail began operation on June 26, 2004, just over 50 years since the last regular-service streetcar ran on June 19, 1954, under Twin City Lines. Heavy-rail commuter service began on November 14, 2009, with the Northstar Line.

Metro Transit does not cover the whole Twin Cities area. Bus service in the suburbs was being cut back in the early 1980s and suburb-to-suburb service was limited (an issue that remains today). In 1986, cities and counties in the seven-county metropolitan area were given the option to run their own bus services and leave the MTC system. About 17.5% of the area which has regular route transit service is served by these six other "opt out" transit systems. About 5% of the system is contracted to private transit providers.

Funding
Metro Transit currently receives the majority of its funding from the State Motor Vehicle Sales Tax, the State General Fund, fares and federal revenues. Metro Transit prepares an annual calendar budget, but most of its funding comes from state funds, on a July 1 biennial budget. Between 2001 and 2006, reductions in state general funds and state motor vehicle sales tax collections forced a set of service cuts, fare increases and fuel surcharges, all of which reduced ridership.

Local policy requires that one third of the system's funding is to come from fares and current operations slightly exceed that level. Since October 1, 2008, fares on all buses and trains increased by 25 cents. Express routes cost more (on limited-stop portions) and certain eligible individuals (such as riders with disabilities) may ride for $1. Many of the fares are more expensive during rush hour periods. For instance, a rush-hour ride on an express bus costs $3.25, as opposed to $2.50 for non-rush hours.

The system does not make much use of fare zones aside from downtown zones in Minneapolis and St. Paul, where rides only cost $0.50. Fare transfer cards valid for 2.5 hours are available upon payment of fare. Only the Northstar commuter rail line charges fares based on distance. A number of discounted multiple-use transit pass options are available. In early 2007, the system introduced a contactless smart card (the Go-To card) for paying fares.

A second fare increase occurred in 2017. "Under the new system, local fares for off-peak hours will increase from $1.75 to $2; while rides will go from $2.25 to $2.50 for peak hours. Metro Mobility users will pay $3.50 to $4.50 per ride, as well as an additional 75-cent surcharge for trips greater than 15 miles. Transit Link Dial-A-Ride fares will increase, on average, by $1.60, and include a 75-cent distance surcharge."

METRO System
Metro is the system of frequent, all-day light rail and bus rapid transit lines owned by the Metropolitan Council that provide station-to-station service to the Twin Cities region. Metro Transit is the operator of both of the region's light rail lines, the Metro Blue Line and the Metro Green Line, and the region's bus rapid transit lines: the Metro A Line, Metro C Line, Metro D Line, Metro Orange Line, and Metro Red Line. An additional bus rapid transit line, the Metro B Line, and an extension of the Metro Green Line are currently under construction.

Light rail

The METRO Blue Line opened on June 26, 2004, as the state's first light rail line, providing service between Hennepin Ave./Warehouse District Station and Fort Snelling Station. On December 4, 2004, service was extended to Mall of America station via Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport. As part of the Northstar Commuter Rail project, on November 14, 2009, the Blue Line was extended a few blocks north to Target Field (Metro Transit Station) to provide connections to the new commuter rail line. Current plans call for a northern extension of the Metro Blue Line to Brooklyn Park.

The METRO Green Line opened on June 14, 2014, and connects Downtown Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota, the Midway and Saint Anthony Park neighborhoods of St. Paul, the State Capitol and Downtown St. Paul with light rail service. Southwest LRT is a currently under construction extension of the Green Line through the southwest suburbs to Eden Prairie. On January 14, 2021, the Metropolitan Council announced that the Southwest LRT would not be able to make its targeted opening year of 2023 due to poor soil conditions in the Kenilworth Corridor. The expected opening date was revised to 2027 the following year.

Arterial bus rapid transit
The METRO A Line, is a bus rapid transit line, that operates along Snelling Avenue and Ford Parkway. The A Line connects the Metro Blue Line at 46th Street Station to the Rosedale Transit Center with a connection at the METRO Green Line Snelling Avenue station. The A Line was the first in a series of planned bus rapid transit lines that replace high ridership local routes. Service began on June 11, 2016.

The METRO C Line is a bus rapid transit line that operates along Penn Avenue and Olson Memorial Highway. The C Line connects Brooklyn Center, North Minneapolis, and Downtown Minneapolis. Service began on June 8, 2019.

The METRO D Line is a bus rapid transit line that operates along Fremont Avenue and Chicago Avenue. It connects Brooklyn Center, North Minneapolis, Downtown Minneapolis, South Minneapolis and Mall of America. Service began on December 3, 2022.

Highway bus rapid transit
The METRO Red Line is a bus rapid transit line providing connections between the Metro Blue Line at Mall of America and the southern suburb of Apple Valley. The line began service on June 22, 2013, operated by Minnesota Valley Transit Authority on behalf of the Metropolitan Council. On December 4, 2020, Metro Transit assumed all operations the Red Line.

The METRO Orange Line operates along Interstate 35W from Downtown Minneapolis to the southern suburbs, terminating in Burnsville. Transit improvements in the corridor had been discussed for decades before bus rapid transit was chosen as the preferred mode. The line began operations on December 4, 2021.

Metro Gold Line
The METRO Gold Line is a bus rapid transit line currently under construction. The route will run from Downtown Saint Paul to the east suburbs, terminating in Woodbury. It would be the first bus rapid transit line in the state to have dedicated lanes with 90% of the route traveling in these lanes. Operations are anticipated to start on March 22, 2025.

Metro Purple Line
The METRO Purple Line is a bus rapid transit line undergoing environmental analysis. The line will travel from downtown Saint Paul to White Bear Lake and 85-90% of the route will run on its own dedicated roads. The project would cost between $420-470 million and could open as soon as 2026.

Arterial bus rapid transit
There are two additional arterial bus rapid transit projects either under construction, undergoing engineering, or in the planning process.

The METRO B Line is a bus rapid transit route under construction for Lake Street, running from Bde Maka Ska in Minneapolis's Uptown neighborhood to the Snelling & Dayton station of the A Line and continuing to Downtown Saint Paul along Selby Avenue. Construction began in spring of 2023 with operation expected to begin by June 2025.

The METRO E Line is a bus rapid transit route proposed for Hennepin Avenue. The route will run from the University of Minnesota through Downtown Minneapolis, Uptown Minneapolis, and Southwest Minneapolis to Southdale Center. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2024, and construction to be done by 2025.

Other corridors
In fall 2020 Metro Transit announced that they would be resuming community engagement and development of upgrading local routes to bus rapid transit lines as part of Network Next. Out of 11 corridors, three would be selected as to be upgraded after completion of the Metro E Line. All three lines would be constructed at once around 2024–2025 and would be part of the METRO network. In February 2021, it was announced that the corridors would be:
 * F Line: Northtown Mall—Downtown Minneapolis via Central Avenue, currently served by Route 10.
 * G Line: Little Canada Transit Center—Downtown Saint Paul—Dakota County Service Center via Rice and Robert Streets, currently served by Routes 62 and 68.
 * H Line: Downtown Minneapolis—Sun Ray Transit Center via Como and Maryland Avenue, currently served by parts of Route 3, 64, and 80.

Additionally, the Riverview Corridor transitway project, which will likely be a streetcar, would likely be added to the METRO system but is not currently being planned directly by Metro Transit.

