Since 2015, Viterbo University has been a member of the North Star Athletic Association (NSAA), an athletic conference consisting of teams from North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska. As part of the NSAA, Viterbo found much success, winning multiple conference championships among a variety of sports.
In October, it was announced that Viterbo would no longer be a member of the NSAA, and they would join the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC). Although this conference switch could raise many questions amongst the athletes and the Viterbo community, Athletic Director Barry Fried is confident there are benefits for student-athletes and their families. “From an athletics standpoint, we believe this change will lead to an improved experience for our student-athletes. The bus rides will be shorter, and we’ll be traveling to a larger market in a conference with a strong national brand. This means a greater variety of restaurants, hotels with a greater variety of things to do. Our new conference also offers a larger sport module than our previous conference,” says Fried.
He explains additional benefits by saying, “The benefit is that now almost all of our sports will be under one roof, so to speak, which will help unify our teams and our athletics department. Finally, the footprint of our new league is much closer overall to our recruiting areas so it will be easier for the parents and families of our student-athletes to come and watch their son or daughter compete.”
As the CCAC provides benefits to our student-athletes, it is important that this conference switch proves to be beneficial for the athletics department and university as a whole. Fried reports, “From an overall university standpoint, we believe this change is also very positive and has numerous benefits. The CCAC has many institutions that are similar to Viterbo in terms of mission, cost and overall profile. The benefit to that is we’re with like-minded schools that place a parallel emphasis on academics, leadership, and well-roundedness.”
Fried is also happy with the size of the league and states, “The size of our new league has a larger number of schools which will provide greater long-term stability and reduces the amount of non-conference contests that our teams have to schedule. Finally, the CCAC is a well-known NAIA conference across the country. This ultimately will strengthen Viterbo’s brand as a conference member, and it will also help expand our recruiting footprint to the Chicago area market.”
With the new conference being implemented for all sports in the 2024-25 school year, our student-athletes look to carry on their success to a new scene, while enjoying and taking advantage of the many benefits that come from this new switch.
