College athletic competition constitutes a significant aspect of life in the United States. Virtually, every institution of higher learning fields intercollegiate teams in a multitude of sporting activities. Most colleges and universities join an organization, a conference of similar institutions, to enhance competition. Some also join single-sport conferences in order to participate in sports that their principal conferences do not accommodate. All conferences have names, often place-based names. Many place-based names convey their conference locations well; others fail in this regard. This essay examines the names of all 184 baccalaureate-level conferences in the United States, excludes those conference names that do not have a place basis, and divides the remaining conferences into two categories: those whose names are place appropriate and those that are not.

大学运动竞赛是美国生活的重要方面。实际上，每个高等教育领域的机构都在众多体育活动中相互配合。大多数高校都加入一个组织，一个由类似机构组成的会议，以增强竞争。有些人还参加单项运动大会，以参加其主要会议无法容纳的运动。所有会议都有名称，通常是基于地点的名称。许多基于地名的名字很好地表达了他们的会议地点。其他人在这方面失败了。本文研究了美国所有184个学士学位级别的会议的名称，排除了没有地名基础的会议名称，并将其余会议分为两类：