On June 3, 2019, the NCAA announced that its Committee on Women's Athletics had recommended the addition of acrobatics & tumbling and wrestling to the Emerging Sports program, effective with the 2020–21 school year.

[7][8] At the time of the formal addition of acrobatics & tumbling to the Emerging Sports program, the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association, which has governed this discipline at college level, indicated that 30 NCAA schools would sponsor the sport in 2020–21.

[13] However, the Division III membership defeated the proposal to bring D-III equestrian under the NCAA umbrella; the vote was 195–174 against inclusion, with over 100 abstentions.

[7] Division III voted down a second attempt to bring equestrian under the NCAA umbrella in 2022.

[15] In 2016 it was nearly removed from the list, but at the NCAA Convention, the college administrators voted for it to continue.

Additionally, the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association, which currently administers the college championship, began actively working with more than 20 additional schools during the 2018–19 school year, with the goal of either establishing new women's rugby programs or elevating existing club teams to NCAA status.

At the 2023 NCAA convention, Division II approved the addition of stunt to the Emerging Sports program.

Divisions I and III did not immediately approve this move for their own purposes, but referred the proposal to the Committee on Women's Athletics.

On February 14, 2023, the committee voted unanimously to recommend the addition of stunt as an emerging sport in the other two divisions.

[14] The Division I Council formally approved the addition of stunt to the Emerging Sports program in April 2023.

Stunt became part of the Emerging Sports program for Divisions I and II in August 2023.

[18][19] Before the 2020 addition of acrobatics & tumbling and wrestling to the program, triathlon had been the newest emerging sport, having received that status in January 2014.

[6] Wrestling was added to the Emerging Sports program alongside acrobatics & tumbling in 2020–21.

The number of NCAA women's wrestling schools expanded further to 35 by the time that sport was formally added to the program.

[21] Following approval by all three divisions at the 2025 NCAA annual convention, the first official championship, which will initially be a single championship open to members of all divisions (officially the "National Collegiate" format), will be held in winter 2026.

It was the sport that achieved NCAA status the fastest, obtaining full recognition in two years.

As of the most recent 2021–22 season, 112 schools participated in varsity women's ice hockey—41 in the National Collegiate division (36 D-I, five D-II) and 71 in D-III.

[5] One D-I school (Robert Morris) will reinstate the sport in 2023–24 after having dropped it following the 2020–21 season.

All championships to date have been won by universities located in Los Angeles—five by USC and two by UCLA.

[5] Ohio State University has been the most successful collegiate team at synchronized swimming with, 15 before, 13 during, and two titles after the emerging sport period.

In equivalency sports, each team is restricted to offering athletically related financial aid equivalent to a set number of full scholarships, with that number typically fixed at a level considerably smaller than the standard squad size.

The vast majority of athletic aid awards in such sports are partial scholarships.

The Impact of the NCAA Emerging Sports Program for Women on Title IX Compliance: A 10-Year Longitudinal Study (PDF; 1,1MB) (Masters thesis).