The athletics teams of the university are called the LIU Sharks. Before the 2019–20 school year, the two LIU campuses operated separate athletic programs. The Brooklyn program, known at various times as "LIU" and "Long Island", and from 2013–14 as "LIU Brooklyn", competed in NCAA Division I under the final name of "LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds", with most teams playing in the Northeast Conference (NEC). The Post program, known immediately before the merger as the "LIU Post Pioneers", competed in NCAA Division II, primarily in the East Coast Conference. The university merged the two programs in July 2019, with some sports based in Brooklyn and others at Post. The new Sharks program inherited Brooklyn's Division I and NEC memberships. All varsity sports that had been sponsored by either campus before the merger continue to be sponsored by the current LIU program, and the university has added several more sports since the merger.