The Mid-American Conference (MAC) will add women’s rowing as its 23rd sponsored sport when UMass joins the league in 2025-26. 

“We're extremely excited about the creation of the MAC Rowing Championships, beginning in the Spring of 2026,” said Massachusetts head coach Eric Carcich. “After experiencing the loss of two of our rowing conferences where auto bids were drawn from this past year, to be on the other side in creation mode is exciting. We’re also excited to compete at the state-of-the-art course Coach Savage has built at Eastern Michigan, which will attract the best crews from all over the country to invitational regattas and our annual conference championship. The energy surrounding the creation of the MAC Rowing Championships is massive and it is exciting for UMass and EMU to be part of that foundation.”

UMass will compete against MAC members Eastern Michigan and Toledo as well as affiliate members Delaware, High Point and Temple. The first MAC championship will be held in 2026, though the conference plans on holding an invitational in the spring of 2025. 

When UMass announced it was joining the MAC in March, Eastern Michigan was the only MAC school to sponsor the sport and UMass athletics director Ryan Bamford was unsure about the UMass program’s future home.

In March, Bamford said he filed affiliate membership applications with the Atlantic 10 for women’s rowing and men’s lacrosse. The application for men’s lacrosse was accepted back in May – if it was rejected, the Atlantic 10 would have needed an additional member to fill UMass’ spot, because the conference was already at the minimum six schools needed to sponsor a sport. The Atlantic 10 started sponsoring men’s lacrosse just two seasons ago and houses Saint Joseph’s, Richmond, St. Bonaventure, High Point and Hobart, with Delaware joining as an affiliate member in 2026.

It is unclear whether UMass pulled its affiliate application for women’s rowing with the Atlantic 10 while the MAC plans to sponsor the sport crystallized. As a full member of the MAC in 2025-26, UMass is required to play each of its sports in the MAC if the conference sponsors it. Unlike men’s lacrosse, nine Atlantic 10 schools sponsor women’s rowing, so the conference would not be in danger of falling under the minimum if they rejected UMass’ affiliate application.

UMass women’s rowing finished second to Rhode Island at last year’s Atlantic 10 championships and owns 16 total Atlantic 10 championships and six NCAA appearances since the team’s establishment in the 1994-95 season.

In April, Eastern Michigan debuted a new rowing course on Ford Lake, set up to host regional, national and international events and the MAC championships for at least the first three seasons of MAC competition.

Toledo is adding a women’s rowing program, set to compete in its inaugural season in 2025-26. High Point added the sport last year and its inaugural season will be in 2024-25, before joining the MAC as an affiliate member in 2025-26. Delaware, which recently left the CAA for Conference USA, will also join as an affiliate member. Temple comes over from the American Athletic Conference, which ended its sponsorship of women’s rowing this spring.