UAFS approved to join the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association

The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith is set to join the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, making it the first Arkansas university to be a full member of the Kansas City-based association.

Full membership for UAFS will happen in the 2024-2025 academic year, according to Monday’s (June 26) press release from UAFS. The MIAA is one of the nation’s oldest conferences, dating back to 1912 and now has 14 full-time members. MIAA student-athletes have won 54 NCAA Division II team championships and well more than 400 individual national titles.

“The MIAA is excited to welcome the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith as a new member beginning next summer,” MIAA Commissioner Mike Racy said in a statement. As the MIAA CEOs have approved a plan for steady and strategic membership growth during the next few years, UAFS provides the MIAA with an opportunity to add an outstanding public university, with great leadership and terrific athletic facilities, in a growing community in Northwest Arkansas.”

The MIAA last expanded in 2019 with the addition of Newman University and Rogers State University as associate members. Both institutions became full-time members to begin the 2022-23 academic year.

The university becomes the MIAA’s first full-time member in Arkansas. Harding University, Ouachita Baptist University and Southern Arkansas University – all in Arkansas and all members of the Great American Conference (GAC) – are associate members of the MIAA for men’s tennis. Ouachita will also become an associate member of the MIAA for wrestling beginning with the 2023-24 season.

UAFS has 10 sports – volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, and men’s and women’s tennis.

“An athletic conference should bring like-minded institutions in a geographical area to compete and allow their student-athletes to excel academically and develop life skills, and the MIAA does that for UAFS,” UAFS Athletic Director Curtis Janz noted in the UAFS press release. “The geographical footprint of the MIAA allows for our student-athletes to participate academically and enhance their experience as collegiate student-athletes. Our fans can travel and support our teams on the road, just as we can welcome more fans from MIAA opponents.”

UAFS became a Division II athletic institution in 2010 and has been a member of the Lone Star Conference (LSC) since July 2019. Since becoming an NCAA member, the Lions have won 13 conference championships and have had 18 NCAA postseason appearances. The MIAA universities are in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

According to the UAFS, moving to the MIAA requires a $60,000 entrance fee, but is estimated to save the university $100,000 on travel-related (hotels, transportation, meals) costs.

“UAFS has enjoyed the competitive environment and valuable relationships within the Lone Star conference, but as the easternmost school in the conference, the travel demands have become untenable. Eleven institutions in the conference are more than 450 miles from UAFS, which is incredibly demanding for our student-athletes. As an NCAA Division II institution, our students’ academic progress must come first, and the move to the MIAA promises a nearly 50 percent reduction in travel time,” noted UAFS Chancellor Dr. Terisa Riley. “Beyond the time commitment traveling to Lone Star institutions required, the rising cost of travel, particularly considering current inflation rates, posed significant financial challenges. The move to the MIAA, whose member institutions are substantially closer to UAFS, is a major budgetary relief.”