CAA hopes to add new members by 2013-14 year
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CAA Football commissioner Tom Yeager said in a published report Friday the conference will hope to add more members by the end of the summer for the 2013-14 school year.
The CAA has 11 member schools in its football conference. However, by the end of the 2012 season, the CAA will be left with eight teams. Old Dominion is set to join Conference USA, Georgia State is leaving for the Sun Belt Conference and Rhode Island is departing for the Northeast Conference.
Despite rumors the CAA had invited teams from the Southern Conference, Yeager told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the CAA has still not made any offers for new members.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Part of the thing we've learned through this process is that we have institutions that obviously have successful and pretty well-funded programs," Yeager told the newspaper. "I think the people that we're talking to also are successful, but they want to make sure that they can maintain their competitive success in the new environment, so they're doing their homework."
In the last nine seasons, the CAA has produced four national champions and three national runner-up teams. Having at least nine teams can guarantee an eight-game conference schedule.
"You want to have everybody ask and answer all the questions," Yeager said. "We're all agreed that at the end of this thing, we want everyone to make a decision that they're comfortable with and put it behind them and move forward."