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107-774: The American Athletic Conference ( AAC ), also known as The American , is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and six affiliate member universities that compete in The National Collegiate Athletic Association 's (NCAA) Division I . Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Member universities represent a range of private and public research universities of various enrollment sizes located primarily in urban metropolitan areas in

214-585: A "Group of Five" conference , which shares one automatic spot in the New Year's Six bowl games . The league is the product of substantial turmoil in The Old Big East during The 2010–14 conference realignment period . It is one of two conferences to emerge from the all-sports Big East in 2013. While the other successor, which does not sponsor football, purchased The Big East Conference name, The American inherited The Old Big East's structure and

321-710: A Division I conference, recruiting four schools from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation soccer league to join the three WAC members that sponsored the sport at that time. On April 19, 2011, several media outlets reported that the University of Massachusetts Amherst (also known as UMass) would upgrade its football program to FBS level and become an affiliate member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC), effective in 2013, for that sport only. The formal announcement came

428-580: A brief legal dispute, CUSA and the three schools reached a settlement that allowed those schools to join the SBC in 2022. With three men's soccer schools now joining in 2022 instead of 2023, the SBC announced it would reinstate men's soccer at that time. The new full members were joined by three full SBC members and three new associate members. Coastal Carolina played the 2021 season in CUSA. The other two full SBC members, Georgia Southern and Georgia State , played in

535-707: A championship game, allowing the Big 12 to reinstate its championship game with only 10 teams, starting with the 2017 season . Meanwhile, the ACC also faced the rumors of members leaving for the SEC or other conferences. As with the Big East (though the ACC did not have any non-football members until Notre Dame joined in 2013) the rumors were fueled by perceived tension between the basketball powerhouse " Tobacco Road " programs (Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Wake Forest) and

642-400: A full member, and Rutgers, Temple , Virginia Tech , and West Virginia as football-only members. Rutgers and West Virginia were offered full all-sports membership in 1995, while Virginia Tech waited until 2000 for the same offer. Temple football was kicked out after the 2004 season, but rejoined in 2012 and intended to become a full member in 2013. The unusual structure of the Big East, with

749-691: A full title for each co-champion. Accurate as of June 14, 2023. *- Does not include vacated championships †- No longer a member of the AAC ‡- Affiliate member No current American Conference member has won an NCAA team championship while a member of the conference. The only school to have won a fully recognized NCAA title while in The American, UConn, left for the Big East Conference in 2020. Several members have won national titles before joining The American. Another former member, SMU, won

856-648: A major role in their decisions to change conferences. The realignment process consumed much of the resources of conference administrators. Karl Benson , who was commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) when the cycle started and became Sun Belt Conference commissioner in March 2012, estimated that about 90 percent of his workload in his first two months as Sun Belt commissioner had been taken up by realignment-related issues—either recruiting new members or trying to keep current members in

963-515: A member of The American, whether or not the conference sponsored that sport at the time. The conference began football during the 1991–92 season, and it was a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series . Previously, conference opponents operated on a two-year cycle, as a home-and-home series. List of NCAA conferences Under NCAA regulations, all Division I conferences defined as "multisport conferences" must meet

1070-506: A possible move to that league. However, on October 1, the MW announced that its current membership would remain intact for the foreseeable future, removing its 12 football members (including football-only member Hawaiʻi ) from the list of potential new members for The American. For its part, The American officially denied extending invitations to the two Colorado schools. Later that month on October 18, 2021, Yahoo Sports reported that The American

1177-498: A second such sport in 2025. Unlike the other two divisions, Division III institutions cannot offer athletic scholarships. Among the other NCAA Division III requirements, schools have sports sponsorship requirements set by the NCAA. All institutions, regardless of enrollment, must sponsor at least three team sports for each sex/gender, and each playing season represented by each sex/gender. A sports sponsorship rule unique to Division III

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1284-595: A women's swimming & diving affiliate after the other schools fully joined The American. On September 1, 2023, SMU accepted an invitation to join the Atlantic Coast Conference for the 2024–25 season. With this the American was now down one team. On October 25, 2023, Army announced it would be joining the conference as a football-only member beginning in 2024, joining fellow service academy Navy. The annual Army–Navy Game , typically played at

1391-514: Is going to be well over $ 250,000 a year in savings because we fly a lot in the Atlantic Sun. Half the places in the OVC we won't spend the night, so it will be a great savings and hopefully we can reinvest that in our programs." Fisher shared that sentiment, adding, "We will more than make that up in travel costs the first year. We don't have to get on an airplane. The longest trip we have to take in

1498-656: Is that conference's legal successor . However, both conferences claim 1979 as their founding date, and the same history up to 2013. The American Athletic Conference is headquartered in Irving, Texas , and led by Commissioner Tim Pernetti , who replaced the retiring Mike Aresco on June 1, 2024. The Big East Conference was founded in 1979 as a basketball conference and included the colleges of Providence , St. John's , Georgetown , and Syracuse , which in turn invited Connecticut (UConn), Holy Cross , Rutgers , and Boston College to be members. UConn and Boston College would accept

