Mountain West Conference

"Mountain West" redirects here. For the geographic region of the United States, see Mountain states. For other uses, see Mountain west.

For the former women's athletic conference, see Mountain West Athletic Conference.

Mountain West Conference

Association	NCAA
Founded	May 26, 1998;26 years ago (1998-05-26)
Commissioner	Gloria Nevarez (since January 1, 2023)
Sports fielded	19 men's: 8 women's: 11
Division	Division I
Subdivision	FBS
No. of teams	11 (9 in 2026)
Headquarters	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Region	Western United States
Official website	themw.com
Locations

The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on January 4, 1999. Geographically, the MW covers a broad expanse of the Western United States, with member schools located in California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Hawaii. Gloria Nevarez took over as commissioner of the MW on January 1, 2023, following the retirement of founding commissioner Craig Thompson. ^{[1] [2]}

The charter members of the MW included the United States Air Force Academy, Brigham Young University, Colorado State University, San Diego State University, the University of New Mexico, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of Utah and the University of Wyoming. Before forming the Mountain West Conference, seven of its eight charter members had been longtime members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and half of these had been charter members of that conference from 1962. Overall, each school that has ever been either a full or football-only member of the MW spent at least three years in the WAC before joining the Mountain West.

History

San Diego State

San Jose State

Fresno State

UNLV

Nevada

Boise State

Utah State

New Mexico

Colorado State

Air
Force

Wyoming

UTEP

Grand Canyon

Colorado College

Washington State

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Mountain West Conference member locations (Western United States)
– Full member
— Departing member
— Future member
– Associate member (women's soccer)
– Associate member (baseball & women's swimming)

Hawaii

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Mountain West Conference member locations (Hawaii)
– Football-only and future full member

Craig Thompson was hired as the inaugural commissioner of the Mountain West on October 15, 1998, and served until his retirement on December 31, 2022. Before joining the MW, he had been commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference.

Genesis

The creation of the MW was a delayed aftereffect of the 1996 NCAA conference realignment, which had initially been triggered two years earlier when the Big Eight Conference agreed to merge with four members of the Southwest Conference (SWC) to create the Big 12 Conference, which would begin competition in the 1996–97 school year.

The Western Athletic Conference, which had initially announced plans to expand beyond its then-current 10 members to at least 12, ended up with even more potential expansion prospects. Ultimately, the WAC took in three of the four SWC schools left out of the Big 12 merger—Rice University, Southern Methodist University (SMU), and Texas Christian University (TCU). Three other schools were added to bring the total membership to 16, namely Big West Conference members San José State University and UNLV, plus the University of Tulsa, an NCAA football independent and otherwise a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. The WAC's 16 teams were divided into four four-team "quadrants", two of which rotated between the Mountain and Pacific Divisions every two years. However, the newly expanded WAC was soon wracked by tension between the established and new members. ^[3]

In spring of 1998, BYU and Utah proposed a permanent split into two eight-team divisions. The proposal would have forced some schools into an unnatural alignment because of the geographic distribution of the conference. ^[3] Air Force was the most strident opponent of this proposal, threatening to become an independent. ^[3] Soon after the proposal by BYU and Utah, the presidents of Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah, and Wyoming met at Denver International Airport to discuss their future, and they agreed to break away from the WAC to form a new conference. ^[3] They invited the WAC members New Mexico, San Diego State, and UNLV to join them in what became the Mountain West Conference.

The next move for the MW came in 2005, when the conference added TCU, who had spent the previous four seasons in Conference USA (C-USA).

Early–2010s realignment

See also: 2010–2013 Mountain West Conference realignment

On June 11, 2010, Boise State University agreed to join the conference as its tenth member. On June 17, 2010, Utah announced it would be leaving the Mountain West to join what would become the Pac-12 Conference. On August 18, 2010, amidst rumors that BYU was considering leaving the Mountain West to go independent in football and rejoin the Western Athletic Conference in all other sports, the Mountain West Conference officially extended invitations to California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) and the University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada). Both schools accepted and would become the tenth and eleventh members of the league. ^{[4] [5]} BYU announced on August 31, 2010, that it would leave the Mountain West Conference and go Independent in football and become a member of the West Coast Conference (WCC) in other sports starting in 2011. ^[6] On November 29, 2010, TCU announced all athletic teams would move to the Big East Conference effective in 2012. ^[7] (Less than a year later, on October 10, 2011, TCU announced it would not join the Big East but would join the Big 12, home to fellow former SWC members Baylor, Texas, Texas Tech, and formerly Texas A&M, in 2012 instead.) ^[8] On December 10, 2010, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa accepted a bid to become the 10th member of the conference for football only. ^[9] These changes would leave the Mountain West Conference with 10 teams for the 2012 football season.

