The Ohio Valley Conference also dropped below the number of eligible teams required for an automatic bid for the NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs between the 2021 and 2023 seasons.

[11] With the release of the 2023 joint football schedule, it was announced that the partnership between the two conferences would exist through the 2026–27 season.

[12] The following year, in June 2024, the two conferences announced that they had agreed to extend their partnership through 2030.

[13] On May 12, 2023, the OVC added Western Illinois University from the Summit League.

Western Illinois previously housed its football program in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, and it was announced that the Leathernecks would play out the 2023 season in the MVFC before joining its other sports and competing under the Big South-OVC banner for 2024 and beyond.