Bus routes

Metro Transit operates 123 bus routes, 66 of which are local routes and 51 are express routes. An additional six bus routes are operated under contract with Maple Grove Transit. In 2012, Metro Transit buses averaged 230,575 riders per weekday. The system operates almost 900 wait shelters, including 180 reclaimed from CBS Outdoor in March 2014.

Bus routes are numbered in accordance to portions of the metropolitan area served. Bus routes that primarily serve Minneapolis are numbered 1–49, 50–59 are inner-city limited-stop routes, 60–89 primarily serve St. Paul, and route 94 is an express route that connects the core areas of Minneapolis and St. Paul via I-94. 100 series routes are primarily commuter routes connecting outlying neighborhoods of Minneapolis and St. Paul to the cities' cores, as well as the University of Minnesota. 200 series routes serve the northeast metro, 300 series the southeast, 400 series the southern Dakota and Scott County suburbs, 500 series the suburbs of Richfield, Edina, and Bloomington, 600 series the west and southwest metro, 700 series the northwest metro and 800 series serves northern Anoka County suburbs.

Three-digit route numbers are further subdivided into two groups. Routes ending in x00–x49 are typically local service bus routes connecting METRO stations, shopping areas and other local destinations, whereas those ending in x50–x99 are primarily express service routes which connect outlying suburbs and park and ride facilities to the central business districts of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Additionally, the Northstar Commuter Rail line is publicly given route number 888.

High Frequency Network
A sub-network branded as the High Frequency Network (originally spelled Hi-Frequency) was created on September 9, 2006. This network highlights sixteen routes that offer headways of 15 minutes or better during weekdays from 6 am to 7 pm and Saturdays from 9 am to 6 pm. segments of Routes 2, 3, 6, 10, 11, 18, 54, 64 and all of Routes 21, 63, and METRO A, C, D, Blue, Orange, and Green Lines are part of the High Frequency Network. All of Route 16 and segments of Routes 5, 19 and 84 were formerly part of the network until being replaced by METRO lines in the same corridor.

Northstar Line
The Northstar Line is a commuter rail line providing service between Minneapolis and Big Lake, Minnesota, which opened on November 16, 2009. There are additional bus connections to Becker and St. Cloud, with three round-trips in the peak direction, one reverse commute round-trip on weekdays, and no weekend service. Additional service is provided on event days, such as during Twins and Vikings games. However, service is not provided on holidays.

Dedicated bus lanes
Several local transit routes travel along a dedicated transit mall in downtown Minneapolis. Nicollet Mall runs roughly south to north through downtown. An experiment to move buses off of Nicollet Mall to Hennepin Avenue in the afternoon rush hour occurred in 2005 and the results attracted mixed reviews. In 2007, 964 buses travelled through Nicollet Mall every day serving both local and express customers.

Some express routes used to travel along Nicollet Mall but starting in 2009, most express routes in downtown Minneapolis moved to the paired streets of Marquette Avenue and 2nd Avenue South on the Marq2 transit corridor. The $32 million dollar project was partly funded by the federal government under the Urban Partnership Agreement. The two-lane busways were built along the parallel roads which each travel one-way in opposite directions. The two lanes allow buses to stop at the curb to pick up customers and pass other buses in the second lane. A system of lettered gates was established, by which buses would only stop every other block along those two one-mile corridors. Some trip travel times were reduced by 10 minutes after 1,400 trips were consolidated in the corridor. NexTrip digital signs with arrival times were also added, although they weren't functioning at the beginning of the rollout. NexTrip information has also been available through the Metro Transit website since 2008 and can be accessed with mobile web browsers. After 10 years NexTrip signs on Marquette and 2nd Avenues were upgraded with new versions that have improved connectivity, better reliability, and improved NexTrip travel time predictions.

Bus-only lanes were first introduced to Hennepin Avenue South in 2018 and became permanent after a successful trial run. The bus-only lanes were found to improve speeds and reliability of travel through the corridor. The future Metro E Line would utilize these lanes. While bus-only lanes on Hennepin Avenue are only exclusively for transit during peak periods, a 24-hour bus-only lane was added to 7th Street in downtown Minneapolis in 2021. Local and express routes use 7th Street including the Metro C Line and Metro D Line. There is a southbound bus lane on Chicago Avenue between 28th and Lake Street as well.

Bus-only shoulders
Since 1991, Metro Transit buses have been allowed to use "bus-only shoulders," road shoulders to bypass traffic jams. Currently, buses are allowed to travel no more than 35 mph or 15 mph faster than the congested traffic in the general purpose lanes. Bus drivers must be very attentive when taking the bus onto the shoulder, since that part of the road is only about one foot wider than the buses in many cases. To help with this issue, researchers at the University of Minnesota helped rig up a bus with a lane-keep system, along with a heads-up display connected to a radar system to alert the driver of any obstacles. The technology was an adaptation of a system previously tested with drivers of snowplows and made some headlines in the early 2000s. This system will be more widely deployed under the Urban Partnership Agreement that assisted in the Marq2 project.

Transit centers
Metro Transit operates 29 transit centers, which provide connection points for bus and rail services throughout the metropolitan area.

Park and rides
Metro Transit operated service to 70 park and ride lots and ramps, with a total of 20,570 parking spaces available in 2019. Almost 12,000 spaces were used on a typical day during the 2019 survey. These lots allow commuters to park their cars for free and take buses and trains to the downtown areas to avoid traffic congestion and parking fees. A report on the region's park and ride system, including other transit agencies, is published annually.

Better Bus Stops
After a Star Tribune investigation found mismatches between bus stops with enough riders to qualify for a bus shelter and bus shelters without enough rides to justify a shelter, Metro Transit committed to spending $5.8 million to improve shelters, with $3.26 million coming from a Federal Transit Administration "Ladders of Opportunity" grant. The 2014 investigation found that 460 bus stops in Metro Transit's service area had enough riders to qualify for a shelter under the agency's standards but did not have one, while 200 of the 801 existing shelters did not have enough riders to justify a shelter. To spend the money Metro Transit created a program called Better Bus Stops that reevaluated shelter placement guidelines. Metro Transit dedicated 10% of project funds on community outreach, which helped guide bus shelter and transit information changes at bus stops. Bus stop signs were redesigned to include more route information, and the agency made a goal of adding 150 additional shelters for a total of around 950. New shelter placement guidelines did away with different threshold for suburban and urban stops, and made the criteria based just on number of boardings and proximity to priority locations.

Buses
Metro Transit operates the Gillig Phantom, Gillig Advantage (which comprises the majority of the fleet), New Flyer D60HF, D60LFR, Xcelsior XD60, and MCI D4500.

In the 2000s, most buses had a mostly white livery with a predominantly blue strip running horizontally along the side and a large white "T" inside a red circle on the roof. Diesel–electric hybrid buses introduced toward the end of the decade spurred new color schemes, with yellow at the front and the blue line moved above the side windows. The METRO light-rail vehicles have a different color scheme: predominantly blue and white, with yellow on each end. Metro Transit also uses vehicle wrap advertising on some buses and light rail cars, creating a different appearance.

All of the buses are handicapped-accessible, either using hydraulic lifts or a low-floor design. The Metropolitan Council also operates the Metro Mobility paratransit system for door-to-door transportation.

