American Athletic Conference

American Athletic Conference, American collegiate athletic organization that was founded in 2013. The conference consists of the Universities of Alabama at Birmingham, Memphis, North Carolina at Charlotte, North Texas, South Florida, Texas at San Antonio, and Tulsa as well as East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Rice, Temple, Tulane, and Wichita State universities and the United States Military Academy and the United States Naval Academy.

The American Athletic Conference was created when the football-playing schools of the Big East Conference (Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Rutgers, South Florida, and Temple) broke away from the Big East after years of conference realignment and tension between the football-playing and non-football schools over the direction of the conference. The former Big East universities were joined by Central Florida, Houston, Memphis, and Southern Methodist from Conference USA to form the American Athletic Conference. In 2014 Louisville and Rutgers left the conference and were replaced by East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa. The U.S. Naval Academy joined the conference (for football only) the following year. In 2017 Wichita State University joined the American to supplement the addition of the Naval Academy, as Wichita State does not field a football team.

In 2019 Connecticut returned to the Big East. Four years later the American lost Central Florida, Cincinnati, and Houston to the Big 12 Conference but gained Alabama at Birmingham, Florida Atlantic, North Carolina at Charlotte, North Texas, Rice, and Texas at San Antonio. In 2024 the U.S. Military Academy joined the American for football only, and Southern Methodist left for the Atlantic Coast Conference.