The Empire 8 (E8) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

's Division III. The E8 sponsors intercollegiate athletic competition in men's

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, men's and women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, men's and women's cross country, women's

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

, men's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, men's

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

, men's and women's

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

, men's and women's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, women's

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

, men's and women's

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

, men's and women's

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, men's and women's

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

, and women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

. The E8 shares offices with the

United Volleyball Conference The United Volleyball Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III men's volleyball conference located in the northeastern United States. Formed in August 2010 with play starting in January 2011, the conference operates o ...

, a separate Division III league that competes solely in men's volleyball.

History

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 Alfred University is a private university in Alfred, New York, United States. It has a total undergraduate population of approximately 1,600 students. The university hosts the statutory New York State College of Ceramics, which includes The In ...

Clarkson University Clarkson University is a private research university with its main campus in Potsdam, New York. Clarkson has additional graduate programs and research facilities in the New York Capital District. It was established in 1896 and enrolled over 4 ...

, Hobart College,

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...

(RPI), St. Lawrence University, and

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the s ...

. After Union left the league,

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca (town), New York, Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a Music school, conservatory of music. Ithaca College is known for its media-related programs and entertainment program ...

and

Rochester Institute of Technology The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private university, private research university in Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester, New York, Rochester. It was founded in 1829. It is one of only two institute of technology, institut ...

(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 Elmira College is a private college in Elmira, New York, United States. Founded as a Timeline of women's colleges in the United States#First and oldest, college for women in 1855, it is the oldest existing college granting degrees to women that ...

, Nazareth College, and

Utica University Utica University is a private university in Utica, New York. The university has a main campus in Utica; the Robert Brvenik Center for Business Education, in downtown Utica; and satellite locations in Syracuse, New York; Latham, New York; and ...

. 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 Stevens Institute of Technology is a Private university, private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey. Founded in 1870, it is one of the oldest technological universities in the United States and was the first college in America solely de ...

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 The Liberty League is an intercollegiate athletic conference which competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. Member schools are all located in the state of New York. History It was founded in 1995 as the ...

beginning in the fall of the 2011–12 season.

Houghton College Houghton University is a Private university, private Christian liberal arts college in Houghton, New York, United States. Houghton was founded in 1883 by Willard J. Houghton and is affiliated with the Wesleyan Church.National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

(NAIA) to

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

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 The Middle Atlantic Conferences (MAC) is an umbrella organization of three List of NCAA conferences, intercollegiate athletic conferences that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division III, Division III. The 1 ...

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 Keuka College is a private college in Keuka Park, New York, United States. Founded in 1890, It is Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, classified among "Master's Colleges and Universities (small)" and Higher education accreditat ...

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 The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...

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.

Chronological timeline

* 1964 – The Empire 8 was founded of the Independent College Athletic Conference (ICAC). charter members included

Clarkson College of Technology Clarkson University is a private research university with its main campus in Potsdam, New York. Clarkson has additional graduate programs and research facilities in the New York Capital District. It was established in 1896 and enrolled over 4, ...

(now Clarkson University), Hobart College (later

William Smith College William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is ...

followed suit when women's sports was added into the conference),

(RPI), St. Lawrence University, and

, beginning the 1964–65 academic year. * 1971 – Union (N.Y.) left the ICAC after the 1970–71 academic year. * 1971 –

and

(RIT) joined the ICAC in the 1971–72 academic year. * 1991 – Alfred and Clarkson left the ICAC after the 1990–91 academic year. * 1991 – The ICAC has been regrouped to become the Empire Athletic Association (EAA) in the 1991–92 academic year. * 1991 – Hartwick College joined the EAA in the 1991–92 academic year. * 1993 – Hobart/William Smith, Rensselaer Poly (RPI) and St. Lawrence left the EAA after the 1992–93 academic year. * 1993 –

, Nazareth College (now Nazareth University) and Utica College (now Utica University) joined the EAA in the 1993–94 academic year. * 1998 – St. John Fisher College joined the EAA, with Alfred re-joining alongside in the 1998–99 academic year. * 1999 – The EAA has been rebranded as the Empire 8 Athletic Conference (Empire 8 or E8), hosting 13 sponsored sports, in the 1999–2000 academic year. * 2006 –

(Stevens Tech or Stevens) joined the Empire 8 as an affiliate member for field hockey in the 2006 fall season (2006-07 academic year). * 2007 – Stevens upgraded to join the Empire 8 for full membership in the 2007-08 academic year. * 2011 – Rochester Tech (RIT) left the Empire 8 for the

after the 2010-11 academic year. Salisbury U. (MD) joined for football. * 2012 –

Houghton College Houghton University is a Private university, private Christian liberal arts college in Houghton, New York, United States. Houghton was founded in 1883 by Willard J. Houghton and is affiliated with the Wesleyan Church.Russell Sage College Russell Sage College (often Russell Sage or RSC) is a co-educational college with two campuses located in Albany and Troy, New York, approximately north of New York City in the Capital District. Russell Sage College offers both undergraduat ...