All Metro Transit buses and light- and heavy-rail trains have bike racks installed.

Rail
Metro Transit operates 27 Bombardier Flexity Swift vehicles on the Blue Line light rail line. There are also 64 Siemens S70 vehicles operating on both the Blue and Green Line light rail lines. Rolling stock for the Northstar Line commuter rail line consists of Bombardier BiLevel Coaches pulled by MotivePower MP36 locomotives.

title: Metro Transit (Minnesota)


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NCAA Division I

NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic powers, with large budgets, more elaborate and nicer facilities and a few more athletic scholarships than Divisions II and III as well as many smaller schools committed to the highest level of intercollegiate competition.

This level was previously called the University Division of the NCAA, in contrast to the lower-level College Division; these terms were replaced with numeric divisions in 1973. The University Division was renamed Division I, while the College Division was split in two; the College Division members that offered scholarships or wanted to compete against those who did became Division II, while those who did not want to offer scholarships became Division III.

For college football only, D-I schools are further divided into the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and those institutions that do not have any football program. FBS teams have higher game attendance requirements and more players receiving athletic scholarships than FCS teams. The FBS is named for its series of postseason bowl games, with various polls ranking teams after the conclusion of these games, while the FCS national champion is determined by a multi-team bracket tournament.

For the 2020–21 school year, Division I contained 357 out of the NCAA's 1,066 member institutions, with 130 in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), 127 in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and 100 non-football schools, with six additional schools in the transition from Division II to Division I. There was a moratorium on any additional movement up to D-I until 2012, after which any school that wants to move to D-I must be accepted for membership by a conference and show the NCAA it has the financial ability to support a D-I program.

Finances
Division I athletic programs generated $8.7 billion in revenue in the 2009–2010 academic year. Men's teams provided 55%, women's teams 15%, and 30% was not categorized by sex or sport. Football and men's basketball are usually a university's only profitable sports, and are called "revenue sports". From 2008 to 2012, 205 varsity teams were dropped in NCAA Division I – 72 for women and 133 for men, with men's tennis, gymnastics and wrestling hit particularly hard.

In the Football Bowl Subdivision (130 schools in 2017), between 50 and 60 percent of football and men's basketball programs generated positive revenues (above program expenses). However, in the Football Championship Subdivision (124 schools in 2017), only four percent of football and five percent of men's basketball programs generated positive revenues.

In 2012, 2% of athletic budgets were spent on equipment, uniforms and supplies for male athletes at NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision school, with the median spending per-school at $742,000.

In 2014, the NCAA and the student athletes debated whether student athletes should be paid. In April, the NCAA approved students-athletes getting free unlimited meals and snacks. The NCAA stated "The adoption of the meals legislation finished a conversation that began in the Awards, Benefits, Expenses and Financial Aid Cabinet. Members have worked to find appropriate ways to ensure student-athletes get the nutrition they need without jeopardizing Pell Grants or other federal aid received by the neediest student-athletes. With their vote, members of the council said they believe loosening NCAA rules on what and when food can be provided from athletics departments is the best way to address the issue."

According to the finance section of the NCAA page, "The NCAA receives most of its annual revenue from two sources: television and marketing rights for the Division I Men's Basketball Championship and ticket sales for all championships. That money is distributed in more than a dozen ways — almost all of which directly support NCAA schools, conferences and nearly half a million student-athletes. About 60% of the NCAA's annual revenue — around $600 million — is annually distributed directly to Division I member schools and conferences, while more than $150 million funds Division I championships" (NCAA 2021).

Finances

Football conferences
Under NCAA regulations, all Division I conferences defined as "multisport conferences" must meet the following criteria:
 * A total of at least seven active Division I members. However, the NCAA's Grace Period rule (Bylaw 20.02.9.2) allows conferences to operate for up to two years with less than the minimum.
 * Separate from the above, at least seven active Division 1 members that sponsor both men's and women's basketball.
 * Sponsorship of at least 12 NCAA Division I sports.
 * Minimum of six men's sports, with the following additional restrictions:
 * Men's basketball is a mandatory sport, and at least seven members must sponsor that sport.
 * Non-football conferences must sponsor at least two men's team sports other than basketball.
 * At least six members must sponsor five men's sports other than basketball, including either football or two other team sports.
 * Minimum of six women's sports, with the following additional restrictions:
 * Women's basketball is a mandatory sport, with at least seven members sponsoring that sport.
 * At least two other women's team sports must be sponsored.
 * At least six members must sponsor five women's sports other than basketball, with at least two of those five being team sports. If a conference officially sponsors an NCAA "emerging sport" for women (as of 2023–24, acrobatics & tumbling, equestrianism, rugby union, stunt, triathlon, or wrestling), that sport will be counted if five members (instead of six) sponsor it.

FBS conferences
FBS conferences must meet a more stringent set of requirements for NCAA recognition than other conferences:
 * A total of at least eight active FBS members.
 * To be counted toward this total, a school must participate in conference play in at least six men's and eight women's sports, including men's and women's basketball, football, and at least two other women's team sports.
 * Each school may count one men's and one women's sport not sponsored by its primary conference toward the above limits, as long as that sport competes in another Division I conference. The men's and women's sports so counted need not be the same sport.

† "Power Five" conferences with guaranteed berths in the New Year's Six, the bowl games associated with the College Football Playoff

‡ "Group of Five" conferences

 * Notes:

FCS conferences

 * Notes:

Men's team sports
Sports are ranked according to total possible scholarships (number of teams x number of scholarships per team). Scholarship numbers for head-count sports are indicated without a decimal point. Numbers for equivalency sports are indicated with a decimal point, with a trailing zero if needed.

Notes:
 * The NCAA officially classifies the men's championships in volleyball and water polo as "National Collegiate" championships, that being the designation for championships that are open to members of more than one NCAA division. The ice hockey championship, however, is styled as a "Division I" championship because of the previous existence of a separate Division II championship in that sport.

