UMass Poised to Join New Conference for 2025-26 Season

The Mid-American Conference board today voted to add the University of Massachusetts as a full member, beginning with the 2025-26 academic year, per The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach. The news was confirmed by ESPN’s Pete Thamel. 

UMass is expected to join the conference in all sports. Up until now, the program had been an FBS Independent. UMass football was in the MAC from 2012-15, and with their return, now leave UConn and Notre Dame as the last FBS independent programs. The Fighting Irish, however, have a long-term scheduling agreement with the ACC, making them not fully independent.

The school initially left the MAC because it declined to bring all of its sports to the conference. The school has been hesitant to leave the Atlantic 10, a conference in which it was a founding member.

Conference USA also had conversations with UMass about joining the conference, per The Athletic.