Six schools officially apply to join American Athletic Conference

Ad Blocker Detected

Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.

The American Athletic Conference has obtained apps from 6 schools hoping to join the meeting, and the AAC is predicted to ship them each a official letter by the conclusion of the week detailing the conditions of growth, a resource with awareness of the method told ESPN on Tuesday.

Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, North Texas, UTSA, Rice and UAB have each and every officially asked for to be part of the AAC, a transfer that was 1st described by Yahoo Athletics on Monday. It truly is the first step in the realignment procedure, which is expected to transfer quickly this week just after the university presidents and their typical counsels have time to assessment the terms.

1 Related

The AAC’s drive to expand will come soon after Cincinnati, UCF and Houston decided this tumble to finally be part of the Big 12. UConn also remaining right after the 2019 period. The addition of six much more educational institutions would develop the AAC to a 14-workforce conference in football and basketball when crippling Meeting United states, wherever all of the colleges presently get in touch with house.

In accordance to the supply, the earliest they could be a part of the meeting would be the 2023-24 year, but it relies upon on what the AAC performs out with the educational institutions that are leaving. AAC bylaws require universities to give a 27-month observe just before they go away and pay a $10 million buyout fee.

AAC commissioner Mike Aresco informed ESPN in mid-September that the league would be keen to negotiate an earlier exit charge to accommodate the departures of UCF, Cincinnati and Houston. If all those 3 educational institutions abided by the bylaws, Aresco said, their exit day would be July 1, 2024.

A further supply told ESPN that whilst there hasn’t been a formal declaration of a timeline, there is a sense within the AAC that Cincinnati, UCF and Houston would like to be a part of the Significant 12 for the 2023 season if achievable. Significant 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby did not straight away return a request for comment.

Alternatively of viewing the AAC’s growth as replacing the educational facilities that are leaving, the source claimed it really is a lot more of a strategic move to develop the league, which will assistance protect it from long term attrition, although also develop some regionalization that can assist with divisions, and reduce teams from getting to travel through a lot more than one particular time zone.