The American Athletic Conference Board of Directors and Commissioner Mike Aresco announced today that six universities have had their applications for membership in The American approved by the conference’s nine continuing members.
The six new institutions, whose membership in The American will begin on a date to be determined, will be:
The University of Alabama at Birmingham – Birmingham, Alabama
Florida Atlantic University – Boca Raton, Florida
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte –Charlotte, North Carolina
The University of North Texas – Denton, Texas
Rice University – Houston, Texas
The University of Texas at San Antonio – San Antonio, Texas
The six universities will join the nine continuing members – 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. The American will compete as a 14-team league in football and in men’s and women’s basketball, among other sports.
“On behalf of the American Athletic Conference presidents, I look forward to years of healthy competition with our six new members,” said Michael Fitts, President of Tulane University and Chair of The American’s Board of Directors. “I am confident that we have not only added fine institutions that share our collective ambition for national success, but we have done so in a deliberate and sensible way that will contribute to the long-term future of the conference.”
“I am extremely pleased to welcome these six outstanding universities to the American Athletic Conference,” saidAresco. “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 on CBS 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.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham was founded in 1969 and enrolls more than 22,500 undergraduate and graduate students. The university holds R1 research status in the Carnegie Classification and is a national leader in health care and administration, including the No. 1-ranked master’s program in health care management by U.S. News & World Report. The university is centrally located among The American’s membership and is situated in the Birmingham DMA, which has been ranked No. 1 nationally in college football television ratings for 19 consecutive years.
UAB has recently enjoyed several years of record enrollment, and welcomed its largest-ever freshman class this fall. One in four residents of Birmingham are UAB students, employees or patients of the UAB Health System, while the university accounts for one in every 31 jobs in the state of Alabama.
UAB sponsors 18 sports, including 15 that will compete in the American Athletic Conference. The Blazers have won two Conference USA championships since the return of football in 2017 and partnered with the city of Birmingham and the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center to introduce the 42,000-seat Protective Stadium in 2021. UAB has made 15 NCAA tournament appearance in men’s basketball, advancing to the Eight Eight in 1982, and has 10 postseason appearances in women’s basketball, including an NCAA Sweet 16.
In addition to Protective Stadium, UAB has developed a 46,000-square-foot football operations center and is constructing a state-of-the-art basketball practice facility that will be completed in the spring of 2022. The Blazers’ baseball team plays at the 8,500-seat Regions Field, while the track and field teams compete at the Birmingham CrossPlex, which has hosted four American Athletic Conference indoor championships, and an outdoor complex that opened in 2019. The men’s and women’s soccer teams play at the 5,000-seat BBVA Field, which is considered among the nation’s finest on-campus soccer-only facilities.
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte was founded in 1946 and has rapidly become North Carolina’s urban research university, providing critical discovery, business incubation and workforce development for the Charlotte region and beyond. It is the third-largest institution in the UNC System with nearly 30,500 undergraduate and graduate students and more than 150,000 living alumni. UNC Charlotte is recognized nationally as a leader in innovation, socialmobility and student success.
Charlotte sponsors 18 varsity sports, all of which will compete in The American. The 49ers’ football program began in 2013, moved to the FBS level in 2015 and played in a bowl game for the first time in 2019. The men’s basketball program, which began NCAA Division I play in the 1970-71 season, became the youngest to reach the NCAA Final Four when the 49ers played in the 1977 national semifinals. Charlotte has made 11 NCAA tournament appearances in men’s basketball and has made 15 NCAA appearances in men’s soccer, including two College Cup appearances.
The 49ers unveiled Jerry Richardson Stadium in 2013, in conjunction with the launch of the football program. The facility was constructed to be expandable to 40,000 seats and is adjacent to the Judy Rose Football Center, which houses the football operations and administrative functions. The basketball and volleyball programs play in the 9,105-seat Halton Arena, while the baseball and softball teams play in newly renovated facilities within the 49ers' on campus athletics complex. Belk Track and Field Center/Transamerica Field is a 4,000-seat venue that has hosted numerous NCAA soccer tournament matches and is also home to the 49ers' accomplished track and field program.
Rice has invested in a number of capital projects to support athletics at the highest level. Recent enhancements to the athletics profile include construction of a football operations center, a new indoor training facility, the endowment of the head coaching position and an AstroTurf game field at Rice Stadium. Additional upgrades include enhanced locker rooms, lounges and meeting spaces for basketball and volleyball at Tudor Fieldhouse; premium seating, an indoor batting facility and a next-generation pitching and batting lab at RecklingPark; the opening of the state-of-the-art George R. Brown Tennis Center; and the opening of a new team building for soccer, cross country and track and field teams.
Rice’s addition to The American maintains the conference’s presence in the city of Houston, the nation’s fifth-largest metropolitan area and home to the headquarters of 22 Fortune 500 companies.
Rice sponsors 16 varsity sports that will compete in the American Athletic Conference. Rice was a charter member of the Southwest Conference and has a football pedigree that includes three Cotton Bowl wins as well as an Orange Bowl victory. The Owls won the 2003 NCAA Championship in baseball and have made seven College World Series appearances.