During the era of football's Bowl Championship Series (BCS), which was replaced by the College Football Playoff (CFP) in 2014, the MW champion qualified for a BCS bowl four times after the BCS formula was tweaked to allow teams from non-BCS conferences to play in BCS bowls if ranked in the top 12. However, two of the three schools that qualified are no longer with the conference.

On October 14, 2011, the Mountain West and C-USA announced a plan for a football only alliance. ^[10] On February 13, 2012, the two leagues announced that both conferences would be dissolving after the 2012–13 season to reform into one conference with at least 15 members for all sports, and a 16th team, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa as a football-only member. ^[11] However, when the two conferences discussed their plans with the NCAA, they were told that due to NCAA rules, they would forfeit substantial revenues. Specifically, the new conference would receive only one automatic bid to NCAA championships; at least one of the former conferences would lose future revenue distributions from the NCAA men's basketball tournament; and at least one former conference would not be able to collect exit fees from any members that departed to join the new conference. ^[12] As a result, the Mountain West and C-USA backed away from a full merger. In late March of that year, the commissioners of both conferences stated that all 16 schools had entered into binding agreements to form a new "association", ^[13] although the Mountain West and C-USA would have apparently remained separate legal entities. ^[12] In the end, this alliance never materialized due to both conferences soon adding new teams.

On May 2, 2012, San José State and Utah State agreed to join the conference for the 2013–14 academic year. On December 31 of that year, Boise State announced that it had backed out of its previously announced move to the Big East for football and the Big West for other sports, and would remain in the MW. ^[14]

On January 16, 2013, San Diego State accepted an offer to remain/return to the Mountain West Conference in all sports. Keeping SDSU in the conference gave the Mountain West 12 football members, allowing for a Championship Game to be held. The first championship game took place on December 7, 2013. ^[15]

Further membership changes

In February 2018, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the MW was looking to expand in the near future. In the report, commissioner Craig Thompson revealed that the conference had discussed expansion with six schools, with WCC member Gonzaga (which has not sponsored football since World War II) the only school mentioned by name. Thompson added that Gonzaga could potentially join the MW as a full but non-football member as early as July 2018. While Thompson said that BYU had not contacted the conference, the report indicated that BYU would be open to an MW return, at least in non-football sports, should Gonzaga join. ^[16] A later Union-Tribune report indicated that talks were advanced enough that the conference's presidents planned a vote on an invitation to Gonzaga during the MW men's and women's basketball tournaments in Las Vegas, but decided to delay the vote until after the Final Four. ^[17] However, on April 2, the day of the Division I men's title game, Gonzaga athletic director Mike Roth notified the MW, the WCC, and media that the school would remain in the WCC for the immediate future. ^[18]

On June 30, 2022, UCLA ^[19] and USC ^[20] announced their departure from the Pac-12 Conference to the Big Ten Conference beginning in the 2024–25 academic year. After that announcement, San Diego State had been considered one of the top candidates for Pac-12 expansion. On June 16, 2023, Pete Thamel of ESPN reported that San Diego State had given the Mountain West Conference notice that the school would be departing from the conference and asked for an extension for the departure deadline of July 1, 2023, to avoid paying extra exit fees. ^[21] The Mountain West Conference denied the request for a deadline extension and considered the letter from San Diego State as a formal notice of departure and began to proceed with the separation process; however, San Diego State disputed that its letter of intent was a formal notice. ^[22] On June 30, 2023, with the Pac-12 still lacking a media rights agreement for 2024–25, ESPN reported that San Diego State would remain in the Mountain West Conference, rescinding the intention to withdraw from the conference. ^[23] The MW and San Diego State reached a settlement of their dispute the following month, with SDSU remaining a member for the immediate future. ^[24]

