American Conference sets football media days for July 23-24 in St. Petersburg

The American Conference announced its 2026 football kickoff and media days will be held July 23-24 at the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront — the first time the event has been held in St. Petersburg.

Media availability opens Thursday afternoon, July 23. Commissioner Tim Pernetti delivers opening remarks Friday, July 24, followed by press conferences with all 14 head coaches. ESPN+ provides live coverage Friday. Each program sends its head coach and two student-athletes.

This is the conference’s second full year under its rebranded identity. The American Athletic Conference officially became the American Conference in July 2025, dropping “Athletic” and the “AAC” abbreviation to eliminate confusion with the ACC. The rebrand included a new slogan — “Built to Rise” — and the first mascot in collegiate conference history, an eagle named Soar.

What’s changed

More than a third of the American Conference’s football programs changed head coaches entering 2026.

Charles Huff takes over at Memphis after Ryan Silverfield left for Arkansas. Huff arrives from Southern Miss, where he inherited a 1-11 team and went 7-5 in the regular season. Before that, he led Marshall to a Sun Belt championship in 2024. His overall head coaching record is 39-26 across two stops.

Neal Brown lands at North Texas after Eric Morris departed for a Power 4 job. Brown previously served as head coach at Troy from 2015 to 2018, going 35-16, before a six-year run at West Virginia where he went 37-35.

Will Hall was promoted internally at Tulane after Jon Sumrall left for Florida. Hall previously went 14-30 at Southern Miss from 2021 to 2024.

Brian Hartline makes his head coaching debut at South Florida after Alex Golesh left for Auburn. Hartline spent the previous several years as wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator at Ohio State.

Tim Albin enters his second year at Charlotte after arriving from Ohio, where he went 33-19 in four seasons.

Revenue sharing

The American Conference made national headlines in 2024 by becoming the first conference in college athletics to establish a minimum revenue-sharing threshold for athletes. All member schools — except Army and Navy, which are exempt — must share a cumulative minimum of $10 million in additional benefits with athletes over a three-year period beginning with the 2025-26 academic year. Schools that fail to meet the standard by 2027-28 face a membership status review.

TV and broadcast

The conference operates under a 12-year media rights extension with ESPN worth $1 billion total, running from 2020-21 through 2031-32. Thursday and Friday night conference football games air on ESPN and ESPN2, with additional games on ESPN+. The championship game airs on ABC for the 12th consecutive year on December 5, 2026 at 8 p.m. Eastern, hosted at the regular-season champion’s home stadium.

The conference does not have a deal with The CW. A CW-ESPN sublicense arrangement announced in May 2026 applies to the ACC, not the American.

2026 membership (14 football schools)

Army, Charlotte, East Carolina, FAU, Memphis, Navy, North Texas, Rice, South Florida, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, UTSA. Wichita State is a basketball and Olympic sports member only.

Each team plays eight conference games. The championship is December 5 on ABC.