1605-592: Is that the total number of sports that must be sponsored differs by a school's full-time undergraduate enrollment. Schools with an enrollment of 1,000 or fewer must sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women; those with larger enrollments must sponsor six men's and six women's sports. As in the other divisions, teams that include both men and women are treated as men's sports for the purpose of these regulations. Conferences that sponsor football highlighted in yellow. These all-sports conferences sponsor sports which do not have D-III championships. In addition to

1712-485: Is the only full member that does not sponsor football . Seven full members have left the conference. Six affiliate members have left the conference. Five other schools were affiliate members for one year before becoming full conference members. The American currently sponsors championship competition in 10 men's and 11 women's NCAA sanctioned sports. James Madison , Old Dominion , and Vanderbilt are affiliate members for women's lacrosse. Under NCAA rules reflecting

1819-447: The Big 12 Conference was on the verge of inviting four schools— including American Athletic Conference members Cincinnati , Houston , and UCF . Later that month, all three schools received and accepted membership offers on the date of the presidents' meeting, with the official announcement stating only that they would join the Big 12 no later than 2024–25. On June 10, 2022, The American and

1926-724: The Big 12 Conference , College Football Playoff , and the National Football Foundation . The conference also moved the men's basketball tournament to the region, to be played at the new Dickies Arena until 2022. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic , some member schools have eliminated sports due to budget constraints. The University of Cincinnati eliminated its men's soccer program while East Carolina University canceled men and women's swimming and diving teams and tennis teams. Women's rowing member San Diego State University dropped that sport effective with

2033-481: The Mountain West Conference ). Any of several schools could potentially fill the non-football slot, with Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports considering VCU to be "the most logical target there." Thamel dismissed the prospect of the American adding a new all-sports member, saying "there's no obvious candidate who could add value in both basketball and football." On June 24, 2019, it was reported that

2140-606: The Northeastern , Midwestern , and Southern regions of the United States. The American's legal predecessor, the original Big East Conference , was considered one of the six collegiate power conferences of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) era in college football, and The American inherited that status in the BCS's final season. With the advent of the College Football Playoff in 2014, The American became

2247-681: The Sun Belt for Florida Atlantic , Florida International , Middle Tennessee , North Texas , and Western Kentucky ; the WAC for Louisiana Tech and UT-San Antonio ; the Atlantic 10 for former C-USA member Charlotte ; and the CAA for Old Dominion . The last two schools had formerly been non-football schools, but ODU began sponsoring football in 2009 (2014 in FBS) and Charlotte in 2013. From 2011 to 2014,

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2354-620: The Sun Belt Conference effective in 2023, aligning its men's soccer program with that of West Virginia , the only pre-2023 Big 12 member sponsoring men's soccer. Cincinnati would remain in The American as a women's lacrosse affiliate, but left after the 2024 season when the Big 12 added that sport. In late September 2021, several national media outlets reported that Mountain West Conference (MW) members Air Force and Colorado State had approached The American regarding

2461-583: The University of South Dakota was on the verge of becoming a full member as well. South Dakota, then a Great West member, also began its transition to Division I in 2007–08. A report by the Grand Forks Herald on October 29 shed more light on the second round of Big Sky expansion. Both UND and USD were seeking a stable home for their respective football programs. USD had accepted an invitation to join The Summit League in 2011, and UND

2568-423: The "football" and "non-football" schools, led to instability in the conference. The waves of defection and replacement brought about by the conference realignments of 2005 and the early 2010s revealed tension between the football-sponsoring and non-football schools that eventually led to the split of the conference in 2013. The conference was reorganized following the tumultuous period of realignment that hobbled

2675-506: The 12th member of the Pac-10 in order to ensure an even number of members and allow the Pac-10 to have a football conference championship game . On June 17, Utah accepted an invitation to join the conference as its 12th member. On September 21, 2010, Colorado and the Big 12 reached an agreement to allow Colorado to join the Pac-10 a year earlier in 2011. Six Big East schools departed for other conferences. These include West Virginia to

2782-629: The 2008–09 fiscal year, the Big Ten Network alone distributed $ 6.4 million to each of the conference's 11 schools. Second, expanding to 12 or more schools would allow the conference to launch a potentially lucrative conference championship game in football . Shortly after the Big Ten announced its intention to explore expansion, the Pacific-10 Conference , under new commissioner Larry Scott , announced similar plans. As with

2889-464: The 2010–11 academic year. Most of these changes involved conferences in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of Division I. Every FBS conference, as well as the ranks of FBS independents , gained and/or lost football members, and the Mid-American Conference was the only FBS conference whose all-sports membership did not change. Most notably, the old Big East Conference split into football-sponsoring and non-football sponsoring conferences in 2013 with

