In mid-December 2024, the American Athletic Conference announced the addition of James Madison, Liberty, and Marshall as affiliate members in women’s swimming & diving. James Madison and Marshall will leave the Sun Belt while Liberty will leave the ASUN with all three joining The American beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. After filing an open records request, I obtained a copy of the affiliate member agreement to view some of the details outlined in the agreement between Marshall and the AAC.
The Expected Legal Inclusions
As one would expect in a formal agreement between two entities, there is plenty of standard legal wording. Given what’s transpired between the ACC and some of its members, this might be an important section for both parties in case everything blows apart. There’s not much worry about this particular agreement causing legal headaches for either The American or Marshall because it’s for swimming & diving and not related to football or full membership. As stated in the press release, the agreement begins with the 2025-26 academic year, which is July 1, 2025, and only covers women’s swimming & diving.
Marshall will be an affiliate member of The American in women’s swimming & diving for three years, or through the 2027-28 academic year. The American and Marshall can agree to extend the membership for three additional years using the same terms outlined in the current agreement. If Marshall wants to join a different conference for women’s swimming & diving, the school needs to provide notice by June 30 of the preceding academic year.
The university will also abide by The American’s rules for swimming & diving but doesn’t have any direct input in how the conference will be run as an affiliate member and this extends to women’s swimming & diving. As the agreement states “…including, without limitation, any Conference Rule that governs the Invited Sport)” with the “Invited Sport” being women’s swimming & diving. However, the agreement does allow Marshall to provide feedback on policy and procedure changes along with input for The American’s scheduling process. Marshall’s athletes are eligible for conference awards in the regular season and postseason.
Input into the scheduling process doesn’t really mean much in this case because The American doesn’t coordinate a regular season schedule. The American sponsors women’s swimming & diving as a Championship-only sport and organizes the conference championship. Given the amount of standard language in the agreement, this is a template used to cover affiliate membership in several sports.
The “Economics” of the Agreement
Money is one of the first things brought up when it comes to realignment. For the big hitters like football and basketball, the “money” is based on revenue while most other sports are considered “expenses”. Women’s swimming & diving falls into the latter category because it simply isn’t a high revenue generator. This agreement outlines Marshall’s monetary obligations using “Economics” as the header.
For the “revenue” portion of the agreement, there is none in Marshall’s case. The school will not receive any revenue whatsoever, even for any revenue The American receives in relation to women’s swimming & diving. For expenses, Marshall will pay an annual membership fee of $7,500 to The American no later than September 1st of each academic year. On top of that, Marshall will pay an equal share of The American’s expenses related to swimming & diving “as determined by the Conference” while not receiving any revenues in said sport. Furthermore, Marshall is “solely responsible for any and all costs, expenses, and liability (if any) arising from the University’s becoming an Affiliate Member for the Invited Sport and its participation in the Invited sport.” Is there a dollar amount attached to the latter two expense categories?
Nope and before anyone jumps to conclusions about how it’s intentionally vague, there’s a simple answer: the American sponsors women’s swimming & diving as a championship-only sport. There are no regular season competitions or schedules set by The American leaving each school to determine their opponents for swimming & diving. There are other reasons why this wouldn’t apply even if The American did have a regular season schedule: expenses fluctuate year-to-year and conferences don’t typically cover regular season expenses. After all, that’s why these TV rights deals exist to fund athletic departments.
The Key Takeaways
Marshall will be an affiliate member of The American in women’s swimming & diving for at least three years (from 2025-26 through 2027-28) but it could be extended as far as the 2030-31 academic year if both parties agree. Marshall will pay $7,500 annually to The American plus other undisclosed expenses related to The American’s administration of women’s swimming & diving. The university will bear the total costs related to the sport and receive no revenue from what The American generates via its agreement with ESPN. The agreement does not disclose any monetary penalties should Marshall or The American end the agreement unilaterally.
Below is a map of The American’s women’s swimming & diving membership. The additions of James Madison, Liberty, and Marshall provide some geographic balance, much to the delight of East Carolina. How much of a role geography played in The American’s decision to add these three schools is unclear (The American did not respond to an email inquiry). However, the recent performances of those three programs were a bigger factor in The American’s decision as the conference’s press release specifically mentioned recent titles. As for the Sun Belt, it appears the conference will no longer sponsor women’s swimming & diving starting with the 2025-26 academic year. Only five days after The American announced their three new affiliates, the ASUN announced Georgia Southern and Old Dominion – the last two Sun Belt programs in the sport – as affiliates for women’s swimming & diving beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.
Photo by Serena Repice Lentini on Unsplash