.

Ha! I just posted the same. Is it not in football ever? Or just for now?

It looks like the MWC is preparing itself for the next realignment when it loses more football members. It's probably hoping that when that happens, we'll be ready to move up to FBS.

Why? $$$?

So we leave our UC brethren. Is the MWC that much better?

In Men's basketball, MW has traditionally been a step up from BW, but of course, that includes teams like San Diego St that are moving out of the MW.

This is a shock! I hope this doesn't distract our team from the game on Saturday.
Our budget is going to skyrocket. I bet Sac fans are pissed.

What conference will football be in? Still Big Sky?

Still in Big Sky for now, but this seems to be a step towards maybe moving the football program to the MW too.

2026 basketball conference would be:
New Mexico
Nevada
UNLV
Air Force
Wyoming
San Jose St
UTEP
Hawaii
Grand Canyon
UC Davis

Pretty competitive league.

Last year, the MWC had 6 schools in the NCAA tournament and the Big West had 1. 4 of those schools (BSU, CSU, USU, SDSU) are leaving for the Pac but UNR and UNM aren't. MWC isn't as good this year but it's still a big step up from being in a conference that will get excited for having its autobid not be the 15th or 16th seed in the big dance.

is it worth the cost without football? I hope Sac joins for travel balance. But funny we passed them without doing any flashy stuff unless you count that football tweet 2 months ago.

I bet coach Les is probably happy?

I have a hard time believing that football isn't in discussion for the future. Probably dependent on facility improvements.

I'm guessing that the MW wants UCD football too, but we probably need to show that we can move to FBS before that agreement can be made.

Flight times from SMF...

2025
CSUF / LBSU / CSUN / UCI / UCR / UCSD: 1 hour, 30 min
CSUB / UCSB: 1 hour, 15 min
UH: 5 hours, 30 min

2026
UNM: 2 hours, 13 min
UNR: 1 hour (or 2.5 hour drive)
UNLV: 1 hour, 25 min
Air Force: 2 hours, 25 min
Wyoming: 2 hours, 30 min
SJSU: 1 hour (or 2 hour drive)
UTEP: 2 hours, 30 min
UH: 5 hours, 30 min
GC: 2 hours

this made my finals week so much better

Official Announcement

Do you guys have a different opinion of Rocko now?

He killed it with this move. Hoping this does actually pave a path to football membership, but ill wait and see if the stadium expansion posts were more than teasers.

Wow...did anyone see this coming? What does everyone think about it? Do you think we were ever considering the WCC as well?

We are all stunned and speechless.

I nearly spat out the last of my coffee when I saw the tweet.

Crazy that there were no leaks about this. Just a casual Tuesday bomb.

The funny thing about Rocko is that he initially led us to believe we are moving up with the upgraded stadium picture. He later gave us a response that strongly suggested we aren't moving up. He'll be tough to beat at a poker table.

My productivity at work is dropping fast with all the realignment news lol.

Personally I'm psyched about it, mostly from a men's basketball perspective. Can't wait to welcome UNLV, Nevada, SJST, CGU to the RecHall/Arc/Pavilion/U each year. I would think attendance would ramp up. I would also hope that the recruiting budget will increase.

fantastic I would say, especially with football possibilities, and the larger market for all other sports. I really do think playing nevada or UNLV will be awesome here in davis.

Bad for our student athletes who will have significantly more travel time. I mean Laramie in the Winter??? Or Air Force?

I think football is pushing us in the wrong direction. We had a great conference with the Big West - but I don't see us being competitive in the MWC any time soon.

But I'm so far out of step with the current version of college sports that it doesn't matter. Just color me not thrilled.

My old roommate is ecstatic. Myself and another close Aggie are in thr wait and see mode. BW was good for Olympic sports with shorter travel times. But this may have been their only shot at FBS eventually so they probably had to take it if that's where they want to be.

I think the big west limits national recognition to a certain extent. I can see what you are saying but id image a lot of student athletes would enjoy a higher level of competition + the larger media coverage. I think playing teams across the west is kinda cool but Im also not a student athlete so I cant talk. While I have my own personal views on all this crazy movement of teams, I think we need to position ourselves in a competitive direction, and this does that long term imo.

I think the Big West is just Southern California now.