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Wednesday ushered in a new era for the Mountain West conference.
Five teams bolted for the new Pac-12, leading to several others both full members and sport-specific ones coming on for the 28th season of the conferences existence.
With the addition of mens soccer and men's swimming & diving for this season the University of New Mexico sponsors neither of those sports the Mountain West has a total of 21 varsity sports.
Four original members from the league's inaugural 1999-2000 season remain: the Air Force Falcons, UNM Lobos, UNLV Runnin' Rebels and Wyoming Cowboys.
Here is a look at the league's newest roster of member universities for the 2026-27 season with a note on each of the newcomers: Original members U.S.
Air Force Academy * Mascot: Falcons * Location: U.S.
Air Force Academy, Colorado (outside Colorado Springs) * Primary colors: Blue and white University of New Mexico * Mascot: Lobos * Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico * Primary colors: Cherry and silver University of Nevada, Las Vegas * Mascot: Rebels * Location: Las Vegas * Primary colors: Scarlet and gray University of Wyoming * Mascot: Cowboys * Location: Laramie, Wyoming * Primary colors: Brown and gold Returning members University of Nevada * Mascot: Wolf Pack * Location: Reno, Nevada * Primary colors: Blue and silver San Jose State University * Mascot: Spartans * Location: San Jose, California * Primary colors: Blue and gold New full members University of Hawaii * Mascot: Rainbow Warriors * Location: Manoa, Hawaii * Primary colors: Green and white * Of note: If all you follow is football, the Rainbow Warriors are nothing new to the league.
But for all other sports, this is the first year of full membership for Hawaii.
Enjoy those frequent flyer miles on the midweek tennis matches on the islands! University of Texas at El Paso * Mascot: Miners * Location: El Paso, Texas * Primary colors: Blue and orange * Of note: The Miners, one of now two schools in the league that can lay claim to having a men's basketball national championship banner hanging in its home arena, ushered in the new era on Wednesday by introducing a new version of its mascot, Paydirt Pete.
Returning, mostly full member Grand Canyon University * Mascot: Lopes * Location: Phoenix * Primary colors: Purple and black * Of note: No football.
Yes, the Lopes joined last year in all sports but football, but make no mistake, this is an addition stemming from the Pac-12/Mountain West breakup and most definitely the best "get" for the Mountain West this side of being a full member.
Not having football is big as it doesn't help TV contracts much, and GCU doesn't get a full media rights share as a result, but if you don't already know, get used to seeing GCU competitive in just about every other sport due to its high investment.
New, sports specific members University of California, Davis * Mascot: Aggies * Location: Davis, California * Primary colors: Blue and gold * Of note: Basketball only.
UCD is as big a head scratcher as there is in all of this.
Ask some around the league and the answer is they have a ton of money.
The problem is there's never been any indication the school invests much of it in athletics, not enough to make this a valuable addition to the league if that doesn't change.
Colorado College * Mascot: Tigers * Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado * Primary colors: Black and gold * Of note: Women's soccer only.
Clearly the black and gold and "Tigers" mascot is a shout out to the great Alamogordo High School in southern New Mexico.
And for that, they are awesome.
North Dakota State University * Mascot: Bison * Location: Fargo, North Dakota * Primary colors: Green and yellow * Of note: Football-only.
If GCU was the prized "get" in all of this for everything but football, here's the best addition for the sport that drives the bus in college athletics.
The multi-time FCS national champion has big money to invest in making the move to FBS and the NCAA recently ruled they are eligible in Year 1 to play in a bowl game rather than having a wait period during their transition to FBS, as we previously required.
Will they compete in Year 1? That's a big ask, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.
Northern Illinois University * Mascot: Huskies * Location: DeKalb, Illinois * Primary colors: Red and black * Of note: Football and women's gymnastics.
The Huskies had a busy Wednesday, joining not only the Mountain West for those two sports, but also joining the Horizon League as its new primary conference for most sports and joining the new Pac-12 for wrestling.
Welcome to college sports in 2026.
As for the spin on why this might be good for the MW, the time zone flexibility with this league is as good as any in terms of attractiveness to television partners with kickoff possibilities throughout the day from Illinois to Hawaii.
Utah Tech University * Mascot: Trailblazers * Location: St.
George, Utah * Primary colors: Red and blue * Of note: Baseball and men's soccer.
The addition of the school that changed its name from Dixie State in 2022 was needed to make sure baseball and the newly added sport of men's soccer (no, Lobo fans, UNM has no plans of bringing it's once-nationally prominent men's soccer program back) had enough teams to be recognized by the NCAA for a conference to get an automatic berth into a sport's NCAA Tournament.
Reach Geoff Grammer at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.