 * Football — D-I football programs are divided into FBS and FCS. The 133 FBS programs can award financial aid to as many as 85 players, with each player able to receive up to a full scholarship. The 128 FCS programs can award up to the equivalent of 63 full scholarships, divided among no more than 85 individuals. Some FCS conferences restrict scholarships to a lower level or prohibit scholarships altogether.
 * Soccer — As of the most recent 2023 NCAA soccer season (part of the 2023–24 academic year), four of the 10 FBS conferences do not sponsor men's soccer—the Big 12, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, and the SEC. Several other D-I conferences also do not sponsor the sport—the Big Sky, MEAC, Mountain West, Southland, and SWAC. The Ohio Valley Conference is the most recent conference to add men's soccer; it started sponsoring the sport for the first time in the 2023 season. Conference USA shut down its league after losing most of its men's soccer membership to the Sun Belt Conference, followed by the American Athletic Conference taking in CUSA's remaining four teams (three of which fully joined The American in 2023) as associate members for 2022. The MAC was reduced to 5 men's soccer members in the 2022 season, and shut down its league at the end of that season after being unable to find the sixth member needed to maintain its automatic NCAA tournament bid. Of its final men's soccer members, three moved that sport to the Missouri Valley Conference, one to the Big East Conference, and one to the Ohio Valley Conference.
 * The Pac-12 will be reduced to two full members in 2024, with only Oregon State sponsoring men's soccer. Oregon State will house most of its non-football sports in the West Coast Conference in the 2024–25 and 2025–26 school years. Pac-12 men's soccer affiliate San Diego State will move that sport to the Western Athletic Conference.
 * Ice hockey — Almost all D-I ice hockey programs are in the Northeast, the Upper Midwest, or the Colorado Front Range. Only one D-I all-sports conference, the Big Ten, sponsors a men's hockey league. All other conferences operate as hockey-specific leagues. Of the 61 teams competing in D-I hockey in 2022–23, 22 are otherwise classified as either D-II or D-III; a number of schools from D-II play in D-I ice hockey as the NCAA no longer sponsors a championship in D-II and many have traditional/cultural fan bases that support ice hockey, and the D-III schools were "grandfathered" in to D-I through their having sponsored hockey prior to the creation of D-III.
 * Lacrosse — The vast majority of D-I lacrosse programs are from the Northeast, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic. Only five D-I programs are not in the Eastern Time Zone—Air Force and Denver on the Colorado Front Range, Lindenwood on the Missouri side of the St. Louis metropolitan area, Marquette in Milwaukee, and Utah. Lindenwood will drop men's lacrosse after the 2024 season (2023–24 school year).
 * Volleyball — Of the traditional D-I conferences, only the Big West Conference and Northeast Conference sponsor men's volleyball, with those conferences respectively adding the sport in 2017–18 and 2022–23. Two of the other three major volleyball conferences, defined in that sport as leagues that include full Division I members, are volleyball-specific conferences; the third is the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, a multi-sport conference that does not sponsor football or basketball. In addition to the D-I schools, 33 D-II schools are competing in the National Collegiate division in 2023–24; eight of these are members of Conference Carolinas, the first all-sports league outside Division III to sponsor the sport; six are members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference; and four are either full or affiliate members of the East Coast Conference, which began sponsoring the sport in 2023–24.
 * Water Polo — The number of D-I schools sponsoring men's water polo has declined from 35 in 1987/88 to 22 in 2010/11. No school outside of California has ever made the finals of the championship, and all champions since 1998 have come from one of the four California schools that are leaving the Pac-12 in 2024.

Men's individual sports
The following table lists the men's individual D-I sports with at least 1,000 participating athletes. Sports are ranked by number of athletes.

D-I college wrestling has lost almost half of its programs since 1982.

Women's team sports

 * Notes:
 * As in the men's table above, sports are ranked in order of total possible scholarships. Numbers for head-count sports are indicated without a decimal point; those for equivalency sports are indicated with a decimal point, with a trailing zero if needed.
 * Women's soccer is the fastest growing NCAA D-I women's team sport over a prolonged period, increasing from 22 teams in 1981–82 to 335 teams in 2021–22. However, in recent years, the fastest-growing has been beach volleyball, which went from 14 Division I teams in 2011–12 to 62 in 2021–22.
 * † = Since the 2016–17 school year, rugby is classified by the NCAA as an "emerging sport" for women. Beach volleyball, which had previously been an "emerging sport" under the name of "sand volleyball", became an official NCAA championship sport in 2015–16.
 * * = The number of scholarships are partially linked for (indoor) volleyball and beach volleyball. Schools that field both indoor and beach volleyball teams are allowed 6.0 full scholarship equivalents specifically for beach volleyball as of 2016–17, with the further limitations that (1) no player receiving aid for beach volleyball can be on the indoor volleyball roster and (2) a maximum of 14 individuals can receive aid in beach volleyball. If a school fields only a beach volleyball team, it is allowed 8.0 full scholarship equivalents for that sport, also distributed among no more than 14 individuals.

Women's individual sports
The following table lists the women's individual D-I sports with at least 1,000 participating athletes. Sports are ranked by number of athletes.

Broadcasting and revenue
NCAA Division I schools have broadcasting contracts that showcase their more popular sports — typically football and men's basketball — on network television and in basic cable channels. These contracts can be quite lucrative, particularly for D-I schools from the biggest conferences. For example, the Big Ten conference in 2016 entered into contracts with Fox and ESPN that pay the conference $2.64 billion over six years.

The NCAA also holds certain TV contracts. For example, the NCAA's contract to show the men's basketball championship tournament (widely known as March Madness) is currently under a 14-year deal with CBS and Turner that runs from 2010 to 2024 and pays $11 billion.

For the 2014–15 fiscal year, the conferences that earned the most revenues (and that distributed the most revenues to each of their member schools) were:
 * 1) SEC — $527 million (dispersed $33 million to each of its member schools)
 * 2) Big 10 — $449 million (dispersed $32 million each)
 * 3) Pac-12 — $439 million (dispersed $25 million each)
 * 4) ACC — $403 million (dispersed $26 million each)
 * 5) Big 12 — $268 million (dispersed $23 million each)

Scholarship limits by sport
The NCAA has limits on the total financial aid each Division I member may award in each sport that the school sponsors. It divides sports that are sponsored into two types for purposes of scholarship limitations: The term "counter" is also key to this concept. The NCAA defines a "counter" as "an individual who is receiving institutional financial aid that is countable against the aid limitations in a sport."
 * "Head-count" sports, in which the NCAA limits the total number of individuals that can receive athletic scholarships, but allows each player to receive up to a full scholarship.
 * "Equivalency" sports, in which the NCAA limits the total financial aid that a school can offer in a given sport to the equivalent of a set number of full scholarships. Roster limitations may or may not apply, depending on the sport.

The number of scholarships that Division I members may award in each sport is listed below. In this table, scholarship numbers for head-count sports are indicated without a decimal point; for equivalency sports, they are listed with a decimal point, with a trailing zero if required.

Rules for multi-sport athletes
The NCAA also has rules specifying the sport in which multi-sport athletes are to be counted, with the basic rules being:
 * Anyone who participates in football is counted in that sport, even if he does not receive financial aid from the football program. An exception exists for players at non-scholarship FCS programs who receive aid in another sport.
 * Participants in basketball are counted in that sport, unless they also play football.
 * Participants in men's ice hockey are counted in that sport, unless they also play football or basketball.
 * Participants in both men's swimming and diving and men's water polo are counted in swimming and diving, unless they count in football or basketball.
 * Participants in women's (indoor) volleyball are counted in that sport unless they also play basketball.
 * All other multi-sport athletes are counted in whichever sport the school chooses.

Football subdivisions
Subdivisions in Division I exist only in football. In all other sports, all Division I conferences are equivalent. The subdivisions were recently given names to reflect the differing levels of football play in them.

As of the 2023 season, the main distinctions between Bowl Subdivision and Championship Subdivision schools are scholarship policies and the existence of an official NCAA championship in the latter subdivision. Before the 2023 season, the NCAA required that FBS schools average at least 15,000 attendance, allowing schools to report either total tickets sold or the number of persons in attendance at the games. The requirement was a minimum average of 15,000 people in attendance every other year. These numbers are posted to the NCAA statistics website for football each year. With new rules starting in the 2006 season, it was possible for the number of Bowl Subdivision schools to drop in the future if those schools were not able to pull in enough fans into the games. Additionally, 14 FCS schools had enough attendance to be moved up in 2012. Under current NCAA rules, these schools must have an invitation from an FBS conference in order to move to FBS. The difference in the postseasons in each of the subdivisions grant the FCS an advantage to have the best record in college football history, 17–0, while the FBS only allows a 15–0 record.

