The Mountain West scooped up another school in UC Davis on Tuesday, announcing 16 sports—but not football—will join the conference July 1, 2026.
It’s the latest acquisition for the Group of 5 conference that was gutted by the Pac-12, then went on a spending spree of its own this fall, adding UTEP, Hawai‘i, and Grand Canyon University. Hawai‘i had already been a football-only member, while GCU doesn’t have a football team.
At the same time, the Mountain West reportedly has an offer out to the MAC’s Northern Illinois University to join as a football-only member. The program launched onto the national scene in September in what remains No. 5 Notre Dame’s only loss of the season, and it has since gone 7–5 on the year en route to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
Including UC Davis, the Mountain West will have 10 teams in 2026–2027. The conference already had the eight football programs necessary to maintain FBS status with the NCAA, so UC Davis and NIU weren’t make-or-break additions.
The UC Davis football team will stay in the FCS’s Big Sky Conference, where it’s currently second in the standings with an 11–2 record. Men’s and women’s water polo and beach volleyball “will seek to remain in the Big West through affiliate membership but are prepared to explore other options, if necessary,” the school said in a press release. Equestrian, field hockey, and lacrosse, which aren’t Mountain West sports, will stay in their current affiliate memberships.
The Mountain West and Pac-12 were on favorable terms during last year’s conference realignment, when the Mountain West offered to fill the schedules of Oregon State and Washington State during the “Pac-2” era. Then, the Pac-12 poached five Mountain West schools to fill its ranks: Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and Utah State. The Mountain West and Pac-12 are still battling over $55 million in exit fees the smaller conference says the larger owes for stealing its schools. The Pac-12’s lawsuit arguing the damage payments are illegal is still in early stages.
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