In September 2023, after a mass exodus from the Pac-12 left Oregon State and Washington State as its only remaining members, MW commissioner Gloria Nevarez began discussions with the two schools regarding various options for partnership, affiliation, or merger. ^{[25] [26]} On December 1, 2023, the conference announced that it would enter into a football scheduling agreement with the two schools for the 2024 season. All 12 Mountain West members will play one game against either Oregon State or Washington State next season, giving both schools three home games and three away games. These games will not count towards Mountain West conference standings, and Oregon State and Washington State will remain members of the Pac-12. ^[27] On April 16, 2024, it was also announced that Washington State would be joining the MW as an affiliate for baseball and women's swimming. ^[28]

On September 12, 2024, it was announced that Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State, and San Diego State would be leaving the MW and joining the Pac-12 in 2026. ^[29] On September 23, Utah State also accepted an offer to join the Pac-12 in 2026 as its seventh member. ^[30]

On October 1, 2024 it was announced that the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) will be joining the Mountain West starting in the 2026–27 academic year. ^[31] On October 14, Craig Angelos, athletic director of football-only member Hawaii, confirmed outside reports that the school would upgrade to full MW membership in 2026. ^[32] This move was officially announced the next day. ^[33] On November 1, 2024, Grand Canyon University announced it was joining the Mountain West no later than July 1, 2026. ^[34]

Member schools

Current full members

  Members departing for the Pac-12 Conference in 2026.

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Type	Enrollment	Endowment (2023) (millions) [35]	Nickname	Colors
United States Air Force Academy	Air Force Academy, Colorado [a]	1954	1999	Federal (Military)	4,181	$98.9	Falcons
Boise State University	Boise, Idaho	1932	2011	Public	26,155	$143.0	Broncos
California State University, Fresno	Fresno, California	1911	2012		25,047	$229.0	Bulldogs
Colorado State University	Fort Collins, Colorado	1870	1999		33,648 [36]	$580.0	Rams
University of Nevada, Reno	Reno, Nevada	1874	2012	Public	21,034	$458.0	Wolf Pack
University of Nevada, Las Vegas	Las Vegas, Nevada [b]	1957	1999		30,660	$388.4	Rebels
University of New Mexico	Albuquerque, New Mexico	1889	1999		21,738	$661.0	Lobos
San Diego State University	San Diego, California	1897	1999	Public	32,599	$415.7	Aztecs
San José State University	San Jose, California	1857	2013	Public	32,432	$182.6	Spartans
Utah State University	Logan, Utah	1888	2013	Public	27,943	$538.4	Aggies
University of Wyoming	Laramie, Wyoming	1886	1999	Public	11,100	$758.8	Cowboys & Cowgirls

1. Virtually all of the Air Force Academy grounds, including the cadet area and all athletic facilities, are outside the city limits of Colorado Springs. The US Census Bureau and US Postal Service consider the Academy to be its own entity, respectively designating it as "Air Force Academy" and "USAF Academy".
2. The UNLV campus lies outside the Las Vegas city limits in the unincorporated area of Paradise. The US Postal Service considers all unincorporated communities in the Las Vegas Valley, including Paradise, to have a Las Vegas address.

Future members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joining	Type	Enrollment	Endowment (2017) (millions) [35]	Nickname	Colors	Current conference
Grand Canyon University	Phoenix, Arizona	1949	July 1, 2026	Private For-Profit [a] (Non-denominational)	103,427 [b]	$21.6	Antelopes		Western (WAC)
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa	Honolulu, Hawaii	1907		Public	19,097	$341.4	Rainbow Warriors/Wahine		Big West [c]
University of Texas at El Paso	El Paso, Texas	1913			25,121	$241.7	Miners		Conference USA

Notes

1. Grand Canyon's for-profit status is disputed. The U.S. Department of Education treats it as a for-profit institution, but the Internal Revenue Service, the NCAA, and the state of Arizona consider it a nonprofit.
2. Includes online students. Current on-campus enrollment is about 25,300.
3. Current Mountain West football affiliate

