Also, the WCC's profile in Pacific's major revenue sport of men's basketball has steadily increased in recent years, with the conference's highest-profile program of Gonzaga now joined by Saint Mary's and BYU as frequent NCAA tournament entrants. At the time of Pacific's return, the WCC had a broadcast contract with ESPN, running through 2018–19, that guaranteed each conference member at least three national television appearances per season on one of ESPN's networks. Atlantic Sun Conference On May 13, 2011, Belmont University announced it was leaving the Atlantic Sun Conference, now known as the ASUN Conference, for the Ohio Valley Conference. On December 8, 2011, the conference announced Northern Kentucky University would join in 2012. Because Northern Kentucky came to the Atlantic Sun from the Division II Great Lakes Valley Conference, the Norse had to undergo a four-year transition period (with the exception of their cross country, golf, and track and field programs), with all teams gaining postseason eligibility for the 2016–17 academic year. Mercer and East Tennessee State left for the Southern Conference in 2014. Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 (A-10) had suffered a major blow with the loss of traditional conference power Temple to the Big East in March 2012. Unlike the realignment moves in FBS (which were largely driven by football) the A-10 (which does not sponsor football) made moves with basketball in mind, as the A-10 is one of the strongest basketball-centric conferences. When it became clear that Temple was on its way out, the A-10 entered into talks with Butler University of the Horizon League and George Mason University and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) of the CAA. While initially George Mason opted out, VCU and Butler entered the conference in 2012, only to see Butler and Xavier University depart the Atlantic 10 for the newly formed non-football Big East in 2013. George Mason then agreed to join the conference, while Davidson College of the Southern Conference would be added for the 2014-15 school year. America East Conference The America East eventually offset the loss of Boston University by adding University of Massachusetts Lowell on February 13, 2013. UMass Lowell upgraded all of its sports teams to Division I from the Division II Northeast-10 Conference, with the exception of men's ice hockey, which already competed in Division I as a member of Hockey East. The River Hawks began competition in America East in the 2013–14 academic