(then a women's college) and Sage College of Albany joined the Empire 8 in the 2017–18 academic year. * 2019 – Stevens left the Empire 8 to re-join back to the

(particularly the MAC's Freedom Conference) after the 2018–19 academic year. * 2020 –

joined the Empire 8 in the 2020–21 academic year * 2020 – The Sage Colleges merged Russell Sage and Sage College of Albany, making the former women-only Russell Sage co-educational, in the 2020–21 academic year. * 2022 –

Medaille College Medaille University was a private university, private college in Buffalo, New York. The Sisters of St. Joseph founded Medaille in 1937, naming it after their founder, Jean Paul Médaille. It later became nonsectarian and coeducational. The colle ...

joined the Empire 8 in the 2022–23 academic year. * 2023 – One year after joining, Medaille left the Empire 8 as the university announced that it would close at the end of the 2022–23 academic year. * 2024 – The State University of New York at Brockport (SUNY Brockport), the State University of New York at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo) and the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) will all join the Empire 8, beginning the 2024–25 academic year. * 2024 – Hilbert College joined the Empire 8 as an associate member for football for the 2024 season (2024-25 academic year). * 2025 – The Empire 8 announced that it entered into a scheduling agreement for non-conference football games with the

for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. As part of this agreement, Hilbert will leave the Empire 8 to join the Liberty League as an associate member for football after the 2024 season, giving both leagues 8 football-playing members.

Member schools

Current members

The Empire 8 currently has twelve full members, nine of them are

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

schools: ;Notes:

Affiliate members

The Empire 8 currently has eleven affiliate members; all but four are

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

schools:

Future affiliate members

The Empire 8 will have one new affiliate member; which is a

school:

Former members

The Empire 8 had ten former full members, all were

schools: ;Notes:

Former affiliate members

The Empire 8 had four former affiliate members, all but one were

schools: ;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1964 till:2030 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1991 text:

Alfred Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...

(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 (NY) (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 RIT is a common abbreviated name for Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, USA. RIT or rit may also refer to: Business * Recherche et Industrie Thérapeutiques, the former name of what is now GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals in Bel ...

(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:AssocOS from:2002 till:2022 text: Washington & Jefferson (field hockey, 2002–2022) bar:15 color:AssocF from:2004 till:2008 text:

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

(football, 2004–2008) bar:16 color:AssocF from:2004 till:2010 text: Springfield (Mass.) (football, 2004–2010) bar:17 color:FullxF from:2007 till:2019 text: Stevens (2007–2019) bar:18 color:AssocF from:2011 till:2016 text: Frostburg State (football, 2011–2016) bar:19 color:AssocF from:2011 till:2016 text:

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

(football, 2011–2016) bar:20 color:FullxF from:2012 till:end text: Houghton (2012–present) bar:21 color:AssocF from:2012 till:2019 text: Buffalo State (football, 2012–2019) bar:22 color:AssocF from:2014 till:2024 text:

SUNY Brockport State University of New York at Brockport (also known as SUNY Brockport or Brockport State, and previously The College at Brockport) is a public university in Brockport, New York, United States. It is part of the State University of New York (S ...

(football, 2014–2024; full, 2024–present) bar:22 color:FullxF from:2024 till:end text: bar:23 color:AssocF from:2015 till:end text: SUNY Cortland (football, 2015–present) bar:24 color:AssocF from:2015 till:end text: SUNY Morrisville (football, 2015–present) bar:25 color:FullxF from:2017 till:end text:

Russell Sage Russell Risley Sage (August 4, 1816 – July 22, 1906) was an American financier, railroad executive and Whig Party (United States), Whig politician from New York (state), New York, who became one of the List of richest Americans in history, rich ...

(2017–present) bar:26 color:FullxF from:2017 till:2020 text: Sage (2017–2020) bar:27 color:AssocOS from:2017 till:end text: Oswego (men's golf, 2017–present) bar:28 color:FullxF from:2020 till:end text: Keuka (2020–present) bar:29 color:FullxF from:2022 till:2023 text: Medaille (2022–2023) bar:30 color:FullxF from:2024 till:end text:

SUNY Geneseo The State University of New York College at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo State College or, colloquially, "Geneseo") is a public liberal arts college in Geneseo (village), New York, Geneseo, New York (state), New York. It is New York's public ho ...

(2024–present) bar:31 color:FullxF from:2024 till:end text: SUNY Poly (2024–present) bar:32 color:AssocF from:2024 till:2025 text:

Hilbert David Hilbert (; ; 23 January 1862 – 14 February 1943) was a German mathematician and philosophy of mathematics, philosopher of mathematics and one of the most influential mathematicians of his time. Hilbert discovered and developed a broad ...

(football, 2024–2025) bar:33 color:AssocOS from:2024 till:end text: Canton (men's golf, 2024–present) bar:34 color:AssocF from:2025 till:end text: Alfred State (football, 2025–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

Championships

Sports

The Empire 8 sponsors intercollegiate athletic competition in the following sports:

History

Chronological timeline

Member schools

Current members

Affiliate members

Future affiliate members

Former members

Former affiliate members

Membership timeline

Championships

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

External links