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.
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View Comments (61)
I would've gone with East Central Conference, as the entire membership is in the Eastern and Central time zones.
I like that name. I would change the words around, and make it Central East Conference (CEC) or they want to have a catchy nickname, they can be the Central East League aka CEL. I do like CEC, making an easier change from Big (BEC) to Central (CEC).
CWC country wide conference
Metro Conference is a great rebranding and it describes its new members.
They probably don't have the right to use that name.
Since they seem to want the word America in the name, what about the American Athletic Conference (AAC). Too simple to be considered.
looks like we had the same idea at the same time.
I like American Athletic Conference sounds great...start a facebook. Support page.
That's the best sounding name so far. Wonder if it would commonly referred to as the American Conference after a while.
How about just the American Athletic conference. The AAC. Doesn't reflect any number or geographical restrictions. You could even include Canadian schools if you wanted. They're techincally American to.
how about the "Apathy 12"..........
Conference USA seems to have gotten it right.
I like that American Athletic Conference suggestion.
You got that right. Whatever they do the name will always be meaningful.
I liked "Great South" or "Metro South" as a name. The conference is almost all southern teams (well Cincinnati is on the border) and the center of gravity is approximately 10 miles northwest of Atlanta, Georgia (where I'd move the HQ ... either there or Orlando where the Mouse lives given the ESPN contract).
Of course the south loves names with "America" in it, so I suppose this is appropriate. Heck the Big East name only meant something to the office workers in providence and maybe Connecticut - who are not too popular with the rest at the moment.
So I am fine with it.
UConn and Temple are in the northeast. That name won't work.
Since the Big East originally had many more members as a whole, and is now down to 10 members, it should be called the Little East Conference.
C-USA v2.0
Bingo.
?
I like Metro American Conference. Sounds good to me.
There is already a Mid-American Conference (MAC) and a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). I am sure they want to distinguish themselves from other conferences.