The conference folded after the 2011–12 academic year.

The Dakota Athletic Conference was formed from a merger between the North Dakota College Athletic Conference (NDCAC) and the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference (SDIC), effective the 2000-01 academic year.

Ten schools were a part of the conference in its history, consisting of the following: The DAC was one of the only NAIA conferences to have a television contract; America One owned the broadcast rights to the conference, although most of the games were only carried through the network's subscription service, B2 Networks.

The DAC ended with four full members, only one was a private school: The DAC had six former full members, only two were private schools: Member schools fielded men's and women's teams in cross country, basketball, track and field and golf.

Men's-only sports were baseball, football and wrestling, while soccer, softball and volleyball were only offered for women.