2996-784: The 2011 season before folding completely in 2013. Additionally, Division I men's ice hockey underwent major realignment with the Big Ten beginning sponsorship of men's hockey, the formation of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference , and the demise of the original Central Collegiate Hockey Association . Every men's hockey conference, with the exception of the ECAC , was ultimately affected. Rumors of conference expansion began in December 2009, when Big Ten Conference commissioner Jim Delany announced that

3103-458: The 2020–21 season. Old Dominion was previously added to The American for women's rowing beginning in the 2018–19 season. The American moved their headquarters from Providence, Rhode Island to Irving, Texas . This was a planned move, to better centralize the conference offices with the member schools. Irving is in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex , which is also home to the headquarters of

3210-759: The 2023 equestrian title the year before it left for the ACC, but that sport does not yet have full NCAA recognition. Equestrian is recognized by the NCAA as part of its Emerging Sports for Women program, but championships are organized by the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA) instead of the NCAA. Excluded from these lists are all national championships earned outside the scope of NCAA competition , including Division I FBS football titles, Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association titles, women's AIAW titles, NCEA titles, retroactive Helms Athletic Foundation titles, and ITA tennis titles. Includes all titles won while

3317-434: The ACC after the 2012–13 academic year. At the same time that Notre Dame's future arrival was originally announced, the ACC also instituted an even more massive increase in exit fees. The fee is now set at three times the conference's annual operating budget; for 2012–13, the fee would be roughly $ 50 million. This, however, was not enough to keep Maryland from announcing a 2014 move to the Big Ten . On November 28, 2012,

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3424-552: The ACC voted to accept Louisville as its 14th member, replacing Maryland. On July 1, 2014, Maryland left the ACC and Louisville joined the ACC. While the Southeastern Conference has made few changes, the conference's 2011 addition of Texas A&M and later of Missouri from the Big 12 Conference set off the second wave of major conference realignment. Several other schools were rumored as potential expansion candidates, but none of these rumors proved true until

3531-466: The ACC. On September 18, 2011, the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse University officially applied to join the ACC. The applications were accepted later that day. Both teams were from the Big East Conference. They rejoined Virginia Tech , the University of Miami , and Boston College who defected from the Big East in 2003. Even Jim Boeheim , who at the time had played or coached men's basketball at Syracuse for nearly 50 years, did not know about

3638-495: The American, the conference's likeliest response would be to bring in two new schools—one for football only and a second in non-football sports, similar to the American's sequential additions of Navy and Wichita State. The most likely prospects for football-only membership were seen as Army (currently an FBS independent, with most of its other sports in the Patriot League ), and Air Force (currently an all-sports member of

3745-429: The Big 12 in 2012; Pittsburgh , Syracuse and Notre Dame to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in 2013, followed by Louisville in 2014; and Rutgers to the Big Ten in 2014. The seven remaining non-FBS football schools, DePaul , Georgetown , Marquette , Providence , St. John's , Seton Hall and Villanova , announced in December 2012 that they would leave as a group and form a new non-football conference under

3852-437: The Big East between 2010 and 2013. The Big East was one of the most severely impacted conferences during the early-2010s conference realignment period. In all, 14 member schools announced their departure for other conferences, and 15 other schools announced plans to join the conference (eight as all-sports members, and four for football only). Three of the latter group later backed out of their plans to join (one for all sports, and

3959-466: The Big East had formally approved an invitation for UConn to join the conference. On June 26, 2019, the UConn Board of Trustees accepted the invitation. On July 26, media reports indicated that UConn and The American had reached a buyout agreement that confirmed UConn's Big East arrival date as July 1, 2020, paying the American a $ 17 million exit fee. It was widely reported that UConn was "rejoining"

4066-726: The Big East name. Joining them in the revamped Big East were Creighton of the Missouri Valley Conference and Butler and Xavier of the Atlantic 10 . The remaining three members of the old Big East ( Cincinnati , Connecticut , and South Florida ) formed the American Athletic Conference along with nine other schools: UCF , East Carolina , Houston , Memphis , SMU , Temple , Tulsa , and Tulane as full members, and Navy for football only. Three additional schools, TCU , Boise State and San Diego State had announced plans to join

4173-537: The Big East) and West Virginia of the Big East to keep conference membership at 10 schools. After the Big 12 was shut out of the initial College Football Playoff in 2014 despite TCU and Baylor finishing as co-champions at 11-1, there was speculation that the Big 12 might expand back to 12 or more teams in order to resume the Big 12 Championship Game for football. In 2016, the NCAA removed its rule requiring FBS conferences to have at least 12 football members to hold

4280-501: The Big East, given that the Huskies would be reunited with many of the schools against which it played for three decades in the original Big East. Indeed, UConn was the last charter member of the old Big East still playing in The American. The American took a number of steps to stabilize the conference after the departure of UConn. The first move was the addition of Old Dominion University as an affiliate member in women's lacrosse for

