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Keep up with the latest Conference USA news, rumors, and analysis.
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Conference realignment
In recent college football news, Conference USA has made headlines. The conference has been the subject of conference realignment rumors. Conference USA is made up of fourteen member schools. These schools are located across the southern United States.
UAB to rejoin C-USA in 2017
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has announced that it will rejoin Conference USA (C-USA) in 2017, pending NCAA approval. UAB had been a member of C-USA from 1996 to 2004, when it left to join the now-defunct division I-A Independent Schools.
UAB will compete in C-USA’s West Division, which currently includes the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM), the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), North Texas, Rice, Southern Methodist (SMU), and Tulane. With the addition of UAB, the West Division will have an odd number of teams, so one team will have to crossover and play a team from the East Division each week. The East Division currently consists of Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Marshall, Middle Tennessee State, Old Dominion, and Western Kentucky.
C-USA is expected to release its complete football schedule for the 2017 season in early January.
Charlotte to leave for A-10 in 2019
The Charlotte 49ers will leave Conference USA for the Atlantic 10 Conference in 2019, the two leagues announced Monday.
The move had been rumored for months, and it will give the A-10 an 11th team in basketball and 18th overall. The conference has been looking to add a school since VCU left for the Atlantic 10 in 2012.
“We are very pleased to be able to welcome Charlotte to the A-10,” said A-10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade in a statement. “Charlotte brings us an impressive array of academic and athletic accomplishments, and we look forward to having the 49ers compete in our conference.”
Charlotte has been a member of Conference USA since 2005 and will spend one more season in the league before moving to the A-10.
Old Dominion and Western Kentucky to join C-USA in 2014
The Old Dominion University Monarchs and the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers will join Conference USA in 2014, the conference announced today.
Both schools will leave their current conferences, the Colonial Athletic Association and the Sun Belt Conference, respectively, to join C-USA.
“We are excited to welcome Old Dominion and Western Kentucky to Conference USA,” said C-USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky in a statement. “These two institutions fit well with our members academically and athletically, and we look forward to having them compete in our conference.”
The two new schools will bring C-USA’s membership to 14 institutions, split evenly between East and West divisions. With Old Dominion and Western Kentucky joining, C-USA will now have seven members in each division.
Conference USA TV deal
Conference USA has agreed to a new TV deal with ESPN. The deal will last for six years and is worth a reported $20 million per year. ESPN will televise all Conference USA football games, as well as men’s and women’s basketball games. This is a big deal for Conference USA, as it will help them generate more revenue.
Conference USA and ESPN agree to eight-year TV deal
The Conference USA and ESPN have agreed to an eight-year TV deal that will keep the conference’s games on the ESPN family of networks through the 2024 season, it was announced Wednesday.
This new agreement, which runs through 2025, provides ESPN with increased flexibility and extended rights to televise Conference USA content across its linear networks and digital platforms. Additionally, the agreement creates a Conference USA Football Championship game television window on ABC or ESPN annually.
“We are extremely pleased to extend our relationship with ESPN through 2025,” Conference USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod said in a statement. “ESPN has been a great partner for Conference USA for more than 20 years, and we look forward to continuing our relationship as we work together to provide greater exposure for our member institutions.”
Conference USA also announced that it has reached a new agreement with CBS Sports Network to televise six football games per season through 2024. The games will be produced by CBS Sports Network and will air on Saturdays during the college football season.
Conference USA games to air on ESPN networks
Conference USA and ESPN have reached an agreement that will bring all Conference USA home football games and conference championship games to an ESPN platform beginning in 2020. The new eight-year deal will run through the 2027 season and also includes some men’s basketball games.
ESPN already held the rights to Conference USA football through its various platforms, but the new deal will put all games on either ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or ABC. The Conference USA championship game will also air on ABC each year.
“This new relationship with ESPN helps us provide greater visibility for our member institutions while continuing to offer a terrific experience for our fans,” Conference USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod said in a statement. “We are excited to showcase even more of Conference USA’s top student-athletes and programs on ESPN’s robust platform.”
Financial terms of the deal were not released, but it is believed to be worth close to $20 million per year, nearly double what Conference USA was previously earning from its TV rights deals.
Conference USA football
Conference USA is a collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The Conference USA Football Championship is an annual American football game that determines the Conference USA champion. The game features the Conference USA’s two best teams, who have each won their respective divisional championships.
Conference USA football teams to play in 2014
Conference USA will have 12 football teams playing in the 2014 season. The conference will be divided into two divisions, East and West. The East Division will include Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Marshall, Middle Tennessee State, Old Dominion, UAB and Western Kentucky. The West Division will include Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulane and UTEP.
The Conference USA Football Championship game will be played on Saturday, December 6th at Noon ET. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
Conference USA football championship game to be played in 2014
The Conference USA football championship game is a college football game that will determine the Conference USA’s football champion for the 2014 college football season. The game will be played on Saturday, December 6, 2014, at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida, and will be televised by ESPN2.
The game will feature the champions of the East and West divisions of Conference USA. The teams will be determined by a conference standings tiebreaker system. If two or more teams are tied atop either division, the following steps will be used to determine the divisional representatives in the championship game:
1. The team(s) with the highest winning percentage in conference games shall represent the division.
2. If two or more tied teams have identical conference winning percentages, then head-to-head results shall be used to determine the divisional representative. If three or more tied teams have identical conference winning percentages and head-to-head results, then a composite schedule shall be used to determine the divisional representative. This composite schedule shall be created by averaging the won-lost-tied percentages of each team’s opponents (excluding non-conference opponents).
3. If three or more teams still have identical conference winning percentages and head-to-head results after applying step 2, then a coin flip conducted by the Conference office shall determine the divisional representative
Conference USA basketball
The conference has had some great basketball games this year. The conference has also seen some great players. One of the best players in the conference is conference player of the year, Ja Morant. Morant plays for Murray State and is one of the best players in the country.
Conference USA basketball tournament to be played in 2014
The Conference USA Men’s Basketball Tournament is a postseason men’s college basketball tournament that is set to take place in March 2014. It will be the first Conference USA men’s basketball tournament to be held since the conference realigned prior to the 2013–14 season. The tournament is set to return to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the second straight year and the third time overall, and will be held at the BOK Center.
As of 2014, all fourteen members of Conference USA will participate in the tournament. The teams will be seeded according to their conference records, with the top four seeds receiving a first-round bye. The tournament champion will receive the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The format for the 2014 Conference USA Men’s Basketball Tournament is as follows:
-The tournament will begin on Wednesday, March 12 and conclude on Saturday, March 15.
-All 14 conference teams will participate in the tournament.
-The top 4 seeds will receive a first-round bye.
-The tournament champion will receive the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Conference USA basketball teams to play in 2014
The following Conference USA basketball teams will play in the 2014 season:
-University of Alabama at Birmingham
-University of Central Florida
-Florida International University
-University of Houston
-Lamar University
-University of Memphis
-University of Nevada, Las Vegas
-Rice University
-Southern Methodist University
-College Basketball Invitational Tournament team
