The 'East' and 'West' groupings were dropped and the opening round became a best-of-three series with the top four finishers receiving byes into the quarterfinals.
Two best-of-three semifinal series and the AHA championship game were all moved to campus sites and hosted by the higher seed in each matchup.
With Robert Morris rejoining the conference, the tournament was once again expanded to four rounds to include all eleven teams.
The top five finishers all received a first round bye while play-in games were held among the remaining six teams to determine the final three quarterfinals participants.
The MAAC began play starting with the 1998-99 season and quickly added two additional teams (Mercyhurst and Bentley) the following year.