 the sun belt conference is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the ncaa's division i since 1976. originally a non-football conference, the sun belt began sponsoring football in 2001. its football teams participate in the division i football bowl subdivision (fbs). the 11 member institutions of the sun belt are distributed primarily across the southern united states. ==history== right|thumb|350px|locations of sun belt conference full member institutions the sun belt conference was founded on august 4, 1976 with the university of new orleans, the university of south alabama, georgia state university, jacksonville university, the university of north carolina at charlotte, and the university of south florida. over the next ten years the conference would add western kentucky university, old dominion university, the university of alabama at birmingham, and virginia commonwealth university. new orleans was forced out of the league in 1980 due to its small on-campus gymnasium that the conference did not deem suitable for conference competition. uno competed as an independent before joining the newly formed american south conference in 1987. after the 1990-91 basketball season, all members of the sun belt, except western kentucky, south alabama, and jacksonville, departed for other conferences. the sun belt, including incoming member in the university of arkansas at little rock, then merged with the american south conference, made up of arkansas state university, louisiana tech university, the university of southwestern louisiana (now the university of louisiana at lafayette), the university of texasâpan american, new orleans (re-joined), lamar university, and the university of central florida. although the american south was the larger conference, the merged league retained the sun belt name. central florida left the league following the 1991-92 academic year. lamar, texasâpan american, and jacksonville departed at the end of the 1997-98 academic year. [[florida intern
Organizations_based_in_New_Orleans,_Louisiana Organizations_established_in_1976 Sports_in_the_Southern_United_States Sun_Belt_Conference