Sources -- UMass set to become 13th member of MAC for '25-26 season - ESPN

The University of Massachusetts is set to join the MAC in all applicable sports for the 2025-26 school year, sources told ESPN on Monday.

UMass is an independent in football but plays in the Atlantic-10 in basketball and the vast majority of the school's other sports. UMass' hockey program will remain in the Hockey East as the MAC does not have a hockey league.

The MAC presidents voted to invite UMass on Monday, as the school had already formally applied to the league. The timing of an announcement is not known, but UMass is set to accept and finalize the details of the arrangement in the near future. Once a school formally applies in conference realignment, there's usually an understanding that they will be accepted and enter that league.

UMass had also been engaged with Conference USA, per sources. Ultimately, the MAC made more geographic sense, and it also houses more of the sports that UMass offers. UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford made clear in recent comments that joining a league was a priority for UMass.

The move of UMass to the MAC will leave Notre Dame and Connecticut as the lone independents in college football, with Army set to join the American Athletic Conference in the upcoming season.

In basketball, the news is a jolt to the Atlantic 10 Conference, where UMass has had a home since 1976. UMass' Final Four appearance in 1996 is the only Final Four appearance in Atlantic 10 history. (Three other A-10 teams — VCU, Loyola Chicago and George Mason — have had Final Four appearances, but these all came prior to joining the league.)

UMass will request to stay in the Atlantic 10 as an affiliate member for men's and women's lacrosse only, according to a source.

UMass has some familiarity in the MAC for football,