4387-455: The Big Ten as well. On November 19, 2012, the Maryland regents voted to accept the Big Ten's offer, and the Big Ten presidents unanimously approved Maryland's entry later that day. Rutgers announced the day after that they would also join the Big Ten. Maryland and Rutgers officially became the thirteenth and fourteenth Big Ten members on July 1, 2014. On June 7, 2010, the universities of

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4494-454: The Big Ten, television played a major role in the Pac-10's efforts. The conference's then-current deal with Fox Sports Net was set to expire at the end of the 2010–11 school year, and in the wake of lucrative TV deals recently signed by the ACC and SEC , the Pac-10 felt a need to expand its footprint to gain more leverage in broadcast negotiations. Expansion to at least 12 teams would also allow

4601-579: The C-USA board of directors was to meet to discuss the merger. However, this merger idea was later scrapped, because of lost revenue from NCAA tournaments. The Mountain West ultimately regained members, thus making this idea unnecessary. Attrition from C-USA continued, with the former Big East recruiting more than half its members: UCF , Houston , Memphis and SMU left in 2013, and East Carolina , Tulane , and Tulsa in 2014. To replace them C-USA turned to

4708-598: The MAC announced that UMass would return to the conference in 2025, this time as a full member. Before the impending arrival of UMass, the last change to the MAC's core membership was Marshall's departure for Conference USA in 2005. The Sun Belt Conference had seen little effect from the first several rounds of realignment, with the only change being the loss of non-football member Denver to the WAC. Although South Alabama had announced it would establish an FBS football program and join

4815-493: The MAC announced the Minutemen would no longer be an affiliate with them effective for the 2015 season, instead playing as an FBS Independent . Ultimately, this meant that despite these changes in football membership, the MAC was the only FBS conference whose full-time membership did not change during this realignment cycle. The core membership was initially unaffected by the early-2020s realignment, but that changed in 2024 when

4922-566: The MAC. The new associates were Kentucky and South Carolina , which had been single-sport CUSA members since 2005; and West Virginia , which had previously announced that it would move men's soccer from the Mid-American Conference to CUSA in 2022. CUSA was then left with only four men's soccer programs for 2022 ( Charlotte , FIU , Florida Atlantic , and UAB ), with all but FIU set to become full American members in 2023. The American accordingly brought all four schools in as new men's soccer members for 2022, with FIU remaining an affiliate after

5029-399: The MW. On October 14, 2011 Conference USA (C-USA) and the Mountain West Conference announced they would enter into a football-only alliance, forming a 22-team league. The league would span 15 states and 5 time zones. However, following further defections from both conferences, the two leagues decided to enter into talks on a full merger. In early February 2012, ESPN.com reported that

5136-640: The NCAA sponsors separate championships for men and women are officially treated by the NCAA as two separate sports. Among the NCAA regulations, Division II institutions have to sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women (or four for men and six for women), with two team sports for each sex, and each playing season represented by each sex. Teams that consist of both men and women are counted as men's teams for sports sponsorship purposes. Conferences that sponsor football are highlighted in yellow. These all-sports conferences sponsor sports which do not have D-II championships. One of these conferences will add

5243-613: The NCAA's then-current requirement of 15,000 average attendance for FBS football. In 2012, they played their home games 93 miles (150 km) away at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough , the 69,000-seat home of the NFL's New England Patriots and the New England Revolution of MLS . UMass initially planned to expand McGuirk Stadium to a capacity of 25,000, and hopes to eventually return at least some games to campus, but

5350-522: The OVC in 2022, Morehead State and SIUE remain in the OVC today, and the OVC now has two other non-football members in Little Rock and Southern Indiana .) Belmont president Dr. Robert C. Fisher unequivocally denied any interest in starting a football program, stating "Football is not on the back burner. It's not on any burner." Belmont had to pay a $ 200,000 exit fee to the Atlantic Sun. However, Belmont AD Mike Strickland said, "...ballpark, I think it

5457-468: The OVC is about the same distance as our shortest trip outside of Nashville to play an A-Sun team." Although Belmont left behind an in-city rival in Lipscomb , all involved with the move wished that rivalry to continue. Ultimately, both Belmont and Lipscomb announced their basketball series would continue with home-and-home games each season, unusual among non-conference rivalries. Belmont also became

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5564-505: The OVC while it was transitioning from NAIA to NCAA Division I, but could not at the time because the OVC then required all members to sponsor football. This rule does not exist today—two other then-current OVC members did not play football in the conference, with Morehead State playing non-scholarship football in the Pioneer Football League and SIU Edwardsville not sponsoring the sport. (While Belmont eventually left

5671-473: The Pac-10 approved potential expansion plans and authorized commissioner Larry Scott to move ahead with expansion and issue invitations to six prospective schools: Colorado , Oklahoma , Oklahoma State , Texas , Texas A&M , and Texas Tech . On June 10, 2010, the Pac-10 announced that Colorado would be joining the conference in 2012. In the following days, rumors circulated that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State might follow suit and join

