Elon will announce at 2pm Thursday that it will be leaving the Southern Conference and joining the CAA. The school would replace George Mason, who announced they will be leaving to join the Atlantic 10.

The loss of Elon by the Southern Conference comes at a time when the conference is expected to add VMI as well as ETSU and Mercer. In losing Elon, the conference no longer needs to seek a replacement for Davidson, as the conference would retain a balanced membership number of 10 members and has the option to remain at (10) or bring in (2) additional members to get to (12).

For the CAA, Elon would be the 10th member and 5th football playing member of the conference.

The CAA is expected to add Albany on Tuesday to ensure that the conference retains football sponsorship, giving the northeast members a school to offset the southern addition via Elon. Albany has rejected these claims that a move is imminent. Stony Brook had also been considered for all-sports membership to some extent, but rumored resistance from Hofstra may ultimately keep them out of the CAA.

VMI is likely to be joined by Atlantic Sun members East Tennessee St. and Mercer, two schools who in addition to VMI have had campus visits by the Southern Conference. If all (3) schools were to join, it would fill the voids left by College of Charleston, Appalachian St. and Georgia Southern. The conference would still have a void left from the loss of Davidson to the Atlantic 10.

The Atlantic 10 expansion process continues their strategy of bringing schools into the conference to prepare for potential departures. With the Big East still eyeing schools such as St. Louis, Dayton and Richmond. Davidson will allow the conference to retain some access into the southern market of Charlotte, providing a 5th school in the general region with Richmond, VCU, George Mason and George Washington.

The loss of Oakland is a difficult one for the Summit. Despite the addition of Denver, the conference has lost schools recently, such as UMKC to the WAC and Oral Roberts to the Southland, and the loss of Oakland will bring their membership to only 8 schools. With few immediate Division 2 upgrade options, the conference will likely reach out to other regional schools in states such as Minnesota.

The Horizon League will likely look to the Summit League for a replacement, with Oakland considered the top candidate.

The Sun Belt is expected to look at schools such as JMU, Liberty, Lamar and Sam Houston St. as replacements.

Conference USA is expected to replace Tulsa with a Sun Belt school such as Western Kentucky.

Appalachian St. and Georgia Southern will upgrade their football program from FCS to FBS and join the Sun Belt. Upon joining, the schools would be the 9th and 10th football members. Both schools are expected to join for the 2015 season.

In addition to the (2) all-sports members, the Sun Belt will also add Idaho and New Mexico St. as football-only members. The move will allow the Sun Belt to field a championship game. Schools like Jacksonville St., Lamar and Sam Houston St. were other potential members for spots 11-12 but will likely have to wait for current Sun Belt members to leave.

After being passed over last year, the recent departures of Xavier and Butler from the conference have opened up a spot for George Mason in the conference. George Mason will officially join the A10 on July 1, 2013. With the conference already consisting of fellow Washington D.C. school George Washington, along with nearby rivals Richmond and VCU, the A10 has strengthened it’s position within the region. For the CAA, the loss of George Mason is a devastating blow after losing VCU, ODU and Georgia St. already. College of Charleston will help offset those losses, but losing VCU, ODU and now George Mason, the top 3 programs in the conference, will be difficult to combat.

Adding Xavier will will allow the conference to maintain a presence in Cincinnati while Butler will replace Notre Dame as the bridge to DePaul and Marquette. Creighton might seem like a geographic stretch right now, but with St. Louis expected to join next year with Dayton or Richmond, that will no longer be the case.