Big East renamed to American Athletic

The Big East Conference, as we know it today, now has a new name. It will now be called the American Athletic Conference. The name change was announced Wednesday after university presidents agreed to it.

A change in name was necessary due to the fact that the Catholic 7 schools of DePaul, Georgetown, Marguette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Villanova are keeping the name “Big East” when they announced their departure and formation of a new league.

The new Big East will begin July 1 and the seven teams will be joined by Butler, Creighton, and Xavier.

Aside from losing the Catholic 7, the old Big East is also losing Notre Dame, Syracuse, and Pittsburgh due to their inclusion into the ACC on July 1. In 2014 Louisville will also be headed to the ACC; while Rutgers, which recently filed a suit against the Big East, will be joining the Big Ten.

To strengthen its ranks post-split, the American Athletic Conference will be adding UCF, Houston, Memphis and SMU this July 1, 2013; while adding East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa on July 1, 2014.