FBS attendance requirements were abolished early in the 2023 season, effective immediately. In their place, Division I added new requirements for athletic funding. Effective in 2027–28, FBS schools must fund the equivalent of at least 210 full scholarships across all of their NCAA sports; spend at least $6 million annually on athletic scholarships; and provide at least 90% of the total number of allowed scholarship equivalents across 16 sports, including football.

Football Bowl Subdivision
Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the top level of college football. Schools in Division I FBS compete in post-season bowl games, with the champions of five conferences, along with the highest-ranked champion of the other five conferences, receiving automatic bids to the access bowls.

FBS schools are limited to a total of 85 football players receiving financial assistance. For competitive reasons, a student receiving partial scholarship counts fully against the total of 85. Nearly all FBS schools that are not on NCAA probation give 85 full scholarships.

As of the upcoming 2024 college football season, there are 133 full members of Division I FBS, plus one transitional school that is considered an FBS member for scheduling purposes. The newest full FBS members are Jacksonville State, James Madison, and Sam Houston, which will complete the transition from FCS prior to the 2024 season. The next school to become a full FBS member is Kennesaw State, which will join Conference USA (CUSA) in 2024 and become a full FBS member a year later. Delaware and Missouri State are set to join CUSA in 2025 and become full FBS members in 2026.

Since the 2016 season, all FBS conferences have been allowed to conduct a championship game that does not count against the limit of 12 regular-season contests. Under the current rules, most recently changed in advance of the 2022 season, conferences have complete freedom to determine the participants in their championship games. From 2016 to 2021, FBS rules allowed such a game to be held either (1) between the winners of each of two divisions, with each team having played a full round-robin schedule within its division, or (2) between the conference's top two teams after a full round-robin conference schedule. Before 2016, "exempt" championship games could only be held between the divisional winners of conferences that had at least 12 football teams and split into divisions. The prize is normally a specific bowl game bid for which the conference has a tie-in.

Some conferences have numbers in their names but this often has no relation to the number of member institutions in the conference. The Big Ten Conference did not formally adopt the "Big Ten" name until 1987, but unofficially used that name when it had 10 members from 1917 to 1946, and again from 1949 forward. However, it has continued to use the name even after it expanded to 11 members with the addition of Penn State in 1990, 12 with the addition of Nebraska in 2011, and 14 with the arrival of Maryland and Rutgers in 2014. The Big 12 Conference was established in 1996 with 12 members, but continues to use that name even after a number of departures and a few replacements left the conference with 10 members, and later expansions brought the membership totals to 14 in 2023 and 16 effective in 2024. On the other hand, the Pac-12 Conference has used names (official or unofficial) that have reflected the number of members from the establishment of its current charter in 1959 until its collapse in 2024. The conference unofficially used "Big Five" (1959–62), "Big Six" (1962–64), and "Pacific-8" (1964–68) before officially adopting the "Pacific-8" name. The name duly changed to "Pacific-10" in 1978 with the addition of Arizona and Arizona State, and "Pac-12" (instead of "Pacific-12") in 2011 when Colorado and Utah joined. Conferences also tend to ignore their regional names when adding new schools. For example, the Pac-8/10/12 retained its "Pacific" moniker even though its four most recent additions (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah) are located in the inland West, and the original Big East kept its name even after adding schools (either in all sports or for football only) located in areas traditionally considered to be in the Midwest (Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, Notre Dame), Upper South (Louisville, Memphis) and Southwest (Houston, SMU). The non-football conference that assumed the Big East name when the original Big East split in 2013 is another example of this phenomenon, as half of its 10 inaugural schools (Butler, Creighton, DePaul, Marquette, Xavier) are traditionally regarded as being Midwestern. An even more extrema example of this phenomenon is the Atlantic Coast Conference. For the first 60 years after its 1953 founding, the ACC consisted entirely of schools in Atlantic Coast states. However, in 2013, the conference added three new schools, two of which (Pittsburgh and, for non-football sports, Indiana-based Notre Dame) were in states without an Atlantic shoreline. The following year saw the ACC add another non-Atlantic school in Louisville. Then, in 2023, the conference announced it would expand in 2024 to the Pacific coast with San Francisco Bay Area rivals California and Stanford, and also add SMU from Dallas–Fort Worth.

Conferences

 * – "Big Five" or "Power Five" conferences with guaranteed berths in the "access bowls" associated with the College Football Playoff

 * – "Group of Five" conferences

 * Notes:

Football Championship Subdivision
The Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, consists of 130 teams as of the 2022 season, with all participating in one of 14 conferences. The "I-AA" designation was dropped by the NCAA in 2006, although it is still informally and commonly used. FCS teams are limited to 63 players on scholarship (compared to 85 for FBS teams) and usually play an 11-game schedule (compared to 12 games for FBS teams). The FCS determines its national champion through an NCAA-sanctioned single-elimination bracket tournament, culminating in a title game, the NCAA Division I Football Championship. As of the 2018 season, the tournament begins with 24 teams; 10 conference champions that received automatic bids, and 14 teams selected at-large by a selection committee.

The postseason tournament traditionally begins on Thanksgiving weekend in late November. When I-AA was formed 46.60838989164763 years ago in 1978, the playoffs included just four teams for its first three seasons, doubling to eight teams for one season in 1981. From 1982 to 1985, there was a 12-team tournament; this expanded to 16 teams in 1986. The playoffs expanded to 20 teams starting in 2010, then grew to 24 teams in 2013. Since the 2010 season, the title game is held in early January at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. From 1997 through 2009, the title game was played in December in Chattanooga, Tennessee, preceded by five seasons in Huntington, West Virginia.

Abstainers
The Football Championship Subdivision includes several conferences which do not participate in the eponymous post-season championship tournament.

The Ivy League was reclassified to I-AA (FCS) following the 1981 season, and plays a strict ten-game schedule. Although it qualifies for an automatic bid, the Ivy League has not played any postseason games at all since becoming a conference for the 1956 NCAA University Division football season, citing academic concerns. (The last college which is now an Ivy League member to play in a bowl game was Columbia in the 1934 Rose Bowl.)

The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) has its own championship game in mid-December between the champions of its East and West divisions. Also, three of its member schools traditionally do not finish their regular seasons until Thanksgiving weekend. Grambling State and Southern play each other in the Bayou Classic, and Alabama State plays Tuskegee (of Division II) in the Turkey Day Classic. SWAC teams are eligible to accept at-large bids if their schedule is not in conflict. The last SWAC team to participate in the I-AA playoffs was Jackson State in 1997; the SWAC never achieved success in the tournament, going winless in 19 games in twenty years (1978–97). It had greater success outside the conference while in Division II and the preceding College Division.

From 2006 through 2009, the Pioneer Football League and Northeast Conference champions played in the Gridiron Classic. If a league champion was invited to the national championship playoff as an at-large bid (something the Pioneer league, at least, never received), the second-place team would play in the Gridiron Classic. That game was scrapped after the 2009 season when its four-year contract ran out; this coincided with the NCAA's announcement that the Northeast Conference would get an automatic bid to the tournament starting in 2010. The Big South Conference also received an automatic bid in the same season. The Pioneer Football League earned an automatic bid beginning in 2013.