Affiliate members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Type	Enrollment	Endowment [37]	Nickname	Colors	MW sport	Primary conference
Colorado College	Colorado Springs, Colorado	1874	2014	Nonsectarian	2,266	$908.6 million	Tigers		Women's soccer	Southern (SCAC) [a]
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa	Honolulu, Hawaii	1907	2012	Public	19,097	$341.4 million	Rainbow Warriors		Football	Big West (MW in 2026)
Washington State University	Pullman, Washington	1890	2024	Public	24,139	$1.28 billion	Cougars		Baseball	Pac-12
									Women's swimming

Notes

1. Currently an NCAA Division III athletic conference

Former full members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Left	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Current conference
Brigham Young University	Provo, Utah	1875	1999	2011	LDS Church	34,390	Cougars		Big 12
Texas Christian University	Fort Worth, Texas	1873	2005	2012	Disciples of Christ	11,938	Horned Frogs
University of Utah	Salt Lake City, Utah	1850	1999	2011	Public	34,900	Utes

Membership timeline

 Full members Full members (non-football) Associate members (football only)  Associate members (other) Other conference Other conference 

NCAA team championships

See also: List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships and List of NCAA schools with the most Division I national championships

Excluded from this list are all national championships earned outside the scope of NCAA competition, including Division I FBS football titles, women's AIAW championships (17), equestrian titles (0), and retroactive Helms Athletic Foundation titles. ^[38]

School	Team Championships
	Total	Men	Women	Co-ed
San Jose State	10	7	3	0
Wyoming	3	1	0	2
New Mexico	3	0	2	1
Fresno State	2	1	1	0
UNLV	2	2	0	0
Colorado State	1	1	0	0
Boise State	1	1	0	0
San Diego State	1	1	0	0
Air Force	0	0	0	0
Nevada	0	0	0	0
Utah State	0	0	0	0
Total	23	14	6	3

Sports

The Mountain West Conference sponsors championship competition in eight men's and 11 women's NCAA sanctioned sports. ^[39] Hawai'i is only an associate member for football, and Colorado College is only an associate member for women's soccer.

Teams in Mountain West competition ^[a]

Sport	Men's	Women's
Baseball	7	–
Basketball	11	11
Cross country	9	11
Football	12	–
Golf	11	9
Gymnastics	–	4
Soccer	–	12
Softball	–	9
Swimming and diving	–	9
Tennis	7	11
Track and field (indoor)	8	11
Track and field (outdoor)	8	11
Volleyball	–	11

1. Numbers of teams are as of the 2021–22 school year

Men's sports

Member	Baseball	Basket­ball	Cross country	Football	Golf	Tennis	Track & field indoor	Track & field outdoor	Total MW sports
Air Force	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	8
Boise State	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	7
Fresno State	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No [a]	Yes	Yes	7
Colorado State	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	6
Nevada	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	6
UNLV	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	5
New Mexico	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	8
San Diego State	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	5
San Jose State	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	7
Utah State	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	7
Wyoming	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	6
Current Totals	7+1 [b]	11	9	11+1 [c]	11	7	8	8	69+2
Future members
Grand Canyon	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	7
Hawai'i	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	5
UTEP	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	6
2026-27 Totals	9	9	7	8	9	6	6	6	58

1. Fresno State dropped men's tennis at the end of the 2020–21 school year. ^[40]
2. Affiliate member Washington State
3. Affiliate member Hawai'i

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Mountain West

Future members in gray.

School	Fencing [a]	Gymna­stics	Ice hockey	Lac­rosse	Rifle [b]	Soccer	Swimming & diving	Volleyball	Water polo	Wrestling
Air Force	Indep­endent	MPSF	AHA	ASUN [41]	PRC	WAC	WAC		WCC	Big 12
Grand Canyon						WAC [c]	Big West	MPSF
Hawai'i							Big West [d]	Big West [d]
UNLV						WAC	WAC
San Diego State						WAC
San Jose State						WAC			WCC
Wyoming							WAC			Big 12

1. Fencing is officially a coeducational team sport, although a few schools field only a women's team. Air Force, like most NCAA fencing schools, has a coed team with men's and women's squads.
2. Rifle is technically a men's sport, but men's, women's, and coed teams all compete against each other. Air Force fields a coed team.
3. Grand Canyon has not announced a future affiliation for its men's soccer program.
4. Hawai'i has not announced a future affiliation for its men's swimming & diving or men's volleyball programs.

