Moving up: UMass football to join MAC

AMHERST, Mass. (WWLP) - The UMass football team is joining the Mid-American Conference. The Minutemen will also play some, if not all of their home games at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Mid-American Conference assistant commissioner Ken Mather told 22News that he is looking forward to the news conference and UMass will be a "welcome addition" to the MAC.  Mather told 22News that he and MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher will be in Foxborough on Wednesday.

Representatives from UMass, the Patriots front office and the Mid- American Conference will officially announce the move Wednesday at a 3:30pm news conference in Foxborough.

UMass will play in the CAA this season, play a partial Football Bowl Subdivision or Division I-A schedule in 2012 and join the MAC in 2013, becoming bowl eligible.

The move to the MAC is for football only. The other UMass teams will remain in the Atlantic Ten or CAA for men's lacrosse.

Some of the Minutemen's new conference rivals include Temple, Buffalo, Bowling Green, Ohio, Miami of Ohio and Akron.