5778-417: The Pac-10 as soon as June 15, 2010, though Texas had not yet made a final decision. On June 14, Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott revealed that Texas had rejected the offer to join the conference. Shortly thereafter Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech pledged to follow suit and stay in the Big 12. Consequently, there was widespread belief that Utah would be offered an invitation to become

5885-560: The Pac-10 to form a 16-team "superconference". The Big 12 was forced to discontinue its football championship game after membership fell below twelve, the minimum number of schools then required to hold such a game. Two more schools departed in 2012 when Texas A&M and Missouri left to join the Southeastern Conference . The Big 12 responded by adding TCU of the Mountain West (formerly committed to join

5992-484: The Pac-10 to host a conference championship game . While television was undeniably a factor in the realignment speculation, it was not the only one; Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick claimed that at most schools, realignment was being driven primarily by university administrators who saw an opportunity to improve the academic image of their schools—not by athletic directors. Also, for at least three schools— Hawaiʻi , Belmont , and Denver —travel costs played

6099-421: The SBC in 2023. The CAA responded by invoking a provision of its bylaws to ban JMU from further conference championship events. The SBC responded by pushing JMU's entry forward to 2022. Soon after this, the other three CUSA members set to move to the SBC in 2023 ( Marshall , Old Dominion , and Southern Miss , with Marshall and ODU sponsoring men's soccer) announced that they would instead leave in 2022. Following

6206-585: The Shockers the league's first full non-football member since the Big East split. On June 21, 2019, a Boston-area sports news website, Digital Sports Desk , revealed that UConn was expected to announce by the end of the month that it would leave the American for the Big East Conference in 2020. The story was picked up by multiple national media outlets the next day. The main issue that reportedly had to be resolved prior to any official announcement

6313-511: The Sun Belt football conference. By returning to the Big Sky, Idaho rejoined a conference with numerous regional rivals, most notably cross-state rival Idaho State . Another Big Sky rivalry, against Eastern Washington , dates to 1905, and rivalries with two other Big Sky members, Montana and Montana State , were then more than 90 years old. Ultimately, South Dakota decided to turn down

6420-584: The Sun Belt football league in 2012, this move was finalized before the Big Ten and Pac-10 set the realignment process into motion. The Sun Belt's next move was to bring back one of its charter members, FCS upgrader Georgia State , effective in 2013. Soon afterwards, it became a target for C-USA after that conference lost several members to the American Athletic Conference. FIU , Florida Atlantic , Middle Tennessee , and North Texas all left for C-USA in 2013, and Western Kentucky did

6527-516: The Sun Belt in 2016 as an all sports-member; however, the football program, as part of its FBS transition, played the 2016 season as an FCS independent, and joined the Sun Belt in football in 2017 (being postseason-eligible only if the team has more than six wins, and more games than six-win eligible teams), becoming fully eligible in 2018. On March 1, 2016, the Sun Belt announced that it would not renew Idaho's and New Mexico State's football associate memberships after 2017. Conference realignment came to

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6634-672: The WAC saw a near-total replacement of its membership. The departure of Boise State in 2011 for the Mountain West, to be followed by Nevada and Fresno State the next year, kicked off sequential rounds of additions and departures that brought in Denver , UTSA , Texas State , UT Arlington and Seattle , but saw the announced departure of all of the newly added schools except Seattle, along with Hawaiʻi , Utah State , San Jose State , Louisiana Tech and Idaho , leaving only New Mexico State and new member Seattle, thereby endangering

6741-548: The above limits, as long as that sport competes in another Division I conference. The men's and women's sports so counted need not be the same sport. In addition to competing in football, multisport conferences in the Football Championship Subdivision must still meet the general NCAA Division I requirements regarding the minimum number of men's and women's sports ( see above ). Multisport conferences that do not compete in football must still meet

6848-617: The above, two single-sport conferences that currently participate in NCAA National Collegiate sports (those whose championship events are open to members of more than one NCAA division) and previously operated both men's and women's divisions now operate as women-only leagues. 2010%E2%80%932014 NCAA conference realignment The 2010–2014 NCAA conference realignment was a set of extensive changes in conference membership at all three levels of NCAA competition— Division I , Division II , and Division III —beginning in

6955-403: The change in affiliation before it occurred. Pittsburgh and Syracuse ultimately negotiated a buyout that enabled them to join the ACC in 2013. On September 12, 2012, the conference announced that the University of Notre Dame would become the conference's 15th member, moving all of its intercollegiate sports except for football , men's ice hockey , and fencing into the conference (the ACC at

7062-892: The conclusion of the regular season, will continue to be played annually as a non-conference game and will not count towards conference standings. However, it is possible for the two teams to meet a second time in a season in the American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game , should they finish as the top two teams in the conference. Full members (all-sports) Full members (non-football) Affiliate members (football-only) Affiliate member (other sport) Other Conference Other Conference The conference currently has 13 full member institutions – and six affiliate members – in 13 states, including Alabama, California, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Wichita State