Women's sports

Member	Basket­ball	Cross country	Golf	Gymnastics	Soccer	Softball	Swimming & diving	Tennis	Track & field indoor	Track & field outdoor	Volley­ball	Total MW sports
Air Force	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	9
Boise State	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	10
Fresno State	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	10
Colorado State	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	10
Nevada	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	10
UNLV	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	10
New Mexico	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	10
San Diego State	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	10
San Jose State	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	11
Utah State	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	9
Wyoming	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	9
Current Totals	11	11	9	4	11+1 [a]	9	9+1 [b]	11	11	11	11	108+2
Future members
Grand Canyon	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	10
Hawai'i	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	10
UTEP	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	9
2026-27 Totals	9	9	8	2	9+1 [a]	7	8	9	9	9	9	82+1

1. Affiliate member Colorado College.
2. Affiliate member Washington State.

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Mountain West

Future members in gray.

School	Beach volleyball	Equestrian	Fencing [a]	Lacrosse	Rifle [b]	Sailing	Water polo
Air Force			Independent		PRC
Boise State	Southland
Fresno State		Big 12					Golden Coast
Grand Canyon	TBA [c]
Hawai'i	Big West [d]					PCCSC	Big West [d]
San Diego State				Big 12			Golden Coast
San Jose State	Southland						MPSF
UTEP	CUSA [e]				PRC

1. Fencing is officially a coeducational team sport, although a few schools field only a women's team. Air Force, like most NCAA fencing schools, has a coed team with men's and women's squads.
2. Rifle is technically a men's sport, but men's, women's, and coed teams all compete against each other. Air Force and UTEP respectively field coed and women-only teams.
3. Grand Canyon has not announced a future affiliation for its beach volleyball program.
4. Hawai'i has not announced a future affiliation for its beach volleyball or women's water polo programs.
5. UTEP has not announced a future affiliation for its beach volleyball program.

Athletic department revenue by school

Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights and licensing, student fees, school funds and all other sources including TV income, camp income, concessions, and novelties.

Total expenses includes coach and staff salaries, scholarships, buildings and grounds, maintenance, utilities and rental fees, recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues, and insurance.

The following table shows institutional reporting to the United States Department of Education as shown on the DOE Equity in Athletics website for the 2021–22 academic year. ^[42] However, since Air Force is not available from that source, it was obtained from Knight Commission for the 2020–2021 academic year. ^[43]

Institution	2023–24 Total Revenue from Athletics	2023–24 Total Expenses on Athletics
San Diego State University	$103,930,691	$96,611,742
United States Air Force Academy	$76,587,462	$67,422,052
Colorado State University	$64,304,072	$64,463,788
Boise State University	$60,653,009	$58,257,005
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa	$53,867,030	$52,696,666
University of Nevada, Las Vegas	$56,560,028	$66,547,435
Utah State University	$51,789,705	$51,389,553
University of Wyoming	$50,083,847	$48,300,019
University of Nevada, Reno	$49,533,190	$49,509,846
California State University, Fresno	$48,938,712	$51,738,485
University of New Mexico	$47,763,222	$47,048,657
San José state University	$44,546,781	$44,546,341
University of Texas at El Paso	$40,707,967	$35,386,434
Grand Canyon University	Does not publicly disclose athletics budget

Conference champions

Main article: List of Mountain West Conference champions

Rivalries

Conference (football)

Totals and records following the completion of the 2022 football season.

Teams		Rivalry name	Trophy	Meetings (last)	Record	Series leader
Air Force	Colorado State	Air Force–Colorado State football rivalry	Ram-Falcon Trophy	60 (2022)	38–21–1	Air Force
	Hawai'i	Air Force–Hawai'i football rivalry	Kuter Trophy	22 (2019)	14–7–1	Air Force
Boise State	Fresno State	Boise State–Fresno State football rivalry	Milk Can	25 (2022)	17–8	Boise State
	Nevada	Boise State–Nevada football rivalry	—	45 (2022)	31–14	Boise State
Fresno State	Hawai'i	Fresno State–Hawai'i football rivalry	The Golden Screwdriver	55 (2022)	30–24–1	Fresno State
	San Diego State	Battle for the Oil Can	Old Oil Can	61 (2022)	27–30–4	San Diego State
	San José state	Battle for the Valley	Valley Trophy	86 (2022)	44–39–3	Fresno State
Colorado State	Wyoming	Border War	Bronze Boot	114 (2022)	59–50–5	Colorado State
Hawai'i	San José state	Dick Tomey Legacy Game	Dick Tomey Legacy Trophy	46 (2023)	22–23–1	San José state
	UNLV	Hawai'i–UNLV football rivalry	Island Showdown Trophy	33 (2022)	19–14	Hawai'i
	Wyoming	Hawai'i–Wyoming football rivalry	Paniolo Trophy	27 (2022)	11–16	Wyoming
Nevada	UNLV	Battle for Nevada	Fremont Cannon	48 (2022)	29–19	Nevada
Utah State	Wyoming	Bridger's Battle	Bridger Rifle	72 (2022)	40–28–4	Utah State

