April Fools: SLU Athletics To Move To Division I
In a shocking development out of Canton, NY, it has been revealed to The Hill News that the St. Lawrence University Saints will be transitioning from Division III to Division I in all their sports. They will join the Atlantic Coast Conference for the geographic convenience it provides. On SLU joining the ACC, conference commissioner Jim Phillips said, “The ACC provides a close-knit community of colleges in close geographic convenience for each other, making travel quick and easy. For example, ACC schools like Stanford University and California are only 2,000 to 3,000 miles away from other ACC schools like Syracuse University and the University of Miami. We are so excited to add SLU in the fall of 2025!”
A major motivation for this conference shift for SLU is certainly the financial incentives of major sports like football and basketball. The expanded 12-team college football playoff debuted this season. It was a massive success, and March Madness is wildly popular every year. Both of these postseason tournaments, along with playing in the ACC in regular season games, generate a lot of revenue and will help SLU become flush with cash.
Some are worried about traveling out west and how this could disadvantage SLU, but the Saints have a home field advantage of their own in terms of the weather other teams will have to face when traveling up north. “Stanford cross country may seem like an unbeatable team for us,” said SLU Men’s Cross-Country Captain Colin Young ’28. “But they haven’t run in Canton in the snow, cold and wind of October or November, so I like our chances. Also, I expect myself to outkick Lex and Leo Young when we race against them.” This enthusiastic confidence of top Saints athletes certainly makes this big decision feel like a good one.
Moreover, renovations are underway in the athletic facilities to bring them up to ACC and NCAA Division I standards. Time-Out Café will be turned into a five-star restaurant, and expanded seating will be installed for the football field and basketball court to adequately accommodate the tens of thousands of fans that come to watch the Saints compete. Additionally, every team on campus will be given a new top-of-the-line locker room with TVs, couches, ping pong and pool tables, hot tubs and more!
Interestingly, the teams on campus that are already Division I – SLU’s Men’s and Women’s Hockey – will be joining a conference in the ACC that doesn’t even have hockey. Thus, every ACC men’s and women’s hockey game will be an intrasquad scrimmage. The teams will win the ACC championship and receive a bid to the NCAA Hockey Tournament every year until more teams join the conference. While every SLU team expects to be competitive in the ACC, our hockey teams have already won the conference title for 2026!
In the next few years, it will be very exciting to see how our athletic teams adjust to this nationally renowned conference to which we have been added. Good luck to all Saints athletes, and make sure to crush Syracuse to establish SLU as the best New York ACC team!