The league was originally chartered on May 16, 1989, as a men's basketball conference and now sponsors 17 sports (nine for men and 8 for women). The Skyline Conference sponsors baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's golf, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's tennis, and men's and women's volleyball.
Primarily comprising schools from the New York metropolitan area, the Skyline Conference currently has 11 full-time member schools, as well as five part-time members that compete in men's lacrosse and men's volleyball only.
Prior to the 2007–08 academic year, the league introduced the Skyline Presidents Cup. St. Joseph's (LI) won the first three Presidents Cups (2007–10), followed by Farmingdale State winning in 2010–11. St. Joseph's (LI) collected its fourth Presidents Cup in 2011–12, with Farmingdale State regaining the title in both 2012–13 and 2013–14.
In May 2018, Manhattanville College announced that they would leave the MAC Freedom Conference and return to the Skyline for the 2019–20 academic year. Manhattanville was a charter member of the Skyline before leaving to join the MAC in 2007.[1]
2007 - Four institutions had left the Skyline to join their respective new home primary conferences: Centenary (N.J.) to the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference (PAC; now the Colonial States Athletic Conference or CSAC), Manhattanville and Stevens to the MAC Freedom Conference, and U.S. Merchant Marine to the Landmark Conference) after the 2006–07 academic year.
2011 - Bard left the Skyline to join the Liberty League after the 2010–11 academic year.
2011 - New Jersey City University and Ramapo College joined the Skyline as associate members for men's volleyball in the 2012 spring season (2011-12 academic year).
2014 - NYU Poly left the Skyline to discontinue its athletics program as it was merged into New York University after the 2013–14 academic year.
^Manhattanville had been a charter member in 1989, but left the Skyline after the 2006–07 school year to join the MAC Freedom Conference before re-joining in the 2019–20 school year.
^Also known as the State University of New York at Purchase.
^Also known as the State University of New York Maritime College.
^Also known as the State University of New York at Old Westbury.
^Merchant Marine had been a charter member in 1989, but left the Skyline after the 2006–07 school year to join the Landmark Conference before re-joining in the 2016–17 school year.
Affiliate members
The Skyline currently has five affiliate members, all are public schools:
^ abBoth New Jersey City and Ramapo had previously competed as affiliate members of the Skyline for men's volleyball from the 2012 to 2017 spring seasons (2011–12 to 2016–17 school years).[2]
Former members
The Skyline had seven former full members, all but one were private schools:
^Stony Brook adopted its current nickname of Seawolves beginning the 1994–95 school year, immediately following the school's departure from the Skyline Conference.
The Kean and Ramapo men's volleyball programs left in 2017 for the Continental Volleyball Conference. Kean remains a men's lacrosse affiliate, and Ramapo returned men's volleyball to the Skyline in 2019.
New Jersey City men's volleyball left in 2017 for independent status, but returned to the Skyline in 2019.
The Sage Colleges left in 2017 for the Empire 8. They merged in 2020 and kept the Russell Sage College name.
Manhattanville left in 2007 for the MAC Freedom and returned in 2019.