DENVER, COLO. - The Western Athletic
Conference and Commissioner Karl Benson announced on Thursday that an
invitation for membership has been issued to and accepted by The University of
Texas at Arlington to join the conference effective July 1, 2012. With the addition, the WAC will consist of 10
full-time members for the 2012-13 season; Denver (non-football), Idaho,
Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Seattle (non-football), Texas
State, UT Arlington (non-football), UTSA and Utah State.
"We are very pleased to add UT Arlington
as the 10th member of the WAC for 2012," said Commissioner Karl Benson. "Besides bringing top level academics to the
league, the addition will provide a geographical balance to the WAC and help in
the creation of travel partners as we attempt to further expand to two six-team
divisions in the future."
"UT Arlington and the Dallas-Fort Worth
region also bring in another Top 20 media market to go along with the recent
additions of Seattle and Denver. The
addition will significantly help the WAC in securing more lucrative television
rights fees in the future," said Benson.
UT Arlington, currently a member of the
Southland Conference, is an institution founded in 1895 with an enrollment of nearly
34,000. It is the second-largest
university in the UT system. The Mavericks
sponsor 14 intercollegiate sports that will compete in the WAC - baseball, men's
and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's golf, softball,
men's and women's tennis, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field
and women's volleyball.
UT Arlington's move to the WAC coincides
with the first full season of volleyball and basketball to be played in the
University's new College Park Center, a 6,500-seat, split bowl arena. Both the men's and women's basketball teams
have competed recently in the NCAA basketball tournament with the men last
appearing in 2008 and the women the season prior. The volleyball team had its most successful
season in 1989 when it advanced the Final Four.
-WAC-