The Atlantic 10 Conference Presidents Council announced its formal acceptance of Loyola University Chicago as the 15th member institution of the league.
The Ramblers will become official members on July 1 and compete in the 21-sport league, according to an A-10 release. In joining the conference, Loyola will take on old foes including Dayton, Duquesne, La Salle and Saint Louis, which were all previous foes of the Ramblers in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference.
“Welcoming Loyola University Chicago was not a difficult decision for the Presidents Council, due to its similarity with our member institutions, including the value Loyola places on conducting successful athletics in harmony with a nationally recognized, broad-based educational profile,” Chair of the A-10 Presidents Council and Saint Joseph’s University President Dr. Mark C. Reed said in the release.
Founded in 1870, with an enrollment of more than 17,000, Loyola will become the fourth Jesuit institution in the Atlantic 10, joining Fordham, Saint Joseph’s and Saint Louis.
The Ramblers will join the A-10 as the fourth program to have appeared in the men’s basketball Final Four in the last 25 years, and the ninth program with a Final Four appearance in history. Loyola won the 1963 Men’s Basketball National Championship and also took home the national titles in men’s volleyball in 2014 and 2015.
“Loyola’s commitment to the high-level scholastic achievement of all of its students, coupled with its excellent athletic profile, from success in basketball, soccer and volleyball to outstanding facilities and resources, is a perfect fit for the A-10,” Atlantic 10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade said in the release.” The addition expands the A-10 footprint into the Chicago market, giving the conference a presence in three of the top five media markets in the United States.”
As a result of Loyola’s membership, A-10 institutions now cover states comprising 39.9 million state-wide television households, approximately a third of the national media market, according to the release. The conference also entered their ninth-year of a long-term television agreement with ESPN, CBS Sports and NBC Sports.
The A-10 conference has received 34 men’s basketball NCAA Tournament bids over the last 10 years, ranking seventh nationally. The A-10 has also seen 17 appearances in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament over the past 10 years, eight of which have come via at-large bids, and had at least four teams qualify for women’s basketball postseason play every year of the past decade
