The American Athletic Conference has voted to accept Army into the league as a football-only member, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Army’s membership will start in 2024.
The move initially was expected to satisfy the Black Knights’ biggest rival, the Navy Midshipmen. However, details of Army’s addition to the AAC are complicated in about its rivalry with Navy.
Army will replace SMU as the AAC’s 14th member. SMU is moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference. But the meetings between Navy and Army won’t count toward conference standings.
The Black Knights and Midshipmen will continue their ongoing rivalry as part of their non-conference schedule. The Army-Navy Game will remain played the week after college football conference championship games.
If Army and Navy finished as the top two teams in the AAC, they would play each other in the Conference Championship, and then meet in a rematch the following week in the Army-Navy Game.
Army, who started playing football in 1891, has been an independent in football for all but seven years. The Black Knights were a member of Conference USA from 1998 to 2004 before returning to independency. Some of the members of the AAC were in C-USA during the Black Knights’ membership.
Army, like Navy, plays in the Patriot League in all other sports.
