After losing Houston, Cincinnati and UCF to the Big 12's expansion, the AAC set out looking to build and expand their brand as the strongest conference outside the Power Five.
They landed on adding Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UTSA, and UAB.
From a media market perspective, those schools mark a pretty big deal.The release shares:
"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 AAC announced today that they now have a move-in date for the new programs set for July 1, 2023.
Those schools join ECU, Memphis, Navy, South Florida, SMU, Temple, Tulane, and Tulsa as football-playing members of the league to bring it to a 14-team league in football.
From the outgoing member schools, the AAC is set to collect a $18 million exit fine from the outgoing member schools that will be paid out in installments starting in 2025 and ending in 2036.