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) began abstaining from the playoffs with the 2015 season. Like the SWAC, its members are eligible for at-large bids, and the two conferences have faced off in the Celebration Bowl as an alternative postseason game since the 2015 season.

Schools in a transition period after joining the FCS from a lower division (or from the NAIA) are also ineligible for the playoffs.

Scholarships
Division I FCS schools are currently restricted to giving financial assistance amounting to 63 full scholarships. As FCS football is an "equivalency" sport (as opposed to the "head-count" status of FBS football), Championship Subdivision schools may divide their allotment into partial scholarships. However, FCS schools may only have 85 players receiving any sort of athletic financial aid for football—the same numeric limit as FBS schools. Because of competitive forces, however, a substantial number of players in Championship Subdivision programs are on full scholarships. A former difference was that FCS schools had a limit of 30 players that could be provided with financial aid in a given season, while FBS schools were limited to 25 such additions per season. These limits were suspended in 2020 before being completely eliminated for both subdivisions in 2023. Finally, FCS schools are limited to 95 individuals participating in preseason practices, as opposed to 105 at FBS schools (the three service academies that play FBS football are exempt from preseason practice player limits by NCAA rule).

A few Championship Subdivision conferences are composed of schools that offer no athletic scholarships at all, most notably the Ivy League and the Pioneer Football League (PFL), a football-only conference. The Ivy League allows no athletic scholarships at all, while the PFL consists of schools that offer scholarships in other sports but choose not to take on the expense of a scholarship football program. The Northeast Conference also sponsored non-scholarship football, but began offering a maximum of 30 full scholarship equivalents in 2006, which grew to 40 in 2011 after a later vote of the league's school presidents and athletic directors and has since increased to 45. The Patriot League only began awarding football scholarships in the 2013 season, with the first scholarships awarded only to incoming freshmen. Before the conference began its transition to scholarship football, athletes receiving scholarships in other sports were ineligible to play football for member schools. Since the completion of the transition with the 2016 season, member schools have been allowed up to 60 full scholarship equivalents.

Conferences

 * Notes:

Division I non-football schools
Several Bowl Subdivision and Championship Subdivision conferences have member institutions that do not compete in football. Such schools are sometimes unofficially referred to as I-AAA.

The following non-football conferences have full members that sponsor football:
 * The America East Conference has four football-sponsoring schools—Albany, Bryant, Maine, and New Hampshire. As of the upcoming 2024 season, all play in CAA Football, the technically separate football league of the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA).
 * The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) has seven schools that sponsor football.
 * Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, and North Alabama play in the United Athletic Conference (UAC), which started play in 2023 as a football-only merger between the ASUN and the Western Athletic Conference. West Georgia will join both the ASUN and UAC in 2024.
 * Kennesaw State played the 2023 season as an FCS independent, its last before it joins Conference USA (CUSA) as a new FBS member.
 * Stetson plays in the PFL.
 * Bellarmine does not play NCAA football, instead playing the weight-restricted and non-NCAA variant of sprint football.
 * The Atlantic 10 Conference has seven football-sponsoring members:
 * Davidson and Dayton play in the PFL.
 * Duquesne plays in the Northeast Conference (NEC).
 * Fordham plays in the Patriot League.
 * Rhode Island and Richmond play in CAA Football. Richmond will leave CAA Football in 2025 for football membership in the Patriot League.
 * UMass plays FBS football as an independent through the 2024 season, after which it will leave the A-10 for the Mid-American Conference.
 * The current Big East Conference has four football-sponsoring schools. Three play in FCS—Butler in the PFL, Georgetown in the Patriot League, and Villanova in CAA Football. The fourth, UConn, plays as an FBS independent.
 * Three Big West Conference members have football programs. UC Davis and Cal Poly play FCS football in the Big Sky Conference, and Hawaiʻi plays FBS football in the Mountain West Conference.
 * The Horizon League has two football schools. Robert Morris will return to the NEC as a football associate in 2024, and Youngstown State plays in the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC).
 * The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) has one football school, with Marist playing in the PFL. Merrimack and Sacred Heart will join the MAAC in 2024; both will become FCS independents.
 * The Missouri Valley Conference has eight football schools—Drake, Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Murray State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois and Valparaiso. Drake and Valparaiso play in the PFL; all others compete in the MVFC (a separate legal entity from the MVC, despite the similar name). Missouri State will start a transition to FBS in 2024 and join CUSA in 2025.
 * The Summit League has five football schools, four of which play in the MVFC—North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota, and South Dakota State. The fifth, St. Thomas of Minnesota, plays in the PFL.
 * The West Coast Conference's (WCC) only football school, San Diego, plays in the PFL. Oregon State and Washington State, the only members of the Pac-12 Conference beyond the 2023–24 school year, will house most of their non-football sports in the WCC in 2024–25 and 2025–26.
 * The Western Athletic Conference will have four football schools in the 2024 season—Abilene Christian, Southern Utah, Tarleton, and Utah Tech. All play in the UAC.

The following Division I conferences do not sponsor football. These conferences still compete in Division I for all sports that they sponsor.

Conferences

 * Notes:

Of these, the two that most recently sponsored football were the Atlantic 10 and MAAC. The A-10 football league dissolved in 2006 with its members going to CAA Football, the technically separate football league operated by the all-sports Coastal Athletic Association. In addition, four A-10 schools (Dayton, Fordham, Duquesne, and Massachusetts) play football in a conference other CAA Football, which still includes two full-time A-10 members (Rhode Island and Richmond). The MAAC stopped sponsoring football in 2007, after most of its members gradually stopped fielding teams. Among current MAAC members that were in the conference before 2007, only Marist, which plays in the Pioneer Football League, still sponsors football.

From 2013 to 2021, the Western Athletic Conference was a non-football league, having dropped football after a near-complete membership turnover that saw the conference stripped of all but two of its football-sponsoring members. The two remaining football-sponsoring schools, Idaho and New Mexico State, played the 2013 season as FBS independents before becoming football-only members of the Sun Belt Conference in 2014. Both left Sun Belt football in 2018, with Idaho downgrading to FCS status and adding football to its all-sports Big Sky Conference membership and New Mexico State becoming an FBS independent. The WAC added two more football-sponsoring schools with the 2020 arrival of Tarleton and Utah Tech (then Dixie State) from Division II; both schools planned to be FCS independents for the foreseeable future. The WAC would reinstate football at the FCS level in 2021, coinciding with the arrival of four new members with FCS football; for its first season, it entered into a formal partnership with the ASUN Conference to give it enough playoff-eligible members to receive an automatic playoff berth. This partnership was renewed for the 2022 season, with five ASUN and three WAC schools participating, though each conference will play its own schedule. After the 2022 season, the ASUN and WAC announced a full football merger for 2023 and beyond under the banner of the United Athletic Conference.

Division I in ice hockey

Some sports, most notably ice hockey and men's volleyball, have completely different conference structures that operate outside of the normal NCAA sports conference structure.

