The Patriot League is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS; still often referred to by its former designation of Division I-AA). There are seven football members and eight members for basketball and other sports. It was founded in 1986 as the Colonial League (not to be confused with the Colonial Athletic Association), but changed its name in 1990 when it expanded to include other sports besides football.

The Patriot League, which was founded on the principles of admitting athletes who are academically representative of their class, is in its second decade of existence. Participation in athletics at Patriot League institutions is viewed as an important component of the undergraduate experience. In the most recent NCAA Graduation Rate Report of student-athletes, the Patriot League ranked first among NCAA Division I conferences.

Patriot League members are schools with very strong academic reputations that adhere strongly to the ideal of the "scholar-athlete", with the emphasis on "scholar". Out-of-league play for Patriot League schools is typically with members of the Ivy League, which follow similar philosophies regarding academics and athletics.

While financial aid has always been available, athletic scholarships have only been given in recent years at Patriot League schools. Basketball scholarships were first allowed beginning with freshmen entering the league in the fall of 1998. In 2001, when American, which gave scholarships in all sports (AU does not play football) entered the league, the league began allowing all schools to do so in sports other than football. Lafayette, the last no athletic scholarships holdout, began granting full rides in basketball and other sports with freshmen entering the school in the fall of 2006. Football scholarships are still limited strictly to need-based aid.

Patriot League members have some of the oldest collegiate athletic programs in the country. In particular, The Rivalry between Lehigh University and Lafayette College is both the nation's most played and longest uninterrupted college football series . Similarly, matchups between Army and Navy in any sport, especially football, are always intense.

In NCAA basketball, Bucknell and Navy are the only teams in the conference ever to have recorded NCAA Tournament victories. Bucknell won tournament games in 2005 over Kansas and in 2006 over Arkansas. A Navy team led by future Hall of Famer David Robinson won three tournament games while advancing to the regional finals in 1986. Teams in other sports have been somewhat more successful when competing against scholarship schools, especially in men's lacrosse, where the Patriot League is generally considered one of the very best conferences in the nation.

The Patriot League was profiled in the John Feinstein book, The Last Amateurs. The title is derived from the belief that the Patriot League and the Ivy League were the last Division I basketball leagues which function as a place for student athletes, rather than functioning as a de facto minor professional league with players not representative of their student bodies. In it, Feinstein followed all the league's men's basketball teams during the 1999-2000 season.

There are eight full-time member schools:

There are three part-time member schools:

American does not play football, while Army and Navy participate as Independents in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A). Thus, Fordham and Georgetown replace them in the Patriot League for football only.