Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the FCS level comprises 129 teams in 13 conferences as of the 2024 season.

The FCS designation is relevant only for football; members of the subdivision compete in NCAA Division I in all other sports.

Of 144 schools participating in Division I football in the 1977 season, 79 were expected to qualify for I-A, with the remaining 65 relegated to I-AA.

[4] Some successfully appealed the decision, including eight members of the Mid-American Conference along with Cincinnati, a football independent at the time.

The next big increase in Division I-AA membership came after the January 1991 NCAA convention voted to require an athletic program to maintain all of its sports at the same divisional level by the 1993 season.