[2] The Sharks compete in NCAA Division I athletics and are members of the Northeast Conference.

After the school's uniforms were changed to black in 1935, a Brooklyn Eagle reporter from the Midwest saw the new look as the basketball team dribbled up and down the court and stated that the team looked like the blackbirds from back home; the comment struck home, and a new nickname was born.

[8] The LIU Sharks inherited the athletic legacy of the Brooklyn campus, including its membership in the Northeast Conference.

LIU added two completely new women's sports effective in 2019–20.

[11][12] The university incorporated athletic facilities on both the Brooklyn and Brookville campuses with basketball, bowling, fencing, ice hockey, swimming, track and field (indoor & outdoor), volleyball, and water polo based out of the Brooklyn campus while baseball, cross country, esports, equestrian, field hockey, football, golf, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, softball, tennis, and wrestling operating from the Brookville campus.