AAC announces entrance agreement with incoming members

[PonyPride]

From the American Athletic Conference:

American Athletic Conference Announces Entrance Agreements With Six Incoming Members for 2023-24 Season

IRVING, Texas – American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco has announced that The American has finalized entrance agreements with its six incoming member institutions, who will officially join the conference July 1, 2023.

The establishment of the entry date comes after the conference reached agreement with its three exiting schools – UCF, Cincinnati and Houston – to terminate their conference membership as of June 30, 2023. The American had announced in October that the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Florida Atlantic University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the University of North Texas, Rice University and the University of Texas at San Antonio had their applications for membership approved by the conference’s nine continuing members.

“We are extremely pleased and excited to welcome our new members to the conference in 2023, as we begin our second decade,” said Aresco. “Our incoming schools comprise a distinguished group with attributes that will enhance our conference’s Power 6 goals. We have already seen the investment and commitment that these institutions have made as they prepare to compete in The American, and, together with our accomplished incumbent institutions, the conference is assured of many years of championship-level competition as part of a bright future that will build on the extraordinary legacy of the past decade.”

The six new members will join East Carolina, Memphis, Navy (football only), South Florida, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa and Wichita State (basketball and Olympic Sports only) – to bring The American’s membership to 15 schools, beginning with the 2023-24 academic year. The American will compete as a 14-team league in football and in men’s and women’s basketball among other sports.

The American will have a presence in four of the top 10, seven of the top 25 and 12 of the top 51 Nielsen media markets. The league will have four teams in the state of Texas, two each in Florida and North Carolina and one each in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Oklahoma and Kansas.

[shadowman]

Looking forward to playing Rice again, it has been a long time.

Others, not so much, but it is what it is. The AAC going forward in 2023 should be a league that SMU and Memphis can dominate in both football and basketball. A few conference titles and being included in national conversations will hopefully get us promoted in the future.

[Charleston Pony]

I wouldn't assume SMU and Memphis will dominate the new American Athletic Conference as some of the incoming members have shown in recent history that they can be formidable opponents and have programs on the rise. UAB is pretty solid in both football and basketball, UTSA in football and even UNT has shown they can be pretty competitive and I would not assume our remaining conference mates will accept their positions at the bottom of the standings.

[geezerdonk]

The Irrelevant Mediocrities Conference. IRC has kind of a hip ring to it

[PNW_Stang]

Maybe I just forgot, but I didn’t think Rice was joining? Ha. At least they are an old SWC foe and not a directional school.