 | |
| Association | NCAA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1946 |
| Ceased | 1997 |
| Division | College Division (1946–1972) Division II (1973–1977) Division I (1978–1997) |
| Subdivision | Division I-AA (1978–1997) |
| Region | New England; after 1986, Mid-Atlantic states |
The Yankee Conference was a collegiate sports conference in the eastern United States. From 1947 to 1976, it sponsored competition in many sports, but was a football-only league from mid-1976 until its dissolution in 1996. It is essentially the ancestor of today's CAA Football, the legally separate football league operated by the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), and the continuation of the New England Conference, though all three leagues were founded under different charters and are considered separate conferences by the NCAA. Also, CAA Football does not recognize the New England Conference as one of its predecessors, though it does recognize the Yankee Conference as such.[1]
For the first half of its history, the Yankee Conference consisted of the flagship public universities of the six New England states. Conference expansion in the 1980s and 1990s added several colleges and universities from the Mid-Atlantic region.
- ^ "The CAA & CAA Football". Coastal Athletic Association. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
The conference celebrated 75 years in 2022, with its roots tracing back to the Yankee Conference (1947-1996) and the Atlantic 10 Football Conference (1997-2006) before CAA Football begin (sic) in 2007.