The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as the American, is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 14 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I, with its football teams competing in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Member universities represent a range of private and public universities of various enrollment sizes located primarily in urban metropolitan areas in the Northeastern, Midwestern, and Southern regions of the United States.
The American's lega...l predecessor, the original Big East Conference, was considered one of the six collegiate power conferences of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) era in college football, and The American inherited that status in the BCS's final season. With the advent of the College Football Playoff in 2014, The American became a "Group of Five" conference, which shares one automatic spot in the New Year's Six bowl games.
The league is the product of substantial turmoil in the old Big East during the 2010–14 conference realignment period. It is one of two conferences to emerge from the all-sports Big East in 2013. While the other successor, which does not sponsor football, purchased the Big East Conference name, The American inherited the old Big East's structure and is that conference's legal successor.[5] However, both conferences claim 1979 as their founding date, and the same history up to 2013. The American is headquartered in Irving, Texas, and led by Commissioner Michael Aresco.
The current full members of the conference are University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, East Carolina University, Florida Atlantic University, University of Memphis, University of North Texas, Rice University, University of South Florida, Southern Methodist University, Temple University, University of Texas at San Antonio, Tulane University, University of Tulsa, and Wichita State University. The American also has seven affiliate members: California State University, Sacramento, University of Florida, Florida International University, James Madison University, United States Naval Academy, Old Dominion University, and Vanderbilt University
