The Southwestern Athletic Conference

What The Southwestern Athletic Conference does

The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a private, non-profit collegiate athletic conference founded in 1920 that organizes and administers intercollegiate athletic competition for 12 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across the Southeastern United States (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas). Member institutions include Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Alcorn State, Bethune-Cookman University, Florida A&M University, Grambling State, Jackson State, Mississippi Valley State, Prairie View A&M, Southern, Texas Southern, and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. The conference sponsors 19 sports, including Football, Men's and Women's Basketball, Baseball, Softball, Cross Country, Golf, Indoor/Outdoor Track, Tennis, Bowling, Soccer, and Volleyball, and runs an annual Commissioner's Cup competition recognizing the top-performing member institution across championships.

The conference's core digital product is its website (swac.org), which serves as the primary information hub and is operated in partnership with Sidearm Sports. Its flagship technical offering is the Composite Schedule platform (swac.org/calendar.aspx), a centralized scheduling system that aggregates athletic events across all 12 member institutions and 19 sports, with filtering by sport and school, and multi-channel distribution via iOS and Windows applications, Google Calendar import, RSS feeds, and downloadable Excel/Text schedules. Revenue is generated through member institution dues, media rights agreements, corporate sponsorships, and tournament/championship revenue across the sponsored sports programs. The GTM motion is event-driven, with content distribution serving fans and alumni as secondary consumers alongside the institutional members who are the primary customers.

Name

The Southwestern Athletic Conference

Legal name

Southwestern Athletic Conference

Website

https://swac.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1920

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Southwestern Athletic Conference is a non-profit collegiate athletic conference founded in 1920 that organizes intercollegiate competition for 12 historically Black colleges and universities across the Southeastern United States, sponsoring 19 sports and operating the swac.org digital platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Collegiate Athletic Conference

NAICS

Sports Teams and Clubs (711211), Spectator Sports (71121), Spectator Sports (7112)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Membership Sports & Recreation Clubs (7997)

akta.pro primary industry

Collegiate Athletic Conferences & Associations (MPAKACAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

University/School Sport Governing Bodies (Collegiate/Scholastic Associations) (MPAKAFAG), College/University Sports Events (NCAA & equivalents) (MPAGAMAE), National Collegiate Governing Bodies (e.g., NCAA/NAIA/NJCAA/USCAA) (MPAKACAC)

Keywords

• Collegiate athletic conference
• Intercollegiate athletics
• HBCU sports league
• Conference championships
• NCAA Division I athletics

Headquarters

HQ city

Birmingham

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Conference Operations: The Southwestern Athletic Conference generates revenue through member institution dues, media rights agreements, corporate sponsorships, and tournament/championship revenue from its 19 sponsored sports programs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Southwestern Athletic Conference organizes, schedules, and administers intercollegiate athletic competition across 19 sports for its 12 historically Black college and university (HBCU) member institutions. It provides composite scheduling, conference championships, NCAA compliance coordination, and a public-facing digital platform for distributing schedules, results, and event information to fans, alumni, and member schools.

Product overview

The Southwestern Athletic Conference operates a single unified web platform (SWAC.org) that serves as the primary digital hub for the conference. The core product includes the main website delivering news, schedule management through the Composite Schedule system, and tracking of the Commissioner's Cup competition. The Composite Schedule supports 18 sports across 13 member institutions including Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Alcorn State, Bethune-Cookman, Florida A&M, Grambling State, Jackson State, Mississippi Valley State, Prairie View A&M, Southern, Texas Southern, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SWAC.org Official Website The official web platform of the Southwestern Athletic Conference delivering news, schedules, results, event information, and conference updates for member institutions, fans, alumni, and the public.
• Composite Schedule A conference-wide scheduling platform that aggregates athletic events across all SWAC member institutions and sports, supporting filtering by sport and school, with subscription options via iOS/Win apps, Google Calendar, and RSS.
• Commissioner's Cup An annual award competition recognizing the top-performing SWAC member institution based on aggregate championship performance across all sponsored sports.

Named customers12 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Others

• Sidearm Sports: The digital platform operator powering swac.org and many other collegiate athletic conferences, providing the schedule, content management, and compliance infrastructure underlying SWAC's web presence.
• NCAA: The national governing body that sanctions SWAC competition, sets compliance standards, and controls the Division I FCS championship framework within which the SWAC operates.

Direct peers

• Big South Conference: An NCAA Division I FCS conference with a comparable membership size and sport sponsorship profile to the SWAC, competing for the same tier of media rights, sponsorship dollars, and FCS postseason positioning.
• Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC): The MEAC is the other primary NCAA Division I HBCU athletic conference, sponsoring a comparable slate of sports across its member institutions. It is the SWAC's closest analog in mission, membership profile, and media-rights positioning.
• Ohio Valley Conference: An NCAA Division I FCS conference with a comparable mid-sized membership structure and similar mix of football, basketball, and Olympic sports, mirroring SWAC's operational and competition profile.
• Southland Conference: An NCAA Division I conference with overlapping geographic footprint and similar sport sponsorship and FCS-level membership profile; competes with SWAC for regional broadcast rights and FCS postseason access.

Broad incumbents

• American Athletic Conference: A larger FBS/Division I conference whose membership realignment decisions (e.g., absorbing former SWAC/C-USA schools) directly affect the SWAC's competitive and media-rights landscape.
• Conference USA: A larger, multi-state NCAA Division I conference that competes with the SWAC for FBS/FCS-era membership and regional media rights, particularly in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi where SWAC schools operate.
• Sun Belt Conference: An FBS conference with overlapping Southeastern US geography; its expansion and media-rights strategy set the competitive bar against which the SWAC negotiates its own deals.

Emerging players

• HBCU+: An emerging HBCU-focused digital media platform creating new content and streaming options for SWAC-style HBCU sports content, partially competing for and partially complementing SWAC media-rights distribution.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Southwestern Athletic Conference