On Friday, ESPN reported that the leading name for the new league is “America 12 Conference.” Nothing is official yet and league presidents are said to be considering other names.
However, the conference’s law firm has registered the domain name America12.org as well as the following: America12Conference.com, America12Sports.com, American12.org, American12conference.com, AmericaTwelve.com and TheAmerica12Conference.com.
While America 12 Conference is not necessarily a bad name, I’m just not sure why any new conference would want to have a number in their name in the current climate of conference realignment.
Out of the three FBS conferences that have a number in their name, the Pac-12 is the only one with an accurate number of members. The Big 12 Conference has ten members, while the Big Ten Conference has twelve.
For the 2013 season, the soon to be former Big East Conference will have 10 football members: Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, SMU, Temple, UCF, and USF.
In 2014, Louisville departs for the ACC while Rutgers heads to the Big Ten. East Carolina and Tulane will replace them, so the conference will still have 10 members.
Navy joins the conference in 2015, and sources told ESPN that they will likely add a 12th member at that time and that Tulsa is currently the only school under consideration.
The Big East Conference announced their 2013 football schedule last Wednesday. The first conference game under the new name will take place on Saturday, Sept. 7 when Houston visits Temple.
What do you think of the “America 12 Conference” name? Do you have any suggestions? Let us know in the comments below.
Football Schedules