According to regional media, the split was "supposedly rooted in different philosophies of progressivism",[2] and also was partially driven by a desire to expand the new conference's footprint outside West Virginia.

[2] Before the official launch of the conference on August 20, 2012,[5] the MEC sought to add the WVIAC's other Pennsylvania member, the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown; however, both Seton Hill and Pittsburgh–Johnstown chose to join the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC).

[3] Urbana and UVA Wise were members of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) in 2012–13, while Notre Dame was a Division II independent that had housed five of its 22 sports in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

On July 5, the Mountain East Conference announced that Frostburg State University had accepted an offer of membership beginning with the 2019–20 academic year, contingent upon Frostburg State achieving active membership status in NCAA Division II (which would occur on the announced schedule).

On April 16, multi-sport associate member UNC Pembroke announced it would join Conference Carolinas (CC) effective in 2021–22.

[11] Five days later, charter member Urbana announced it would close at the end of the 2019–20 school year.

[12] Finally, on June 5, Alderson Broaddus University, a West Virginia school left out of the WVIAC split, announced that it would leave the G-MAC to join the MEC the following month.

[13] However, their tenure in the MEC was short-lived, as on July 31, 2023, Alderson Broaddus' authorization to grant degrees was revoked, resulting in the immediate suspension of all athletics.

[27] The most recently added sports are men's and women's indoor track & field and wrestling, which debuted in 2019–20.