The Southland Conference is moving to a nine-game football schedule.

Monday, the league’s athletic directors voted unanimously to add the ninth conference game starting in the fall of 2026.

Currently, the SLC’s 10 football-playing schools will play eight league games this season. For instance, McNeese will not play defending Southland champ Incarnate Word, which would likely be one of the conference’s showcase contests in the fall.

This is the first season with 10 football schools since the league regrouped after the 2021 purge, when five schools left the conference. This will also be the first season with Texas-Rio Grande Valley playing football.

“I like the idea of playing everybody in the conference,” McNeese head coach Matt Viator said. “It makes a lot of sense to me. You get a true champion that way. It gives us another game against a like opponent.”

The A.D.s were on the same page, as each school continues to struggle to find the proper schedule.

“We were all in agreement about it,” said McNeese A.D. Heath Schroyer. “I think this is a great move by our league as we look to the future. Moving forward, it will be a lot easier for scheduling for all of us and will give us more shared revenue.”

The Southland’s decision comes as the Football Championship Subdivision looks to expand to a 12-game schedule overall every year.

The Cowboys and the rest of the FCS typically play an 11-game schedule, unless the weekly calendar allows for 12 games before the Thanksgiving break. That usually happens about every four or five seasons.

However, they have 12 games scheduled for next season, following a dozen games and a 6-6 finish last year. Twelve FCS games could be on the horizon as of 2026.

Earlier this spring, the FCS Oversight Committee met and recommended that its schools play 12 games annually, starting with the 2026 schedule. The one-game extension is expected to be finalized during the Division I Council meeting June 24-25.

“I think it will pass and that is good for our programs,” said SLC Commissioner Chris Grant. “It is another game for us to get revenue, and it has been hard for some of our teams to get games.”

Securing another Division 1 contest and avoiding the need to travel outside the league’s footprint is a significant win.

“This keeps our regional rivalries going,” said Grant. “This is a big thing for our schools. We hope it could help lead to getting two or three teams back in the postseason.

“Our schools have upgraded their schedules, but we haven’t seen the advantages of that yet.”

Grant added that at the meetings, the league discussed a new contract with ESPN and efforts to secure more games on linear networks. Last year, McNeese opened its season with a game at Tarleton State on ESPN. Nicholls and UIW will open this year the same way.

“I’m really excited about the nine and 12 games,” Viator said. “Anytime you get an opportunity to play a game, I think it is great for everyone.”

Grant said the good news this year is that the league is not concerned with expansion; instead, it is focusing on moving forward as a group. That includes the 22-game conference basketball schedule that starts next season.

Also discussed was the possible expansion of the postseason basketball tournaments. Currently, the top eight teams qualify for the tournament; however, the league is considering expanding to 10 teams in the future.

Grant said the league would need more hotel rooms in Lake Charles, which has a limited number, as the state high school tournament is in town at the same time.