Non–conference (including other sports)

Schools		First meeting	Game	Trophy	Reigning champion (last meeting)	Next meeting
Air Force / Army / Navy		1972		Commander-in-Chief's Trophy	Army (2023)	2024
Boise State	Idaho	1971	Battle of Idaho	Governor's Cup	Boise State (2010)
Colorado State	Colorado	1893	Rocky Mountain Showdown	Centennial Cup	Colorado (2024)	2029
New Mexico	Arizona	1908	Arizona–New Mexico football rivalry	Kit Carson Rifle	Arizona (2024)	No future games scheduled at the moment
	New Mexico State	1894	Rio Grande Rivalry		New Mexico (2024)	2025
San José state	Stanford	1900	Bill Walsh Legacy Game		Stanford (2013)	2024
Utah State	Brigham Young (BYU)	1922	Battle for The Old Wagon Wheel	The Old Wagon Wheel	BYU (2022)
	Utah	1892	Battle of the Brothers		Utah (2015)
Utah State / BYU / Utah		1971		Beehive Boot	BYU (2022)	2025
UTEP	New Mexico State	1914	Battle of I-10	Silver Spade Trophy and the Mayor's Cup	New Mexico State (2023)	2024

Football

Divisions

See also: Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game

Beginning in 2013, the conference split into two divisions, named the "Mountain Division" and "West Division," of six teams each for football. The Mountain West also added a conference championship game, pitting the winners of the two divisions. This first championship game took place on December 7, 2013, at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California, the home stadium of Fresno State, the divisional winner with the higher BCS ranking. ^[44] Each team played five divisional games and three cross-divisional contests annually. ^[45] The 2015 championship game featured the Air Force Academy Falcons against the San Diego State University Aztecs. The 2016 championship game featured the San Diego State University Aztecs against the University of Wyoming Cowboys.

On May 20, 2022, the conference approved a new football schedule format, set to take effect in the 2023 season. ^{[46] [47]} Under this format, the conference will remove divisions, and instead play a 2–6 format, where each team plays 2 designated rivals every year along with six separate 6-team rotations that flip every other year, such that every team will have at least one home game and one away game against every other team in a three-year cycle (less than the standard length of a college player's career). The MW Championship will also no longer be determined by the winners of the two divisions; the two teams with the highest conference winning percentage will play instead. ^{[48] [49]} The designated rivals under this system are as follows:

MW Permanent Matchups ^[48]

School	Rival 1	Rival 2
Air Force	Colorado State	Wyoming
Boise State	New Mexico	Utah State
Colorado State	Air Force	Wyoming
Fresno State	Nevada	San José state
Hawaii	San Diego State	UNLV
Nevada	Fresno State	UNLV
New Mexico	Boise State	San José state
San Diego State	Hawaii	Utah State
San José state	Fresno State	New Mexico
UNLV	Hawaii	Nevada
Utah State	Boise State	San Diego State
Wyoming	Air Force	Colorado State

Prior to this, the division format was as follows:

MW Football Divisions (2013–2022)

Mountain Division	West Division
Air Force	Fresno State
Boise State	Hawaiʻi
Colorado State	Nevada
New Mexico	UNLV
Utah State	San Diego State
Wyoming	San José state

• No other MW sport is split into divisions—including women's soccer, the only other conference sport with 12 competing schools (with Colorado College as the 12th member).

Bowl games

The Mountain West Conference has agreements with six bowls.

