The prospect of the Summit League Conference expanding did a complete 180 this week.

Not only will the University of North Dakota not be joining the Summit League — the school was scheduled to meet with league officials Nov. 5 before abruptly canceling — but Southern Utah University and the University of South Dakota have also made arrangements to leave the Summit League in favor of joining the Big Sky. North Dakota officially announced it has accepted the Big Sky’s invitation and South Dakota is awaiting contract finalization, according to multiple media outlets.

Southern Utah has been a member of the Summit League since 1997, then called the Mid-Continent Conference. The Thunderbirds will begin play in the Big Sky in fall 2012, according to Southern Utah University’s official website. North Dakota and South Dakota are expected to do the same.

A primary reason for the schools’ leaving the Summit League is due to the revenue sharing advantages of playing in a football conference such as the Big Sky.

All three schools field football teams, while the majority of Summit League schools do not compete in football.

At the end of this athletic year, the Summit League will also lose Centenary College. The Gents are headed to Division III.

Once completed, these transitions will leave the Summit League with only eight teams. Currently, just four of the 32 Division I conferences have eight teams or fewer (West Coast, Great West, Ivy League, Patriot League). Conferences need at least seven teams to keep an automatic bid into the NCAA basketball tournament.

In an interview with The Oakland Post last month, when both UND and USD were expected to join, Summit League commissioner Tom Douple said the league will look to continue expansion within the Midwest.  Mass expansion is a recent, but quickly developing theme among Division I conferences.

These recent developments may quicken the pace of the Summit League’s search to replace its lost institutions.