AAC welcomes six new teams
IRVING, Texas (BVM) — With Oklahoma and Texas announcing their move to the SEC, they seemed to have started a major shift in the college athletic world. That shift was seen on Wednesday when it was announced that the American Athletics Conference would be adding six new teams.
It was first reported on Monday that Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB and UTSA requested to join the conference. And just two days later, on Wednesday, the AAC officially welcomed all six teams to the conference.
“On behalf of the American Athletic Conference presidents, I look forward to years of healthy competition with our six new members,” President of Tulane University and Chair of The AAC Board of Directors Michael Fitts said in a press release.
This move comes after current members Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF announced they will be joining the Big 12 Conference.
With these six programs joining the conference, the AAC will now have 14 teams. It is a major blow to an already dwindling Conference USA where all six teams currently call home.
All teams are expected to join by the 2023-24 season. But it all comes down when and how the other three schools leave. The AAC bylaws require a school to give the conference a 27-month notice before they leave the conference. But there is a $10 million buyout fee, so those three schools could leave sooner rather than later.
Whatever it may be, the AAC is looking to get stronger all-around and with these six schools, the conference has set itself up for success in the future.
“I am extremely pleased to welcome these six outstanding universities to the American Athletic Conference,” AAC commissioner Mike Aresco said in the release. “This is a strategic expansion that accomplishes a number of goals as we take the conference into its second decade. We are adding excellent institutions that are established in major cities and have invested in competing at the highest level. We have enhanced geographical concentration which will especially help the conference’s men’s and women’s basketball and Olympic sports teams. And we will continue to provide valuable inventory to our major media rights partner, ESPN, which will feature our members on the most prominent platforms in sports media. Additionally, we increase the value in live content options for CBS Sports, which features selected men’s basketball games from the conference.”