Since the 2014 season, the Mountain West champion is eligible for an at-large berth in the Cotton Bowl Classic, Fiesta Bowl, or Peach Bowl, if it is the highest-ranked conference champion among the "Group of Five" conferences (which also includes The American, C-USA, MAC, and Sun Belt) in the final College Football Playoff rankings, if it is not in the top 4. In the 2014 season, Boise State became the first team to receive this berth, being selected for and winning the Fiesta Bowl.

As of 2020,

Pick	Name	Location	Opposing conference	Opposing pick
1	LA Bowl	Inglewood, California	Pac-12	5
Non–specific	Hawaii Bowl	Honolulu, Hawaii	The American	Non–specific
Non–specific	Famous Idaho Potato Bowl	Boise, Idaho	MAC	Non–specific
Non–specific	New Mexico Bowl	Albuquerque, New Mexico	C-USA	Non–specific
Non–specific	Arizona Bowl	Tucson, Arizona	MAC	Non–specific
Conditional*	Cactus Bowl	Phoenix, Arizona	Big 12 or Pac-12	6 (Big 12) or 7 (Pac-12)
Conditional*	San Francisco Bowl	Santa Clara, California	Big Ten or Pac-12	Non–specific (Big Ten) or 4 (Pac-12)

• If Hawaii is bowl eligible and not MW champions or selected for a CFP bowl, they will receive a berth in the Hawaii Bowl.
  • The MW will only send a team to the Cactus or San Francisco Bowls if one of the primary conferences affiliated with those bowls is unable to fill their slots.

Bowl records

As of the 2019–20 bowl games

School	Appearances	W	L	T	Win %	BCS/ NY6	National championships
Air Force	29	15	13	1	.534	0–0	0
Fresno State	28	14	14	0	.500	0–0	0
Boise State	20 [a]	13	7	0	.650	3–0	2 — 1958 (NJCAA), 1980 (NCAA Division I-AA [b] )
San Diego State	20	10	10	0	.500	0–0	3 — 1966–1968 (NCAA College Division [c] )
Nevada	18	7	11	0	.389	0–0	0
Wyoming	18	9	9	0	.500	0–0	0
Colorado State	17	6	11	0	.353	0–0	0
Utah State	15	6	9	0	.400	0–0	0
Hawai'i	14	8	6	0	.571	0–1	0
New Mexico	13	4	8	1	.346	0–0	0
San Jose State	12	7	5	0	.583	0–0	0
UNLV	4	3	1	0	.750	0–0	0

1. Appeared in the 2018 First Responder Bowl, but the game was canceled midway through the first quarter due to lightning.
2. In 2006, "Division I-AA" was renamed "Division I Football Championship Subdivision" or "Division I FCS" for short.
3. The "NCAA College Division" was split into today's "NCAA Division II" and "NCAA Division III" in 1973. The NCAA considers all College Division championships to be part of the histories of Division II championships in the same sports.

Bowl Challenge Cup

ESPN created the Bowl Challenge Cup in 2002 for the conference that had the best college football bowl record among Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conferences. The conference has won it five times, more than any other conference, by finishing with bowl game records of 2–1 in 2004–05, ^[50] 4–1 in 2007–08, ^[51] 4–1 in 2009–10, ^[52] 4–1 in 2010–11 ^[53] and 5–1 in 2021–22. ^[54]

Men's basketball

The Mountain West and Missouri Valley Conferences hold an annual challenge series that was renewed in the 2015–16 season after a two-year hiatus. The series began in the 2009–10 season but temporarily ended when the original contract ran out after the 2012–13 season, During the first four seasons of the series, it involved all members of the MW and an equal number of the 10 MVC teams in basketball. With the MW now having 11 basketball members to the MVC's 10, the renewed series involves all MVC teams, with one MW team sitting out.

