After more than a decade in Newport News, Virginia, the Atlantic 10 Conference has reached a deal to relocate its headquarters to Washington, D.C., in a move it said will place operations in the geographic center of its membership footprint.

The Atlantic 10 Presidents Council voted unanimously to establish the college athletic conference's head offices in Washington, becoming the first NCAA Division I conference to house its headquarters in the nation’s capital.

A-10 leaders said travel times to and from the league office played a significant role in the decision to relocate, with seven of its 15 members located within a four-hour commute of Washington. That includes area schools George Washington University in Northwest Washington and George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

The move to Washington also provides member schools easier access to league headquarters by way of the region's three major airports as the conference has expanded geographically. In addition to George Washington and George Mason, member schools include Saint Louis University, the University of Dayton, Davidson College and its newest member, Loyola University Chicago.

“The District is a vibrant major location with significant advantages in travel, economics and nationally recognized media,” A-10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade said in a statement. “Washington provides access to a highly educated, diverse community that embraces Fortune 500 companies, innovative technology and is the political center of the world, all factors in the current college athletics landscape."

The A-10's new headquarters will be located in a roughly 5,000-square-foot studio space at the National Center for Higher Education building, an eight-story property at Dupont Circle that is owned and anchored by the nonprofit organization the American Council on Education. The new space is set to include a media studio, shared offices with workstations, a staff conference room and larger conference meeting spaces.

The move 170 miles north of Newport News, where the conference has been headquartered since 2009, places the league in a major market that twice has served as the host city for the A-10 Men’s Basketball Championship, played at Capital One Arena in 2018 and 2022, and is scheduled to again host the tournament in 2025. Washington has also hosted championships for the league's volleyball, women's lacrosse and softball leagues.

The A-10 is scheduled to start moving into its new office in November with the relocation expected to be completed in June of 2024 following the 2023-2024 academic and athletic year. Prior to moving to Newport News in 2009, the league was headquartered in Philadelphia near member schools Saint Joseph's University and La Salle University.

Adam Biberaj and Merrill Turnbull of Lincoln Property Co. represented the American Council on Education in the lease negotiations.