Grand Canyon to join Mountain West for 2025-26

The Grand Canyon Antelopes will join the Mountain West Conference in 17 sports for the fall semester, the school announced Tuesday.

“The strong support of President Brian Mueller and the entire university community has led to tremendous competitive success, positioning GCU for this move to a conference as strong as the Mountain West,” GCU vice president of athletics Jamie Boggs said in a release. “We are thankful to the coaches, student-athletes and staff, with the backing of the Havocs, the greatest student section in college sports, that have worked tirelessly to build a nationally competitive athletic department to earn this opportunity.

“We want to thank Commissioner Gloria Nevarez and the member institutions, and we are eager to compete for championships with our new peers in the Mountain West.”

GCU departed the Western Athletic Conference by agreeing to join the West Coast Conference in May 2024 but later last year pivoted to accepting an MWC invite for 2026 with the potential to move that timeline up.

The WCC ultimately sued Grand Canyon for breach of contract over exit fees.

The Antelopes announced in November 2024 that they would join the MWC no later than July 2026.

Most notably because the Antelopes do not have a football team, the Antelopes will participate in men’s and women’s basketball, giving the conference 12 teams: Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Grand Canyon, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State and Wyoming.

“The addition of Grand Canyon for the 2025-26 academic year is a significant win for the student-athletes at GCU and in the Mountain West,” MWC Gloria Nevarez said in a release. “Grand Canyon brings elite recruiting, a passionate fan base, and state-of-the-art facilities, elevating the Mountain West’s competitiveness and national profile. In a time when the student-athlete experience is of utmost importance, we felt it was in the best interest to allow them to compete for conference championships and the NCAA postseason immediately. GCU is a great addition to the Mountain West and positively raises the competition level in the league.”

GCU has already announced that it will participate in the WAC in men’s soccer, the Big West in men’s swimming and diving the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation for beach volleyball.

Conference realignment has caused a wave of changes on the West Coast, with the Pac-12 dissolving down to two teams before last season — Washington State and Oregon State — before building back up.

The trickle-down effect hit the Mountain West.

Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State are expected to join the Pac-12 from the MWC after the 2025-26 college sports calendar concludes.

Cal-Davis, UTEP, Northern Illinois (football only) and Hawaii (all sports) have committed to join the MWC for 2026-27.

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