Mountain West Conference

The Mountain West Conference (abbreviated as either "MW" or "MWC") is a group of colleges and universities in the Western United States, who play NCAA Division I sports against one another. In football, the MW plays in the top-level Division I FBS.

The league was formed in 1999 when eight schools split from the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Most of the original members had been members of the WAC before it grew from 10 schools to 16 in 1996.

Due to a major realignment of Division I conferences, the MW and Conference USA (CUSA) announced plans to merge into one conference, possibly for the 2013–14 school year.^[1] However, because of money issues, the conferences backed away from a full merger. They planned to form an alliance for scheduling and television purposes.^[2] After both conferences added more schools, they backed out of the planned alliance.

During the 2020s conference realignment, the MW survived an attempted raid from the American Athletic Conference, which had courted four of its members,^[3] but would later be raided by the Pac-12 Conference, which had lost all but two of its 12 members in 2024. In September 2024, the Pac-12 announced that Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State would join the Pac-12 in 2026.^[4] Utah State soon became the fifth MW member to announce its departure for the Pac-12, also effective in 2026.^[5]

The MW started a rebuilding process in October 2024 by announcing that UTEP would join from CUSA in 2026.^[6] Later that month, football associate Hawaii announced it would become a full MW member in 2026.^[7] On November 1, Grand Canyon, which had previously announced it would join the West Coast Conference in 2025,^[8] went back on that move, instead accepting an invitation to join the MW no later than 2026.^[9] Unlike the other current and future MW members, Grand Canyon has no football team. In December, UC Davis announced it would join the MW in 2026, though without its football team, which will stay in the second-level Division I FCS as an associate of the Big Sky Conference.^[10]

1. ↑ Katz, Andy (February 13, 2012). "MWC, C-USA to form new conference". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 19, 2012.
2. ↑ McMurphy, Brett (April 17, 2012). "Conference USA-Mountain West merger "unlikely"". College Football Insider. CBSSports.com. Retrieved April 27, 2012.^{[permanent dead link]}
3. ↑ Sallee, Barrett (October 1, 2021). "Air Force, Colorado State join Boise State, San Diego State in sticking with Mountain West over AAC". CBSSports.com. Archived from the original on 2021-10-01. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
4. ↑ "Ushering in a new era, the Pac-12 Conference strengthens its legacy by welcoming four respected academic and athletic universities" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. September 12, 2024. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
5. ↑ "Pac-12 Conference and Utah State University Unite to Advance the New Era of the 100-Year-Old Legacy" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. September 24, 2024. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
6. ↑ "Mountain West Officially Welcomes UTEP Into The Conference" (Press release). Mountain West Conference. October 1, 2024. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
7. ↑ "Mountain West Officially Welcomes Hawaiʻi as a Full-Time Member" (Press release). Mountain West Conference. October 15, 2024. Retrieved October 15, 2024.
8. ↑ "West Coast Conference Adds Grand Canyon University and Seattle University as Members" (Press release). West Coast Conference. May 10, 2024. Archived from the original on May 10, 2024. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
9. ↑ "GCU accepts invite to Mountain West Conference" (Press release). Mountain West Conference. November 1, 2024. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
10. ↑ "Mountain West Welcomes UC Davis" (Press release). Mountain West Conference. December 10, 2024. Retrieved December 10, 2024.