7169-484: The conference ( Boise State University , San Jose State University , California State University, Fresno (generally known as Fresno State), the University of Nevada and Utah State University joined as all-sports members and the University of Hawaii joined for football only). Two schools—one a pre-2010 member ( San Diego State University ), and the other joining during the cycle (Boise State University)—had announced their upcoming departure, but later decided to stay in

7276-630: The conference confirmed their 2023 entry date on June 16, 2022. A series of further realignment moves centering on the Sun Belt Conference (SBC) led to The American's men's soccer league expanding earlier than planned. This sequence began in November 2021 when James Madison announced its departure from the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA; since renamed the Coastal Athletic Association ) to join

7383-537: The conference title and the FCS playoffs, at that time), joined the Sun Belt in 2014, and became full FBS members in 2015. After the WAC dropped football, Idaho , a former football-only Sun Belt member, and New Mexico State , formerly an all-sports member, both returned for football after one season as FBS independents. On September 1, 2015, the Sun Belt announced that Coastal Carolina of the FCS Big South would join

7490-457: The conference was reportedly planning to expand to 12 football members in the future. As it turned out, the conference would expand even further, issuing invitations to the University of North Dakota and Southern Utah University to become full members on October 29. On November 1, the Big Sky announced that both schools had accepted and would join effective with the 2012–13 academic year. Southern Utah moved from The Summit League , in which it

7597-525: The conference. After the Big Ten's initial announcement that it was looking at expansion in December 2009, rumors about possible expansion targets and the possibility that the conference might expand to as many as 14 or 16 teams circulated into May 2010. On June 11, 2010, Nebraska applied for membership in the Big Ten and was unanimously approved as the conference's 12th school. Its membership became effective July 1, 2011. Big Ten officials later stated that they had no plans to expand beyond 12 teams in

7704-423: The end of the 2020–21 season. In late July 2021, founding Big 12 members Oklahoma and Texas jointly announced that they planned to leave the conference no later than 2025, and formally requested an invitation from the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Shortly thereafter, The American became a peripheral player in this saga when the Big 12 sent a cease and desist letter to current broadcast partner ESPN, charging

7811-560: The end, USD turned down the Big Sky offer (see below ). The Big Sky's next move came in October 2012, when one of its charter members, the University of Idaho , announced its return to the conference in July 2014. Idaho had been one of the six original members of the Big Sky in 1963, and remained in the conference until 1996. The Vandals joined for all sports except football, which it was planning to play as an FBS independent before rejoining

7918-564: The establishment of the American Athletic Conference and the new Big East Conference , while the Western Athletic Conference became the first Division I FBS conference to drop football since the Big West Conference did so in 2000. The Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) also saw major changes, the most significant being the collapse of the Great West Conference , which dropped football after

8025-781: The following criteria: Schools in all divisions that sponsor athletic programs for only one sex/gender need only meet the sports sponsorship requirements for that sex/gender. Conferences in the Football Bowl Subdivision must meet a more stringent set of NCAA requirements than other conferences. Among these additional NCAA regulations, institutions in the Football Bowl Subdivision must be "multisport conferences" and participate in conference play in at least six men's and eight women's sports, including football, men's and women's basketball, and at least two other women's team sports. Each school may count one men's and one women's sport not sponsored by its primary conference toward

8132-458: The following day at a joint UMass–MAC press conference; the effective date of UMass' move was 2012, with full FBS membership and eligibility for the conference championship coming in 2013. The school continues to maintain all other current conference affiliations, mostly in the Atlantic 10 Conference . At the time of the announcement, the A-10 was also home to Temple University , whose football team

8239-441: The football-dominant schools (primarily Clemson , Virginia Tech , University of Miami , and Florida State ) as to whether it should add members with strong basketball programs or those with stronger football programs. In light of the rumors, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) voted unanimously on September 13, 2011, to raise its exit fees to $ 20 million. At the same time, multiple schools were rumored as possibilities to join

8346-429: The general NCAA Division I requirements regarding the minimum number of men's and women's sports ( see above ). Division I ice hockey has a different conference structure than the above multisport conferences. These schools have memberships in other conferences for other sports. This list includes conferences in sports that the NCAA does not fully split into divisions, such as men's volleyball and rifle. Sports in which

8453-584: The invitation, while Holy Cross soon thereafter declined the invitation, and Rutgers eventually declined and remained in the Atlantic 10 Conference (then known as the Eastern 8 Conference). Seton Hall was then invited as a replacement and the conference started play with seven members. Villanova and Pittsburgh joined shortly thereafter under the leadership of the first Big East commissioner, Dave Gavitt . The conference remained largely unchanged until 1991, when it began to sponsor football, adding Miami as