The six new institutions, whose membership in The American will begin on a date to be determined, will be:
The University of Alabama at Birmingham – Birmingham, Alabama
Florida Atlantic University – Boca Raton, Florida
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte –Charlotte, North Carolina
The University of North Texas – Denton, Texas
Rice University – Houston, Texas
The University of Texas at San Antonio – San Antonio, Texas
The six universities will join the nine continuing members – 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. The American will compete as a 14-team league in football and in men’s and women’s basketball, among other sports.
“On behalf of the American Athletic Conference presidents, I look forward to years of healthy competition with our six new members,” said Michael Fitts, President of Tulane University and Chair of The American’s Board of Directors. “I am confident that we have not only added fine institutions that share our collective ambition for national success, but we have done so in a deliberate and sensible way that will contribute to the long-term future of the conference.”
“I am extremely pleased to welcome these six outstanding universities to the American Athletic Conference,” saidAresco. “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 on CBS 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.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham was founded in 1969 and enrolls more than 22,500 undergraduate and graduate students. The university holds R1 research status in the Carnegie Classification and is a national leader in health care and administration, including the No. 1-ranked master’s program in health care management by U.S. News & World Report. The university is centrally located among The American’s membership and is situated in the Birmingham DMA, which has been ranked No. 1 nationally in college football television ratings for 19 consecutive years.
UAB has recently enjoyed several years of record enrollment, and welcomed its largest-ever freshman class this fall. One in four residents of Birmingham are UAB students, employees or patients of the UAB Health System, while the university accounts for one in every 31 jobs in the state of Alabama.
UAB sponsors 18 sports, including 15 that will compete in the American Athletic Conference. The Blazers have won two Conference USA championships since the return of football in 2017 and partnered with the city of Birmingham and the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center to introduce the 42,000-seat Protective Stadium in 2021. UAB has made 15 NCAA tournament appearance in men’s basketball, advancing to the Eight Eight in 1982, and has 10 postseason appearances in women’s basketball, including an NCAA Sweet 16.
In addition to Protective Stadium, UAB has developed a 46,000-square-foot football operations center and is constructing a state-of-the-art basketball practice facility that will be completed in the spring of 2022. The Blazers’ baseball team plays at the 8,500-seat Regions Field, while the track and field teams compete at the Birmingham CrossPlex, which has hosted four American Athletic Conference indoor championships, and an outdoor complex that opened in 2019. The men’s and women’s soccer teams play at the 5,000-seat BBVA Field, which is considered among the nation’s finest on-campus soccer-only facilities.
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte was founded in 1946 and has rapidly become North Carolina’s urban research university, providing critical discovery, business incubation and workforce development for the Charlotte region and beyond. It is the third-largest institution in the UNC System with nearly 30,500 undergraduate and graduate students and more than 150,000 living alumni. UNC Charlotte is recognized nationally as a leader in innovation, socialmobility and student success.
Charlotte sponsors 18 varsity sports, all of which will compete in The American. The 49ers’ football program began in 2013, moved to the FBS level in 2015 and played in a bowl game for the first time in 2019. The men’s basketball program, which began NCAA Division I play in the 1970-71 season, became the youngest to reach the NCAA Final Four when the 49ers played in the 1977 national semifinals. Charlotte has made 11 NCAA tournament appearances in men’s basketball and has made 15 NCAA appearances in men’s soccer, including two College Cup appearances.
The 49ers unveiled Jerry Richardson Stadium in 2013, in conjunction with the launch of the football program. The facility was constructed to be expandable to 40,000 seats and is adjacent to the Judy Rose Football Center, which houses the football operations and administrative functions. The basketball and volleyball programs play in the 9,105-seat Halton Arena, while the baseball and softball teams play in newly renovated facilities within the 49ers' on campus athletics complex. Belk Track and Field Center/Transamerica Field is a 4,000-seat venue that has hosted numerous NCAA soccer tournament matches and is also home to the 49ers' accomplished track and field program.
Rice has invested in a number of capital projects to support athletics at the highest level. Recent enhancements to the athletics profile include construction of a football operations center, a new indoor training facility, the endowment of the head coaching position and an AstroTurf game field at Rice Stadium. Additional upgrades include enhanced locker rooms, lounges and meeting spaces for basketball and volleyball at Tudor Fieldhouse; premium seating, an indoor batting facility and a next-generation pitching and batting lab at RecklingPark; the opening of the state-of-the-art George R. Brown Tennis Center; and the opening of a new team building for soccer, cross country and track and field teams.
Rice’s addition to The American maintains the conference’s presence in the city of Houston, the nation’s fifth-largest metropolitan area and home to the headquarters of 22 Fortune 500 companies.
Rice sponsors 16 varsity sports that will compete in the American Athletic Conference. Rice was a charter member of the Southwest Conference and has a football pedigree that includes three Cotton Bowl wins as well as an Orange Bowl victory. The Owls won the 2003 NCAA Championship in baseball and have made seven College World Series appearances.
