Fort Wayne Announces Decision to Leave Summit League

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Purdue University Fort Wayne announced Tuesday it will leave the Sioux Falls-based Summit League following the 2019-20 school year and will join the Horizon League. The university, formerly known as Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, or IPFW, cited the opportunity to join a more geographically friendly conference. The Mastodons, who have been in the Summit League since 2007 when it joined alongside both North Dakota State and South Dakota State, will be at the center point of the league that has schools in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, and is roughly an average of 170 miles away from each Horizon member. Purdue Fort Wayne’s departure is the third school from the Summit to move to the Horizon. Summit League Commissioner Tom Douple said in a statement Tuesday that Purdue Fort Wayne has been a solid member over the last decade and appreciated the university’s transparency about making a switch in conference affiliation. Douple noted the conference will return to nine teams when the University of Missouri Kansas City returns to the conference in 2020-21 after leaving in 2013. Both South Dakota and South Dakota State are members of the Summit League.