Sprint football


Sprint football is a varsity sport played by United States colleges and universities, under standard American football rules. Participating institutions are members of either the Collegiate Sprint Football League or the Midwest Sprint Football League.
In sprint football, players must weigh less than 178 lb and have a minimum of 5% body fat to be eligible to play. The end result of these weight restrictions is an emphasis on speed and agility rather than on size and strength.

Competition

As of the current 2025 season, nine schools play in the CSFL and six in the Midwest Sprint Football League. Of the nine CSFL members, six are private universities and two are national military academies. All MSFL members are private institutions. CSFL member Mansfield University of Pennsylvania is the only state university or college currently playing sprint football.

CSFL

All CSFL teams are located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. Eight schools joined in the 21st century, one in 2008, six in the 2010s, and one in 2024; one more is set to join in 2026. Five are active in sprint football in the 2025 season. Of these new members, three no longer sponsor the sport; Franklin Pierce University, which joined in 2012, transitioned to full-sized football in NCAA Division II after the 2018 season, Post University, which joined in 2010, did the same after the canceled 2020 season, and Alderson Broaddus University, which joined in 2019 and also fielded a full-sized football team, dropped all athletics and departed the CSFL in 2023. D'Youville University will join the CSFL when it adds the sport in 2026. Of the other 21st-century arrivals, no other current members also field a full-size varsity football team. The other four teams have full-size football teams that compete in NCAA Division I, the service academies in FBS, and the Ivy League schools in FCS. Each team plays a seven-game season. It is not uncommon for the CSFL teams to play against full-size junior varsity or club football squads from other schools in the early part of the season.
Army, Cornell, and Penn hold alumni games in which sprint football alumni return to campus for a full-contact scrimmage against the varsity squad. The alumni games serve the dual purpose of raising funds to support the team and maintaining alumni interest in the program. Typically, the alumni have to donate a monetary weight penalty for weighing above the 178-pound limit. In 2017, when Caldwell joined, the CSFL was split into two divisions, the North and the South. On December 7, 2017, St. Thomas Aquinas College was announced as the tenth team in the league, to begin play in the 2018 season. After that season, Franklin Pierce left to play full-sized football and was replaced by Alderson Broaddus. However, in 2023, Alderson Broaddus' authorization to grant degrees was revoked, and they were required to drop all athletics, including their sprint football program.
The newest CSFL member is Molloy University, a Division II member which added the sport in the 2024 season. As noted previously, D'Youville will add the sport in 2026 and join the CSFL.
As of 2023, only one charter member of the league remains, the Penn Quakers. The Princeton Tigers dropped the sport after 2015, following 16 consecutive years of winless seasons and changes in league membership, and shifted its resources to club football. A number of other Ivy League schools have historically had sprint football teams, including the Yale Bulldogs, Harvard Crimson, and Columbia Lions, all of whom had dropped the sport many years earlier; of the Ivy League schools, only Penn and the Cornell Big Red remain.
For its first 83 seasons, the CSFL did not sponsor playoff or bowl games as Commissioner. In July of that year, the league voted to not play a fall 2020 season out of concern over the COVID-19 pandemic, over the objections of Army and Navy, who indicated an intent to continue play without the other eight teams. In addition to a single Army-Navy game in the fall, Caldwell and St. Thomas Aquinas played a single game in spring 2021. The league resumed normal operations in fall 2021.

MSFL

The MSFL was formed in 2021, with play starting in 2022, by six private institutions in the Midwest and Upper South. The league has its own bylaws and championship, but uses the same weight limits as the CSFL. The creation of the MSFL was touted as "the largest single-year expansion of the sport in nearly 90 years." Of the members, all are Catholic except for Midway University and Oakland City University. The only NCAA Division I member is Bellarmine University, which was transitioning from NCAA Division II when the MSFL was formed. Quincy University, a Division II member, is the only charter MSFL member that also plays full-sized football. Three other charter members are NAIA members. Fontbonne University is the only charter member that no longer plays the sport; the NCAA Division III member played in the first two MSFL seasons before announcing its closure at the end of the 2024–25 academic year.
The league added two members, both private institutions, after its first season. Oakland City University, an NAIA member that does not play full-sized football, announced on July 19, 2022 that it was adding sprint football for the 2023 season. In the process, it became the MSFL's second non-Catholic member, instead being affiliated with the General Baptist churches. Exactly three months later, Walsh University, a Catholic institution and NCAA Division II member that plays full-sized football, announced it would also add sprint football for 2023.
Fontbonne announced they would depart the league after the 2023 season; the school would later announce in May of 2024 that it would be closing after the summer semester in 2025. Walsh University announced it would discontinue its sprint football program in 2025, while Saint Mary-of-the-Woods announced they would transition their sprint football team to full-sized play and begin competition in the NAIA starting in 2026, putting MSFL membership at only five members for the 2026 season.

Weight limit

CSFL rules, also used by the MSFL, require that players must weigh no more than, a figure that has slowly increased from its original as the weight of the American college student has increased over the course of the league's existence. League rules specify official weigh-ins four days and two days before each game. Players must weigh four days and 2 days prior to game day. Players are allowed to gain weight back after meeting the weight limit.

Notable players

Notable coaches

Broadcasting

Television rights to sprint football leagues are generally handled through the same outlets as their schools' respective athletic conferences. Caldwell, Chestnut Hill and Mansfield games are carried via Hudl-managed platforms of the CACC and PSAC, while Penn's and Cornell's home sprint games are carried via ESPN+ as part of its Ivy League contract, with ESPN+ also carrying select other CSFL and MSFL contests.