The Richmond Spiders football team will join the Patriot League in 2025, the school announced on Tuesday.
Richmond will officially join the Patriot League as a football-only member on July 1, 2025. Conference affiliations for all other Spider sports teams will not be affected.
According to the release, the conference move is being made “…following a comprehensive University review of the football team’s conference affiliation initiated after the 2023 season in response to continued changes in the national FCS landscape.”
“The institutions of the Patriot League are outstanding, both athletically and academically, and we are excited to join them for the 2025 football season,” said University of Richmond President Kevin F. Hallock. “The University of Richmond is firmly committed to not only meeting, but advancing the competitive goals of our student-athletes, and the upward trajectory of the Patriot League provides a great environment for the future success of Spider Football.”
Richmond has been a member of the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) since the 2007 season. Prior to that, the Spiders competed in the Atlantic 10 Conference from 1997 through 2006.
“The Patriot League provides our football student-athletes and staff with the opportunity to experience championship-level competition at the highest levels of the FCS in a conference that is rich in tradition, scholarship, and stability,” said Vice President and Director of Athletics John Hardt. “Joining the Patriot League puts our football program in a great position to continue to compete for championships and achieve the type of postseason success that is so important to our players, our university, and Spiders everywhere.”
With the addition of Richmond, the Patriot League will expand to eight teams. The Spiders will join existing members Bucknell, Colgate, Fordham, Georgetown, Holy Cross, Lafayette, and Lehigh.