8560-488: The large number of male scholarship participants in football and attempting to address gender equity concerns (see also Title IX ), each member institution is required to provide more women's varsity sports than men's. Men's varsity sports not sponsored by The American which are played by conference schools: Women's varsity sports not sponsored by The American which are played by conference schools: Shared titles (ex: 2014 football, 2020 men's basketball) are counted as

8667-478: The league would consider adding one or more teams. Media reports indicated that the Big Ten had two major motives for expansion, the first being the conference's desire to increase the reach and programming schedule of its cable network, the Big Ten Network . At the time, the conference reportedly received as much as 88 cents per month for every subscriber to the network in the Big Ten member states, and in

8774-420: The near future. However, in mid-November 2012, the landscape changed, as ESPN reported that the University of Maryland , a charter member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), was in "serious negotiations" to join the Big Ten, ultimately concluding in the Big Ten making an offer to Maryland to join the conference. Rutgers University of the Big East Conference was also reported to be in consideration to join

8881-475: The network with conspiring to damage the league by luring Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC, and also alleging that the network encouraged an unnamed conference to raid the Big 12 to pave the way for an earlier departure by Oklahoma and Texas. A later media report identified that other conference as The American. ESPN issued an official denial of the Big 12 charges, and officials from The American declined to comment. On September 3, Sports Illustrated reported that

8988-399: The next several years, The American did not discuss the addition of any new members. However, in March 2017, media reports indicated that the conference was seriously considering adding one or more new members specifically as basketball upgrades. Wichita State , Dayton , and VCU were reportedly considered, with Wichita State being seen as the strongest candidate. By the end of that month, it

9095-620: The nickname "The American" because it was thought "AAC" would cause too much confusion with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Louisville and Rutgers spent one season in the newly renamed conference. On July 1, 2014, Louisville joined the ACC and Rutgers joined the Big Ten Conference . On that same day, East Carolina , Tulane , and Tulsa joined The American for all sports, while Sacramento State and San Diego State joined as affiliate members for women's rowing. Navy joined as an affiliate member in football on July 1, 2015. For

9202-615: The non-football Atlantic Sun Conference to become the 12th member of the OVC in July 2012. Belmont became the second OVC member in Nashville , joining Tennessee State ; the OVC headquarters are in the suburb of Brentwood . Three other member schools are located in Tennessee ( Austin Peay , Tennessee Tech , and UT–Martin ), and a fourth ( Murray State ) is in a Kentucky county that borders Tennessee. Belmont had aspirations of joining

9309-576: The non-football Big West Conference , and at the time of the move had associate football-only memberships in the Great West Conference . Their move to the Big Sky gave them the chance to compete for an automatic bid in the FCS playoffs , which the Great West did not have at any time in its football history. From the Big Sky's perspective, the move expanded their presence in California ( Sacramento State

9416-613: The offer of Big Sky membership after receiving an invitation to join the MVFC on November 3, 2010. Their acceptance, which was officially announced the following day, took effect in 2012, when USD became fully eligible for Division I postseason competition. This move also meant that USD followed through with its announced plans to join The Summit League in 2011. On May 13, 2011, the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) and Belmont University jointly announced that Belmont would leave

9523-412: The old Big East but later backed out as the number of football members dwindled. In June 2010, former Big Eight members Nebraska and Colorado announced their departures for the Big Ten and PAC-10, respectively. The Big 12 survived total collapse in the following days when its most prominent football schools ( Oklahoma , Oklahoma State , Texas , Texas A&M , and Texas Tech ) turned down offers from

9630-500: The one they would receive by remaining with the football schools. In March 2013, representatives of the Catholic 7 announced they would leave the conference effective June 30, 2013, retaining the Big East name, $ 10 million, and the right to hold the conference's basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden . Following the announcement of the departure of the Catholic 7 universities, the remaining ten football-playing members started

9737-423: The other two for football only). On December 15, 2012, the Big East's seven remaining non-FBS schools, all Catholic institutions consisting of DePaul , Georgetown , Marquette , Providence , St. John's , Seton Hall , and Villanova announced that they voted unanimously to leave the Big East Conference effective June 30, 2015. The "Catholic 7", by leaving, were looking for a more lucrative television deal than

9844-525: The others fully joined The American. Similar changes came to women's swimming & diving, again due in part to SBC expansion. Of the schools leaving CUSA for the SBC in 2022, Marshall and Old Dominion sponsor that sport, and incoming American members Florida Atlantic, North Texas, and Rice also sponsor the sport (although Rice fields swimmers only, with no divers). The American brought the aforementioned future full members, plus FIU, into its women's swimming & diving league. As with men's soccer, FIU remained

9951-459: The process of selecting a new name for the conference and choosing a new site to hold its basketball tournament. Various names were considered, with the "America 12" conference reportedly one of the finalists until rejected by college presidents sensitive of adding a number to the end of the conference name. On April 3, 2013, the conference announced that it had chosen a new name: American Athletic Conference. The conference also revealed that it prefers

