Originally developed as a five-team conference of Oklahoma-based schools, the SAC now boasts 13 schools in a league that spans six states – Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana.

The SAC crowns league champions in 18 intercollegiate sports – nine for women and nine for men.

Women's sports are basketball, softball, golf, tennis, cross country, soccer, volleyball, indoor track & field, outdoor track & field, and wrestling.

The SAC added Central Christian College of Kansas and Oklahoma Panhandle State University to the fold for 2017-18, then dropped to 11 schools when St. Gregory's announced its closure in November 2017.

Membership has changed over the years with today's current members being admitted as follows: Oklahoma City (1986), Wayland Baptist (1994), John Brown (1995), Mid-America Christian (2007), Southwestern Assemblies of God (2013), Texas Wesleyan (2013), Southwestern Christian (2013), Bacone (2014), Central Christian (2017), Oklahoma Panhandle State (2017), and North Texas–Dallas (2020).