There’s a new football conference at the FCS level, as the partnership between the ASUN and Western Athletic Conference announced Monday that it was rebranding to the United Athletic Conference.

The ASUN and WAC had merged their football operations for the past two seasons because neither had enough schools with football programs to sponsor a conference on their own.

The nine schools that will play under the UAC banner in 2023 are Abilene Christian, Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama, Southern Utah, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton State and Utah Tech. It will grow to 10 teams in 2025, when Texas Rio Grande Valley plans to begin fielding a football program.

Oliver Luck — the former XFL commissioner and West Virginia athletic director, among other stops — is serving as the UAC’s executive director.

In a press release, the UAC said it will organize a six-game conference schedule in 2023 before expanding to a full eight-game round robin in 2024.

“Entering its third year as a formal football partnership but first as a single entity, the United Athletic Conference now fully operates like a single-sport conference with an independent budget, policies and governing documents,” the release said. “The group will recognize its own league champion and at-large FCS playoffs automatic qualifier under a singular conference banner beginning with the 2023 football season.”

–Field Level Media