As ice hockey is limited to a much smaller number of almost exclusively Northern schools, there is a completely different conference structure for teams. These conferences feature a mix of teams that play their other sports in various Division I conferences, and even Division II and Division III schools. For most of the early 21st century, there was no correlation between a team's ice hockey affiliation and its affiliation for other sports, with the exception of the Ivy League's hockey-playing schools all being members of the ECAC. For example, before 2013, the Hockey East men's conference consisted of one ACC school, one Big East school, four schools from the America East, one from the A-10, one CAA school, and two schools from the D-II Northeast-10 Conference, while the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) and Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) both had some Big Ten representation, plus Division II and III schools. Also, the divisional structure is truncated, with the Division II championship abolished in 1999.

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference ceased its sponsorship of the sport in 2003, with the remaining members forming Atlantic Hockey. For the next decade, no regular all-sport conferences sponsored ice hockey.

Starting with the 2013–14 season, Division I men's hockey experienced a major realignment. The Big Ten Conference began to sponsor ice hockey, and their institutions withdrew their membership from the WCHA and CCHA. Additionally, six other schools from those conferences withdrew to form the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference at the same time. The fallout from these moves led to the demise of the original CCHA, two more teams entering the NCHC, and further membership turnover in the men's side of the WCHA.

Women's hockey was largely unaffected by this realignment. The Big Ten still has only four members with varsity women's hockey (full members Michigan and Michigan State only ice men's teams, as does hockey-only member Notre Dame), with six teams required under conference bylaws for official sponsorship. As a result, the only changes in women's hockey affiliations in the 2010–14 period occurred in College Hockey America, which saw two schools drop the sport and three new members join.

The next significant realignment took place after the 2020–21 season, when seven of the 10 then-current men's members of the WCHA left to form a revived CCHA, which in turn led to the demise of the men's side of the WCHA.

Conferences
Accurate for the upcoming 2024–25 season.

 * Notes

Classification debate
In the early 21st century, a controversy arose in the NCAA over whether schools will continue to be allowed to have one showcased program in Division I with the remainder of the athletic program in a lower division, as is the case of, notably, Johns Hopkins University lacrosse as well as Colorado College and University of Alabama in Huntsville in ice hockey. This is an especially important issue in hockey, which has no Division II national championship and has several schools whose other athletic programs compete in Division II and Division III.

This controversy was resolved at the 2004 NCAA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee when the members supported Proposal 65–1, the amended legislation co-sponsored by Colorado College, Clarkson University, Hartwick College, the Johns Hopkins University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rutgers University–Newark, St. Lawrence University, and SUNY Oneonta. Each school affected by this debate is allowed to grant financial aid to student-athletes who compete in Division I programs in one men's sport and one women's sport. It is still permitted for other schools to place one men's and one women's sport in Division I going forward, but they cannot offer scholarships without bringing the whole program into compliance with Division I rules. In addition, schools in Divisions II and III are allowed to "play up" in any sport that does not have a championship for the school's own division, but only Division II programs and any Division III programs covered by the exemption can offer scholarships in those sports.

Five Division I programs at "waiver schools" were grandfathered with the passing of Proposal 65-1:

An additional three programs were grandfathered in Proposal 65-1 but no longer are sponsored in Division I:
 * Clarkson University – men's and women's ice hockey
 * Colorado College – men's ice hockey, women's soccer
 * Johns Hopkins University – men's and women's lacrosse
 * Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – men's ice hockey (women's ice hockey moved up to Division I in 2005)
 * St. Lawrence University – men's and women's ice hockey

 * Hartwick College – men's soccer, women's water polo (men's soccer dropped to Division III in 2018, with women's water polo discontinued at the same time)
 * Rutgers University–Newark – men's volleyball (dropped to Division III in 2014)
 * SUNY Oneonta – men's soccer (dropped to Division III in 2006)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: NCAA Division I


text:
STOBAR

STOBAR ("short take-off, barrier-arrested recovery") is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier, combining elements of "short take-off and vertical landing" (STOVL) with "catapult-assisted take-off, barrier-arrested recovery" (CATOBAR).

Aircraft launch under their own power using a ski-jump to assist take-off (rather than using a catapult). However, the planes are conventional, rather than STOVL aircraft, and thus require arrestor wires to land on the ship. The STOBAR system is simpler to build than CATOBAR. , it has been used widely on Russian, Indian, and Chinese carriers.

Advantages
Compared to CATOBAR, STOBAR is less expensive to develop. It is easier to operate than a CATOBAR configuration, which requires large number of operators to launch the aircraft. The lack of any moving parts in a ski-jump makes it less expensive to maintain than a catapult. It does not require any additional system to generate force required to launch the aircraft, unlike CATOBAR where an external force is needed to be generated either from steam catapult or Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) to launch the aircraft.

Limitations

One major limitation of STOBAR configuration is that it only works with fighter aircraft that have a high thrust-to-weight ratio such as Su-33 or MiG-29K and thus limits the kind of aircraft that can be operated from the carrier. It is not known what restrictions ski-jump takeoff implies on maximal aircraft weight. According to some sources, in order to become airborne, the aircraft may be required to limit its weaponry and fuel package in order to reduce the launch weight of the aircraft. However, according to other sources, the Super Hornet can take-off from a ski-jump with a significant weapons load. Using ski-jump can limit the ability to conduct sorties faster on STOBAR aircraft carrier. STOBAR carriers must maintain a speed of 20 – in order to generate wind speed required on deck which is essential for conducting aircraft launch operations.

List of STOBAR aircraft

 * HAL Tejas – two naval variants are being developed for the Indian Navy; a prototype (NP-1) is currently undergoing flight testing.
 * Mikoyan MiG-29K – currently active with the Indian Navy and the Russian Navy.
 * Shenyang J-15 – partially based on the Su-33, operated by the People's Liberation Army Navy on CHINESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Liaoning.
 * Sukhoi Su-33 – developed from Su-27 and only operated by the Russian Navy.

Users
As of July 2024, three countries currently operate STOBAR-type carriers; Russia and China are the only countries that have built a STOBAR ship for operation, while both India and China have procured STOBAR ships that were built by Russia and have had them converted for their own use. India is in the process of inducting its first indigenous aircraft carrier which is undergoing extensive sea trials.

title: STOBAR


text: Talk:Freak Out!

title: Talk:Freak Out!


text:
John Hopkins

John Hopkins may refer to:

Politics

 * John Hopkins (Bristol MP), member of the English House of Commons in 1601
 * John Hopkins (died 1732), English merchant, Member of Parliament (MP) for St Ives 1710–15 and Ilchester 1715–22
 * John Hopkins (lieutenant governor), lieutenant governor of South Carolina, 1806-1808
 * John Patrick Hopkins (1858–1918), mayor of Chicago 1893–1895
 * John Rout Hopkins (1829–1897), politician of Victoria, Australia
 * Sir John Hopkins, 1st Baronet (1863–1946), English Conservative Party politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for St Pancras South East 1918–23 and 1924–29
 * John Marquis Hopkins (1870–1912), Australian politician

Sports

 * John Hopkins (cricketer) (born 1953), former Welsh cricketer
 * John Hopkins (American football) (born c. 1969), American football placekicker
 * John Hopkins (motorcyclist) (born 1983), American motorcycle racer