The first game was on November 13, 2009, featuring the Bradley Braves and the BYU Cougars in Provo and it concluded on December 23 with the Wyoming Cowboys visiting the Northern Iowa Panthers in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The challenge is similar to the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, which pits men's basketball teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten Conference. ^[55]

NCAA tournament records

As of the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season

School	Appearances	W	L	Win %	Wins per appearance	National championships
Utah State	23	6	24	.200	0.273	0
UNLV	20	33	19	.635	1.650	1 (1990)
San Diego State	16	11	14	.440	0.733	0
Wyoming	16	9	21	.300	0.563	1 (1943)
New Mexico	15	8	16	.333	0.533	0
Colorado State	12	5	12	.250	0.363	0
Nevada	11	6	10	.375	0.600	0
Boise State	10	0	9	.000	0.000	0
Fresno State	5	2	5	.286	0.400	0
Air Force	4	0	4	.000	0.000	0
San Jose State	3	0	3	.000	0.000	0

Women's basketball

NCAA tournament records

School	Appearances	W	L	Win %	Wins per appearance	National championships
UNLV	10	3	10	.231	0.300	0
New Mexico	8	3	8	.273	0.375	0
San Diego State	9	6	9	.400	0.571	0
Fresno State	7	0	7	.000	0.000	0
Boise State	6	0	6	.000	0.000	0
Colorado State	6	5	6	.455	0.833	0
Wyoming	2	0	2	.000	0.000	0
Air Force	0	0	0	–	0.000	0
Nevada	0	0	0	–	0.000	0
San Jose State	0	0	0	–	0.000	0
Utah State	0	0	0	–	0.000	0

Facilities

School	Football stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity	Baseball stadium	Capacity
Air Force	Falcon Stadium	39,441	Clune Arena	5,858	Erdle Field	1,000
Boise State	Albertsons Stadium	36,387	ExtraMile Arena	12,480	Non-baseball school
Colorado State	Canvas Stadium	41,000	Moby Arena	8,745	Non-baseball school
Fresno State	Valley Children's Stadium	40,727	Save Mart Center	15,544	Pete Beiden Field	5,757
Grand Canyon	Non-football school		Global Credit Union Arena	7,500	Brazell Field	4,500
Hawaiʻi	Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex [a]	15,000	Stan Sheriff Center	10,300	Les Murakami Stadium	4,312
Nevada	Mackay Stadium	27,000	Lawlor Events Center [b]	12,000	William Peccole Park	3,000
New Mexico	University Stadium	39,224	The Pit	15,411	Santa Ana Star Field	1,000
San Diego State	Snapdragon Stadium	35,000	Viejas Arena	12,414	Tony Gwynn Stadium	3,000
San Jose State	CEFCU Stadium	21,520	Provident Credit Union Event Center	5,000	Excite Ballpark	4,200
UNLV	Allegiant Stadium	65,000	Thomas & Mack Center (men) Cox Pavilion (women)	17,923 2,500	Earl Wilson Stadium	3,000
Utah State	Maverik Stadium	25,513	Dee Glen Smith Spectrum	10,270	Non-baseball school
UTEP	Sun Bowl Stadium	51,500	Don Haskins Center	12,222	Non-baseball school
Washington State	Baseball (and women's swimming)-only member				Bailey–Brayton Field	3,500
Wyoming	War Memorial Stadium	30,514	Arena-Auditorium	11,612	Non-baseball school

Notes

1. Temporary stadium until the new Aloha Stadium is completed. ^[56]
2. Nevada men's basketball currently plans to move to a new 10,000-seat off-campus arena at the Grand Sierra Resort in 2026 or 2027. The Lawlor Events Center will remain home to women's basketball. ^[57]

Elevation

The Mountain West's slogan is "Above the rest", and over half of the member institutions, plus women's soccer-only member Colorado College, are at more than 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) above sea level. This impacts endurance in sports like football, soccer, and the distance races in track & field and swimming meets; air resistance in sprints and horizontal jumps in track & field; and aerodynamics in baseball, softball, tennis, golf, and the discus and javelin throws. The Mountain West's institutions have the highest average elevations in NCAA Division I sports.

Campus and football stadium elevations

Schools in italics are single-sport members. In the case of women's soccer-only member Colorado College, "stadium elevation" refers to the school's soccer venue.

School	Campus elevation (ft)	Stadium elevation (ft)
Air Force Academy	7,258	6,621
Wyoming	7,220	7,220
Colorado College	6,053	6,053
New Mexico	5,174	5,100
Colorado State	5,007	5,190
Utah State	4,777	4,710
Nevada	4,564	4,610
Boise State	2,697	2,695
UNLV	2,024	1,600
San Diego State	433	25
Fresno State	338	335
Hawai'i	105	19
San Jose State	85	93

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External links

• Official website