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]
Current members
Eleven schools are "full members", meaning that they play almost all of their sports in the MW. Departing schools are highlighted in pink.
↑Almost all of the Air Force Academy grounds, including the cadet area and all athletic facilities, is outside the Colorado Springs city limits. The U.S. Census Bureau treats the Academy as "Air Force Academy, Colorado", and the U.S. Postal Service uses "USAF Academy, Colorado".
↑The UNLV campus lies outside the Las Vegas city limits in the unincorporated area of Paradise, Nevada. The U.S. Postal Service uses "Las Vegas" as the postal address for all areas in the Las Vegas Valley that are outside of an incorporated city.
Three schools are "associate members", meaning that they play in the MW in some sports while playing most other sports in another league. Two play only one sport in the MW, and the other houses two sports in the MW.
↑Most of Washington State's sports are housed in the West Coast Conference through the 2025–26 school year, after which the Pac-12 will add at least six new members. WSU may leave the MW in one or both sports at that time if the Pac-12 sponsors those sports going forward.
Former members
Two of the MW's first members, plus one school that joined later, are no longer in the conference. All three are now members of the Big 12 Conference.
The MountainWest Sports Network was an American college sports television channel. It was dedicated to the Mountain West Conference, including studio programs following the conference, live events, and documentary-style programs profiling the conference's members. It was launched on September 1, 2006. The channel shut down on May 31, 2012.
