For months following the announcement that the current Big East would split, with the football playing members being left to pick up the pieces of the broken conference, fans haven’t known what to call the entity. During that time, new schools have signed up to join the nameless conference, while expected members like Boise State and San Diego State have balked.
For a while there were two conferences that had the same name. One was the real one and the other was “the old Big East” or “the other Big East.” Confusion was abound as one tried to announce to the world that it wasn’t going anywhere, while the other was just trying to settle on a name.
Last Thursday, league officials finally managed to pick. South Florida fans can say goodbye to the Big East and hello to the American Athletic Conference. Beginning in July 2013, that’s where the Bulls will compete.
“We worked with our institutions, sports marketing experts, media partners, and also solicited opinions and reactions from collegiate sports fans to create a compelling list of names,” said Mike Aresco, the current Big East and future AAC commissioner. “Versions that included the word American led every list.”
Speculation surrounding the name of the new AAC has been around for weeks. A week before the announcement the name America 12 Conference was leaked as a favorite of Aresco.
That name was reportedly rejected because of the inclusion of the number, which officials wanted to avoid given the constant shuffling of institutions between conferences. The AAC would also not feature 12 teams until 2015, and that would only be in football.
“We engaged our fans through social media and focus groups in multiple cities, and we conducted extensive quantitative research,” Aresco said. “We also received terrific input from our partners at ESPN and CBS Sports. Our name is a nod to tradition, but at the same time makes clear our determination to be a conference with national impact and appeal. We have a broad geographical footprint that represents unity as well as diversity.”
USF president Judy Genshaft, who has been heavily involved in Big East, served as the chairperson to the executive committee. Genshaft tried for years to keep Central Florida out of the Big East. The AAC will be the fourth conference affiliation that USF athletics have had since the football team joined the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2001.
“Our exciting new name is the result of a thorough process that has energized our conference,” Genshaft said. “The American Athletic Conference brand will embody the values of competition and sportsmanship that our student-athletes have always exemplified.”
The AAC will not be a football-only conference — it will sponsor all men’s and women’s sports except for ice hockey. UConn is the only school in the conference that has an ice hockey team. Beginning in 2015, both their men’s and women’s teams will compete in the hockey-only Hockey East conference.
Having 12 teams will allow the AAC to host a football championship, which is added revenue for the league.
The story of realignment in college sports is well documented. Football brings in the most money, and now that sport is dictating where programs land. When realignment came to the Big East the decision to add certain schools was made based on football.
With Syracuse and Pittsburgh leaving the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference in July, and Louisville slated to join the ACC in 2014 with Rutgers also leaving for the Big Ten the same year, the conference faced a future with only four football teams. USF, Cincinnati, Connecticut and Temple — it was decided — would be joined by Southern Methodist, Central Florida, Houston and Memphis in 2013; East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa in 2014; and the U.S. Naval Academy in 2015.
Decisions centered around football concerned the non-football schools in the conference. DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Villanova (dubbed the Catholic Seven) decided to abandon the football schools, taking the Big East name with them.
Mike Hopey is the Managing Editor of The Crow’s Nest. He can be reached at hopey@mail.usf.edu.
Graphic by Justin Duplain.