10058-563: The same in 2014. The Sun Belt initially reloaded by adding new FBS member Texas State and non-football UT Arlington , both from the WAC, effective in 2013. It added four more members, two in all sports and two for football only, in 2014. Appalachian State and Georgia Southern , both from the FCS Southern Conference, started their FBS transitions in 2013 (remaining in the Southern Conference, ineligible for

10165-678: The second-tier Division I FCS in September 2010, when the Big Sky Conference increased its profile in California by inviting two schools from that state— California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly SLO) and the University of California, Davis (UC Davis)—to join as football-only members. Both schools accepted; no firm date was set at that time, but both were expected to play a full Big Sky schedule starting no later than 2013. The two ultimately began Big Sky play in 2012. Cal Poly SLO and UC Davis had previously been full members of

10272-432: The summer of 2021, when the announcement that Oklahoma and Texas would join the SEC no later than 2025 triggered the next major D-I realignment . No schools have left the conference since the 1966 departure of Tulane . Three schools that had been members at the beginning of the realignment cycle announced plans to join other conferences (the University of Utah , BYU and TCU ), and six schools announced plans to join

10379-459: The survival of the league. Reorganizing as a non-football conference, they repopulated their ranks with Chicago State , UT-Pan American (since merged into UTRGV ), Utah Valley , CSU Bakersfield , UMKC (now known athletically as Kansas City) and Division II Grand Canyon University , but since none of these schools participate in women's gymnastics the conference dropped the sport. The WAC also added men's soccer in order to maintain its status as

10486-428: The three departing schools announced a buyout agreement had been reached, confirming those schools' 2023 departure date. At the time, it was possible that Cincinnati and UCF could remain in the conference as affiliate members for women's lacrosse and men's soccer, respectively, as the Big 12 does not sponsor those sports, though no formal announcement was made. UCF would later accept an offer of men's soccer membership from

10593-399: The time did not sponsor the latter two sports, however ACC fencing was reinstated in 2014-15 and Notre Dame fencing joined the conference). As part of the agreement, the football team now plays five games each season with ACC opponents. There remained speculation regarding the timing of the change until March 12, 2013, when it was announced that the Big East would allow Notre Dame to leave for

10700-409: Was a full member, and the Great West football conference. North Dakota previously competed in the Great West for most sports, but was not eligible for Division I postseason competition (except in ice hockey ) because it had been in transition from Division II since the 2007–08 academic year. UND completed its transition in 2012, at the same time it joined the Big Sky. The conference also announced that

10807-415: Was already a full member), and also gave the conference the ability to contend for more at-large berths in the FCS playoffs. In order to accommodate this move, the Big Sky school presidents approved an exception to the league bylaws, which normally require member schools to compete in all conference sports. The addition of Cal Poly SLO and UC Davis tentatively gave the Big Sky 11 football members; at that time,

10914-416: Was contractually obligated to play all of its home games in 2012 and 2013, plus four games in each season from 2014 to 2016, at Gillette Stadium. The renovation plans were later scaled down, with McGuirk Stadium being modernized but not appreciably expanded. The Minutemen played two seasons as a football affiliate before being offered full membership in the MAC. However, UMass declined, and shortly afterward,

11021-463: Was in the MAC; however, by the time UMass football arrived in the MAC, Temple's football program had left for the Big East, and that school had announced that the rest of its athletic program would join the Big East a year later. As a part of this football upgrade, the Minutemen moved from the 17,000-seat Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium on its Amherst campus, whose capacity was only modestly above

11128-471: Was preparing to receive applications from six of the 14 members of Conference USA — Charlotte , Florida Atlantic , North Texas , Rice , UAB , and UTSA . This would make The American a 14-full-member conference. The next day, ESPN reported that all six schools had submitted applications, and that each would receive a formal letter by the end of that week (October 22) detailing the terms of conference expansion. All six schools were accepted on October 21, and

11235-559: Was reported that talks between the American and Wichita State had advanced to the point that the two sides were discussing a timeline for membership, with the possibility of the Shockers joining as a full but non-football member as early as the 2017–18 school year. The report indicated that a final decision would be made in April. The conference's board of directors voted unanimously on April 7 to add Wichita State effective in July 2017, making

11342-548: Was seeking membership in that conference as well. There had been speculation for several months that The Summit League would merge with the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), which would have provided both schools a football home alongside their respective in-state rivals, North Dakota State and South Dakota State . However, no momentum had developed for such a move in fall 2010, which led both UND and USD to reevaluate their options. In

11449-429: Was the future of UConn football, as the Big East does not sponsor that sport, and sources indicated that the American had no interest in retaining UConn as a football-only member. Reportedly, American Athletic Conference insiders were not surprised by UConn's prospective move, as that school had been vigorously opposed to that league's most recently announced television deal. National media believed that should UConn leave

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