The University of Hawaii has accepted an invitation to join the Mountain West Conference starting on July 1, 2026. The move is among the most-impactful for swimming of a tumultuous fall so far for mid-major realignment.
Hawaii has been a football-only member in the Mountain West since 2012. Most of its other sports have competed in the Big West since then. The Big West only began sponsoring men’s and women’s swimming and diving championships this season, meaning Hawaii will compete in two of those before transitioning fully to the Mountain West.
After Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State announced plans last month to leave for the Pac-12 (including three women’s swimming & diving programs), the Mountain West locked up six full members to a commitment through 2032. They later added UTEP (formerly Conference USA), and now by securing Hawaii’s commitment, the conference will meet the minimum of 8 full-time member schools to remain in the FBS.
The Pac-12, meanwhile, has fought to poach away more Mountain West members, as well as those from other conferences, but ultimately have only been able to lure former Mountain West school Utah State so far. They still need an 8th full-time member to remain in the FBS in 2026.
There are two significant financial upsides for Hawaii in this move. Besides the Mountain West being a more prominent conference, they were able to negotiate a removal of the travel subsidies that they currently are paying Mountain West football schools to travel to Hawaii. They also no longer have to pay travel subsidies in other sports in the Mountain West, which they did in the Big West because of the added cost of making the 6 hour flight from California, where the rest of the Big West is located, to Hawaii.
Hawaii, which currently sponsors 20 teams, listed $1.8 million in total travel subsidies and guarantees in the 2018 fiscal year; its own travel costs were $1.5 million.
The Athletic is reporting that Mountain West schools will sign a Grant of Rights that locks them in to the conference until 2032, unless they leave for a Power 4 conference (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, or SEC).
While conference revenues will be shared equally among all full-time members, tens-of-millions of dollars in exit fees paid to departing Mountain West members will be split unevenly The Athletic says, with Air Force and UNLV each receiving 24.5%; Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, and Wyoming each receiving 11.5%; and Hawaii receiving 5%.
This addition will bring the Mountain West to 7 women’s swimming & diving programs and 4 men’s swimming & diving programs. The conference has only hosted a women’s championship in recent years, with the conferences current three men’s teams (Air Force, UNLV, and Wyoming) competing with the WAC.
Future Mountain West Conference Swimming & Diving Sport Sponsorship
| Men’s Swim & Dive |
Women’s Swim & Dive
|
|
| Air Force | X | X |
| UNLV | X | X |
| Nevada | X | |
| New Mexico | X | |
| San Jose State | X | |
| Wyoming | X | X |
| UTEP | ||
| Hawaii | X | X |
One possibility would be for MW to sponsor Men’s S&D as well. They could bring in Cal Baptist M&W from the WAC – as of now CBU will be the only men’s team left in the WAC with Seattle and GCU leaving for Big West. It would allow MW to have a combined meet.
Air Force, Wyoming, and UNLV are all currently affiliates in the WAC, so if MWC does not sponsor men’s S&D in 2025-26, then either they all stay with CBU in the WAC or they could join UIW and Pacific in the MPSF.
I thought this might happen, thanks SwimSwam for breaking this story. They will have 7 teams on the women’s side and it should be a competitive meet with some evenly matched teams. On the men’s side, it will be only 4 teams. Is that the minimum number to hold a conference meet?
It would nice to see another men’s team or two added to MWC meet, but I would have no idea who that might be, not a lot of men’s programs to choose from in the West.
There is no minimum number to hold a conference meet as far as I know. Conferences have definitely done it with 2-3.
I think most in swimming would agree that 4 is the minimum to make it fun and engaging.
There is talk about the MPSF folding, so maybe they could pick up some affiliate members from there.
When I was coaching in the MW, the Conference required sponsorship of a Championship of at least 50 percent of the schools had to offer that sport.