Empire 8
The Empire 8 is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. The E8 sponsors intercollegiate athletic competition in men's baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, women's field hockey, men's football, men's golf, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, women's softball, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track and field, and women's volleyball. The E8 shares offices with the United Volleyball Conference, a separate Division III league that competes solely in men's volleyball.
About the Empire 8
The Empire 8 can trace its beginnings back to 1964 with the founding of the Independent College Athletic Conference. At this time, the conference was made up of Alfred University, Clarkson University, Hobart College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, St. Lawrence University, and Union College. After Union left the league, Ithaca College and Rochester Institute of Technology joined the ICAC.In 1991, the ICAC regrouped to become the Empire Athletic Association, 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, Nazareth College, and Utica College. 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 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 beginning in the fall of the 2011–12 season. Houghton College announced that they would join the Empire 8 in the 2012–13 season as they transitioned from a NAIA school to NCAA Division III status; they became full D-III members in 2016.
The most recent changes to the conference's membership were announced 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 after an absence of more than 40 years. Stevens joined the MAC's Freedom Conference. In January 2019, the E8 announced that Stevens would eventually be replaced by Keuka College in 2020–21.
On July 15, 2020, the Empire 8 Conference postponed all fall sports, but will provide conference championships in those sports in Spring 2021.
Member schools
Current members
Full member institutions are listed immediately below.| Institution | Location | Nickname | Founded | Type | Enrollment | Joined | Football? |
| Alfred University | Alfred, New York | Saxons | 1836 | Private | 2,055 | 1964, 1998 | Yes |
| Elmira College | Elmira, New York | Soaring Eagles | 1855 | Private | 1,170 | 1993 | No |
| Hartwick College | Oneonta, New York | Hawks | 1797 | Private | 1,600 | 1991 | Yes |
| Houghton College | Houghton, New York | Highlanders | 1883 | Private | 1,415 | 2012 | No |
| Nazareth College | Pittsford, New York | Golden Flyers | 1924 | Private | 3,140 | 1993 | No |
Sage College of Albany Russell Sage College | Albany, New York Troy, New York | Gators | 1916 | Private | 2,832 | 2017 | No |
| Pittsford, New York | Cardinals | 1948 | Private | 4,008 | 1998 | Yes | |
| Utica College | Utica, New York | Pioneers | 1946 | Private | 3,105 | 1993 | Yes |
Future member
| Institution | Location | Nickname | Founded | Type | Enrollment | Joining | Football? |
| Keuka College | Keuka Park, New York | Wolves | 1890 | Private | 1,650 | 2020 | No |
Affiliate members
Former members
Former affiliate members
Membership timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1964 till:2022
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
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all
id:OtherC1 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb # 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: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1991 text:Alfred
bar:1 color:FullxF from:1998 till:end text:
bar:2 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1991 text:Clarkson
bar:3 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1993 text:Hobart/William Smith
bar:4 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1993 text:RPI
bar:5 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1993 text:St. Lawrence
bar:6 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1971 text:Union
bar:7 color:FullxF from:1971 till:2017 text:Ithaca
bar:8 color:FullxF from:1971 till:2011 text:RIT
bar:9 color:FullxF from:1991 till:end text:Hartwick
bar:10 color:FullxF from:1993 till:end text:Elmira
bar:11 color:FullxF from:1993 till:end text:Nazareth
bar:12 color:FullxF from:1993 till:end text:Utica
bar:13 color:FullxF from:1998 till:end text:St. John Fisher
bar:14 color:FullxF from:2007 till:2019 text:Stevens
bar:15 shift: color:FullxF from:2012 till:end text:Houghton
bar:16 shift: color:FullxF from:2020 till:end text:Keuka
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1965