The Southland sponsors 18 sports, 10 for women and eight for men, and is governed by a presidential Board of Directors and an Advisory Council of athletic and academic administrators.

[12] The SLC also announced a football scheduling alliance with the Ohio Valley Conference, another FCS league that had experienced major membership losses during the early-2020s realignment cycle, for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

It was set to host the SLC's football media day through at least the 2026 season, as well as the conference tournaments in men's and women's basketball, baseball, and softball through 2026.

[17] In addition, on April 11, 2022 the conference announced in a press release that it had partnered with Troika Media Group to institute a rebrand to be implemented before the end of the calendar year.

[19] The following day saw the SLC lose two of its women's golf associates when the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and Northeast Conference (NEC) announced a partnership for baseball and men's and women's golf that saw all MEAC schools that sponsored those sports become NEC associates.

Accordingly, Delaware State and Maryland Eastern Shore, which had joined SLC women's golf just a year earlier, moved that sport to the NEC.

[21] Two months later, multiple media reports indicated that Stephen F. Austin would return to the SLC in July 2024;[22][23] this move was officially announced on May 29.

[44] San Jose State was added as a multi-year beach volleyball affiliate beginning with the 2023 season (2022–23 school year).

[45] UIC would only spend one season in SLC men's tennis, moving that sport to the Mid-American Conference in July 2023.

[52] Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southland Conference which are played by SLC schools: Notes Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southland Conference which are played by SLC schools: Notes Former and current players from the Southland that would go on to star in the National Football League include Gary Barbaro, Mike Barber, Fred Barnett, Bill Bergey, Derrick Blaylock, Bubby Brister, Ray Brown, Roger Carr, Mark Carrier, Larry Centers, Bruce Collie, Keith Davis, Fred Dean, Jackie Harris, Stan Humphries, Buford Jordan, Wade Key, Josh McCown, Tim McKyer, Jeff Novak, Kavika Pittman, Mike Quinn, Billy Ryckman, Ricky Sanders, Eugene Seale, Rafael Septién, Terrance Shaw, Marcus Spears, Chad Stanley, Pat Tilley, Jeremiah Trotter, Marvin Upshaw, Lardarius Webb and Spergon Wynn.

It aired in over 25 markets in the league's four-state region, plus on national networks such as Fox College Sports, ESPN GamePlan, and ESPN3.

The remainder of the schedule was available on ESPN3 or regional sports networks, including regular season and tournament basketball as well as championships in soccer, volleyball, softball and baseball.

Beginning with the 2015–16 school year, the Southland Conference entered into an agreement with the American Sports Network to syndicate and televise selected games,[70] while also continuing its association with ESPN3.

On October 8, 2020, the Southland Conference announced a multi-year extension through the 2024–25 academic year as well as an expansion of its media rights agreement with ESPN.