Wednesday, July 15, 2020
by Cody Bush, PFL Media Relations

ST. LOUIS - Pioneer Football League Commissioner Patty Viverito announced the league’s Presidents’ Council has agreed to accept the University of St. Thomas’ request for membership, effective for the 2021 season.

The University of St. Thomas, located in St. Paul, Minnesota, is currently a member of the Division III Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, of which it was a founding member in 1920. The Tommies applied for a move from Division III status to Division I, which the Division I Council granted earlier Wednesday.

After completing their final football season in the MIAC in 2020, St. Thomas will join the Pioneer Football League for the 2021 season. They will join Presbyterian as new members during the 2021 season, bringing the PFL membership to 11 members.

“The Tommies were one of the NCAA’s most successful football programs at any level over the past decade and they live their university mission on and off the field, which makes them an outstanding institutional fit for us,” said Viverito. “We are thrilled to expand to the Twin Cities, and proud to welcome a program with a track record for graduating players, winning conference titles and playoff games, and serving its community.”

Beginning play in 1993, the Pioneer Football league is the nation’s only non-scholarship, football-only NCAA Football Championship Subdivision conference. The PFL currently has nine members in eight states with members on each coast and throughout the nation’s heartland.