All 10 core members participate in the NCAA Division I for all Patriot League sports that they offer.

An academic index ensures that athletes are truly representative of and integrated with the rest of the student body.

The Patriot League champions in a number of other sports also receive an automatic invitation to their respective NCAA tournaments.

Needing opponents with a similar competitive level on a regular basis for each team's three nonconference games, the league contacted two university presidents, the Reverend John E. Brooks, S.J., of Holy Cross, and Peter Likins of Lehigh, about forming a new conference that also prohibited athletic scholarships.

[2][5] Its six charter members were Holy Cross, Lehigh, Bucknell, Colgate, Lafayette, and Davidson.

Davidson dropped out after the 1988 season for reasons related to geography, lack of competitiveness, and a reluctance to relinquish its basketball scholarships in case the conference expanded into other sports.

In 1991, the league gained an eighth full member, the United States Naval Academy (Navy).

Ursinus left after the 2001 fall season and is now a full member of the Division III Centennial Conference.

Lafayette, the last holdout with no athletic scholarships, began granting full rides in basketball and other sports with freshmen entering the school in the fall of 2006.

This action made Fordham ineligible for the league championship in that sport, but it also prompted a league-wide discussion on football scholarships.

On February 13, 2012, the Patriot League announced its members could begin offering football scholarships starting with the 2013–14 academic year.

Currently, Patriot League schools are permitted to offer up to the NCAA maximum of 63 scholarships for its football programs.

Points are awarded based upon a combination of an institution's regular-season and tournament finishes in each sport.

The Bison, Mountain Hawks, and Crusaders are the only teams to win in the NCAA tournament while actually representing the Patriot League.

A Navy team—then representing the Colonial Athletic Association—led by future Hall of Famer David Robinson won three tournament games while advancing to the regional finals in 1986, while BU won two games in the 1959 tournament before falling in the regional finals.

Until 1997, Patriot League teams did not participate in the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs.

The book is Feinstein's chronicle of all seven of the league's men's basketball teams at the time during the 1999–2000 season.