Arts and entertainment

 * John Hopkins (actor) (born 1974), British actor
 * John Hopkins (artist), Australian artist, winner of John McCaughey Prize in 1981
 * John Hopkins (composer) (born 1949), British composer
 * John Hopkins (conductor) (1927–2013), British-born Australian conductor
 * John Hopkins (poet) (1675–?), English poet
 * John Hopkins, psalmist (see Metrical psalter)
 * John Hopkins (screenwriter) (1931–1998), British film and television writer
 * John Driskell Hopkins (born 1971), guitarist and vocalist for the Zac Brown Band
 * John Henry Hopkins Jr. (1820–1891), Pittsburgh-born writer of the carol "We Three Kings of Orient Are"
 * John Hopkins the Third, a 1921 film featuring Béla Lugosi
 * John Larkin Hopkins (1819–1873), English organist
 * John Hopkins (travel writer) (born 1938), American travel writer
 * John Christian Hopkins (born 1960), Narragansett journalist, author, poet and public speaker
 * Jon Hopkins (born 1979), English musician and producer

Other

 * John Hopkins (political activist) (1937–2015), also known as "Hoppy", British activist, journalist and photographer
 * John Hopkins (lawyer) (1936–2018), British academic
 * John Henry Hopkins (1792–1868), Episcopal presiding bishop
 * John Jay Hopkins (1893–1957), American executive; founder and president of General Dynamics
 * John Hopkins (Royal Navy officer) (1834–1916), British admiral
 * John Burroughs Hopkins (1742–1796), captain of the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War
 * John Collier Frederick Hopkins (1898–1981), British mycologist
 * John W. Hopkins, American serial killer and kidnapper

title: John Hopkins


text: User:H Padleckas

title: User:H Padleckas


text: Talk:Sweet Baby James

title: Talk:Sweet Baby James


text:
Generalized star-height problem

The generalized star-height problem in formal language theory is the open question whether all regular languages can be expressed using generalized regular expressions with a limited nesting depth of Kleene stars. Here, generalized regular expressions are defined like regular expressions, but they have a built-in complement operator. For a regular language, its generalized star height is defined as the minimum nesting depth of Kleene stars needed in order to describe the language by means of a generalized regular expression, hence the name of the problem.

More specifically, it is an open question whether a nesting depth of more than 1 is required, and if so, whether there is an algorithm to determine the minimum required star height.

Regular languages of star-height 0 are also known as star-free languages. The theorem of Schützenberger provides an algebraic characterization of star-free languages by means of aperiodic syntactic monoids. In particular star-free languages are a proper decidable subclass of regular languages.

title: Generalized star-height problem


text:
Robert L. Park

Robert Lee Park (January 16, 1931 – April 29, 2020) was an American professor of physics at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a former director of public information at the Washington office of the American Physical Society. Park was most noted for his critical commentaries on alternative medicine and pseudoscience, as well as his criticism of how legitimate science is distorted or ignored by the media, some scientists, and public policy advocates as expressed in his book Voodoo Science. He was also noted for his preference for robotic over crewed space exploration.

Early life
Park was born in 1931 in Kansas City, Missouri. His father was a lawyer and a farmer in southern Texas, and Park had originally intended to attend law school himself. He entered the Air Force in 1951 and served (among other places) at Walker Air Force Base in Roswell, New Mexico until 1956. When the Air Force sent him to radar school, he discovered a passion for physics.

Academic career
Park obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in physics at the University of Texas at Austin in 1958 and 1960, and his Ph.D. in physics at Brown University in 1964. During his graduate work he was associated with physicist Harrison E. Farnsworth with whom he co-authored several papers.

Park spent almost a decade working as a member of the technical staff, and later director of the Surface Physics Division, at Sandia National Laboratories, a U.S. government weapons research laboratory. In 1974, Park took a faculty position at the University of Maryland physics department, where he remained until retirement. He was director of UMD's Center of Materials Research from 1975 to 1978 and chairman of the Department of Physics and Astronomy from 1978 to 1982.

He was a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Vacuum Society.

Public policy work
From 1983 until 2006, he was director of public information at the Washington office of the American Physical Society. In this role (which he established), he engaged politicians and the press on matters of science and public policy. The Washington office now employs six people and Park continued in an advisory capacity. He has been seen in the media as an outspoken critic of human spaceflight, efforts to colonize space, and the prototype U.S. National Missile Defense (as well as its predecessor SDI).

Since 2013, Park has been listed on the Advisory Council of the National Center for Science Education.

Popular writing
Park wrote a column, What's New, which appeared on the University of Maryland's website. It featured discussions on topics such as science news, space exploration, energy, the government in science, pseudoscience, alternative medicine, the creation–evolution controversy, and nuclear weapons. Park has also expressed his opinion that Wikipedia is a target for misuse by the "purveyors of pseudoscience", though he has also stated that he finds the site to be both indispensable and "cool". In 2009 Park gave a public lecture at Dartmouth College on Malthusian overpopulation and the environment. He called for the distribution of the birth control pill, "arguably the most important technological development in history", to reduce fertility rates in developing nations. Park has criticized Texas A&M University's Trotter Prize for being awarded to creationist and intelligent design advocate William A. Dembski, whom Park calls "one of the nation's top pseudoscientists", for inappropriately forcing religion and science together.

Books
In 2000 Park published the book Voodoo Science, which addressed and criticized topics such as alternative medicine, telepathy and homeopathy. Reviewing the book for The New York Times, Ed Regis compared it positively to the 1957 book by Martin Gardner, Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, calling Voodoo Science a "worthy successor" and praising it for explaining why various purportedly scientific claims were in fact impossible. Science fiction author Charles Platt reviewed the book for The Washington Post, criticizing it for citing news stories as the inspiration for his criticisms and using ad hominem attacks against individuals criticized rather than performing a more thorough investigation of the topics, and speaking with the actual researchers. This was followed by a number of letters to the editor criticizing Platt for bias.

In 2010 Park published his second book, Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science. Publishers Weekly called the book "disjointed", unfavorably comparing it to Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon for merely summarizing the existing arguments about science and religion. Park commented that the reviewer for Publishers Weekly was offended at his assertion that "science is the only way of knowing." Booklist reviewed the book positively for its lucid style, engaging with respected scientists who also hold strong religious faith and its internal logic against claims of supernatural revelation and New Age irrationality. The same review noted that Park was less compelling in addressing his own atheism, neurochemistry and its ability to address problems such as free will.

Personal life
Park was married to Gerry and lived in Adelphi, Maryland. They have two sons, Robert Jr. and Daniel, and three grandchildren.

On September 3, 2000, Park was hospitalized after being struck by a falling oak tree. He later wrote about the experience in his book, Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science.

Park suffered a hemorrhagic stroke on March 17, 2013, which resulted in difficulty with reading, writing, and speech. In a newsletter update to his readers dated July 12, 2013, Park wrote, "Many wonderful people are helping me, but recovery is a long process. I am optimistic that I will resume writing What’s New." Park stated that he will continue writing his newsletter because "the public is often misled by reports in the media and unaware of it".

Park died April 29, 2020, survived by his wife and two sons.

Awards and honors

 * 1958 Phi Beta Kappa (University of Texas)
 * 1998 Joseph A. Burton Forum Award from the American Physical Society for his What's New column.
 * 2008 NCAS Philip J. Klass Award from the National Capital Area Skeptics

title: Robert L. Park


text:
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title: User talk:Jdelaney