The Mountain West Conference will add Grand Canyon University as a full non-football member in 2026, the conference announced Friday.
It’s the latest addition for the MWC as it rebuilds following the pending departure of five schools to the similarly rebuilding Pac-12 in 2026. The MWC is also set to add University of Texas El Paso from Conference USA. Football-only member Hawaii will become a full member, giving the league eight football full members, plus non-football member Grand Canyon.
“Grand Canyon is a tremendous addition to the Mountain West,” MWC commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in a statement. “We are excited to expand our footprint into the City of Phoenix and the State of Arizona. Grand Canyon has been on an upward trajectory both academically and athletically for the past decade, and its addition to the league will enhance the competition across the Mountain West as we strive to earn NCAA postseason bids and compete for national championships.”
Grand Canyon men’s basketball team has made the NCAA Tournament in three of the past four seasons out of the Western Athletic Conference, including a second-round appearance earlier this year as a No. 12 seed, beating No. 5 seed Saint Mary’s. The school will compete in 17 sports in the MWC. GCU had previously announced in May that it would join the West Coast Conference in 2025.
Grand Canyon was founded in 1949 and moved up from Division II to Division I in 2013. It’s a private, for-profit university that has around 25,000 students on its Phoenix campus and more than 95,000 online students. The Department of Education fined the school $37.7 million in 2023 for allegedly misrepresenting the cost of its doctoral degree programs, but the school has appealed that decision.
“GCU continues to rapidly grow as an institution and as an athletics program,” athletic director Jamie Boggs said. “We want to best position ourselves to be nationally competitive, and we are excited about the vision and future of the Mountain West. We are joining a conference that has enjoyed national success, has developed a rich tradition in its 26 years, and has financially positioned us for competitive success in this changing collegiate landscape. We are eager to compete for championships with our future peers in the Mountain West.”
With eight full football-playing members already set, the Mountain West meets FBS requirements. The membership for 2026 will now be: Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, University of Nevada Las Vegas, UTEP and Wyoming, along with Grand Canyon.
The conference also continues to look at potential football-playing members like Northern Illinois and Toledo from the MAC, according to league sources. Football drives the television money, and having at least eight league football games would be preferable for the conference.
( Photo: Nicole Mullen / USA Today)
