Army to Join American Athletic Conference as Football-Only Member, per Sources

The Black Knights have been competing as an independent in football since 2004.

Army is set to join the American Athletic Conference as a football-only member beginning in 2024, sources told Sports Illustrated‘s Pat Forde. A formal announcement is expected later today.

The news was first reported by Yahoo!’s Ross Dellenger, who noted that the AAC presidents voted Army into the conference in a meeting on Tuesday night.

Army has been competing as an independent since 2004, when the school left Conference USA. The AAC has long sought after Army as the perfect service academy to join the conference. Army’s chief rival, Navy, has been competing in the AAC as a football-only member since 2015, when it joined the conference after competing as an independent as well.

Army football is set to join the AAC in 2024 after a reported league vote took place on Tuesday night :: Danny Wild/USA Today Sports

The traditional date of the Army-Navy rivalry at the end of the season following the league’s conference championship will remain, per Dellenger. If Army and Navy happen to meet in the AAC title game, the schools will face off once again the following week in a non-conference game as they always have.

Outside of football, Army will continue to compete in the Patriot League in its other revenue sports.