The Mountain West Conference’s member changeover is official Wednesday as some previous schools head to the reforming Pac-12 Conference and new schools arrive to take their place.
The 27-year-old conference is now made up of eight schools who will compete in all sports, including football, with UNLV, Air Force, Hawaii, New Mexico, UNR, San Jose State, Wyoming and UTEP. Grand Canyon University and UC-Davis, will compete in all sports outside of football while North Dakota State joining for football, Northern Illinois competing in football and gymnastics and Utah Tech joining for baseball and men’s swimming and diving.
As the new institutions are added, the Mountain West is losing Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State to the Pac-12, joining holdovers Oregon State and Washington State and new full-time member Texas State University. Gonzaga is also jumping from the West Coast Conference to the Pac-12 for basketball.
Along with the new conference makeup, the Mountain West has moved its headquarters from Colorado to Las Vegas, with an office space set up in Town Square.
UNLV director of athletics Erick Harper said having the MW located near UNLV could have its advantages to hosting some of the conference’s marquee events. That includes men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, which UNLV has hosted since 2007.
“Their office being here also provides an opportunity for the city of Las Vegas to host some Mountain West conference championships,” Harper told the Review-Journal in May. “We could have all the championships coming through here and lock in the football championship game at Allegiant Stadium.
”I think it would be spectacular to be able to host more Mountain West championship competition here in Las Vegas.”
After all schools but Oregon State and Washington State fled the Pac-12 in 2023 for Power 4 conferences, a scheduling agreement was signed with the Mountain West to make up for lost conference games by the two schools. That deal included language that if the Pac-12 recruited schools from the Mountain West in the future that poaching fees would be paid by the Pac-12 to the MW.
That deal led to multiple lawsuits filed regarding various fees the Pac-12 and exiting Mountain West schools would have to pay their conference. The total fees ballooned to more than $155 million.
In May, the two conferences agreed to pause their lawsuits and work on a settlement, which was agreed in principle on June 1, according to Northern California District Court records. It is expected that the settlement’s payout will be less than the originally terms. A show cause hearing on the case is scheduled for Sept. 9, according to court records.
In 2024, UNLV signed to remain with the Mountain West for six more years starting this year, taking the deal through 2032, with the promise of the university receiving $14.9 million no later than Wednesday and an additional $21 million — for a total of $35.9 million — from poaching and exit fees.
It is unclear how much money will be paid as part of the settlement reached by the two conferences.
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
New Mountain West
Air Force Falcons
UC-Davis (non-football)
Grand Canyon University (non-football)
Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors
Nevada Wolf Pack
New Mexico Lobos
North Dakota State Bison (football only)
Northern Illinois Huskies (football, gymnastics only)
San José State Spartans
UNLV Rebels
UTEP Miners
Utah Tech (baseball and swimming only)
Wyoming Cowboys
