[6][7] The American Athletic Conference is headquartered in Irving, Texas, and led by Commissioner Tim Pernetti, who replaced the retiring Mike Aresco[2][8] on June 1, 2024.

[3][22] Following the announcement of the departure of the Catholic 7 universities, the remaining ten football-playing members started the process of selecting a new name for the conference and choosing a new site to hold its basketball tournament.

[31] By the end of that month, it was reported that talks between the American and Wichita State had advanced to the point that the two sides were discussing a timeline for membership, with the possibility of the Shockers joining as a full but non-football member as early as the 2017–18 school year.

[32][33][34] The conference's board of directors voted unanimously on April 7 to add Wichita State effective in July 2017, making the Shockers the league's first full non-football member since the Big East split.

Reportedly, American Athletic Conference insiders were not surprised by UConn's prospective move, as that school had been vigorously opposed to that league's most recently announced television deal.

Any of several schools could potentially fill the non-football slot, with Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports considering VCU to be "the most logical target there."

Thamel dismissed the prospect of the American adding a new all-sports member, saying "there's no obvious candidate who could add value in both basketball and football.

[45] Women's rowing member San Diego State University dropped that sport effective with the end of the 2020–21 season.

Shortly thereafter, The American became a peripheral player in this saga when the Big 12 sent a cease and desist letter to current broadcast partner ESPN, charging the network with conspiring to damage the league by luring Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC, and also alleging that the network encouraged an unnamed conference to raid the Big 12 to pave the way for an earlier departure by Oklahoma and Texas.

[49][50] Later that month, all three schools received and accepted membership offers on the date of the presidents' meeting, with the official announcement stating only that they would join the Big 12 no later than 2024–25.

[52] At the time, it was possible that Cincinnati and UCF could remain in the conference as affiliate members for women's lacrosse and men's soccer, respectively, as the Big 12 does not sponsor those sports, though no formal announcement was made.

Cincinnati would remain in The American as a women's lacrosse affiliate,[53] but left after the 2024 season when the Big 12 added that sport.

[54] In late September 2021, several national media outlets reported that Mountain West Conference (MW) members Air Force and Colorado State had approached The American regarding a possible move to that league.

[56] Later that month on October 18, 2021, Yahoo Sports reported that The American was preparing to receive applications from six of the 14 members of Conference USA—Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA.

[57] The next day, ESPN reported that all six schools had submitted applications, and that each would receive a formal letter by the end of that week (October 22) detailing the terms of conference expansion.

[60] A series of further realignment moves centering on the Sun Belt Conference (SBC) led to The American's men's soccer league expanding earlier than planned.

The American brought the aforementioned future full members, plus FIU, into its women's swimming & diving league.

As with men's soccer, FIU remained a women's swimming & diving affiliate after the other schools fully joined The American.

[68] On October 25, 2024, Missouri State announced it would become an associate member in men's soccer starting with the fall 2025 season.

[96][97][98] Under NCAA rules reflecting the large number of male scholarship participants in football and attempting to address gender equity concerns (see also Title IX), each member institution is required to provide more women's varsity sports than men's.

[note 3] Men's varsity sports not sponsored by The American which are played by conference schools: Women's varsity sports not sponsored by The American which are played by conference schools: Shared titles (ex: 2014 football, 2020 men's basketball) are counted as a full title for each co-champion.

The only school to have won a fully recognized NCAA title while in The American, UConn, left for the Big East Conference in 2020.

Another former member, SMU, won the 2023 equestrian title the year before it left for the ACC, but that sport does not yet have full NCAA recognition.

The site of the Championship Game is the home stadium of the team with the best overall conference record, with a series of tiebreakers used if needed to determine the host or either of the participants.

Four teams play in two semifinal games, with the winners advancing to the College Football Playoff National Championship.

With the birth of the College Football Playoff, The American lost its automatic qualifying status for one of the major bowls.

This includes base salary, income from contracts, foundation supplements, bonuses and media and radio pay.

Total expenses includes coach and staff salaries, scholarships, buildings and grounds, maintenance, utilities and rental fees, recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues, and insurance.

The following table shows institutional reporting to the United States Department of Education as shown on the DOE Equity in Athletics website for the 2021–22 academic year.

Content not aired on linear television will be exclusive to ESPN's subscription package ESPN+, but a larger number of events (including at least 40 football games and 65 men's basketball games per-season, including the conference semi-finals and championship) will air on ABC and ESPN's linear networks than under the previous contract.