BREAKING: Seven Mountain West Teams Ink Binding Agreement
LARAMIE -- The Mountain West Conference will live to fight another day.
All six of the league's full-time members, along with Hawaii (football only), have signed a binding agreement through 2032, according to Chris Vannini of The Athletic.
The Mountain West made that news official Thursday afternoon.
"Our immediate priority was solidifying the membership of the Mountain West. Now our focus turns to our collective future on behalf of our student-athletes,” MW Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in a statement. “The agreements announced today mark a historic moment for the Mountain West and provide much-needed stability and clarity as the world of intercollegiate athletics continues to evolve rapidly.
"We are excited about our future and are executing our next steps in expanding the Mountain West. We will continue to prioritize the student-athlete experience and do all we can to support our institutions as they compete at the highest levels of intercollegiate athletics.”
UNLV and Air Force, both of which are believed to have received offers from the Pac-12 and the American Athletic Conference, respectively, are expected to receive signing bonuses around $25 to $30 million, per Brett McMurphy of ActionNetwork.com.
The Mountain West will provide distribution payments to the remaining member schools in accordance with the bylaws of the conference, utilizing the following formulas: Air Force and UNLV will receive 24.5%, Nevada, New Mexico, San José State and Wyoming 11.5%, and Hawaiʻi 5%.
"I feel very good about where we landed in these fluid times related to conference realignment," Wyoming Director of Athletics Tom Burman said. "The Mountain West Conference will move forward to be at the NCAA requirement of eight full members. We will work with Mountain West leadership to actively add new members, but at this time we cannot comment on the matter of specific institutions for expansion.
"As one of the founding members of the Mountain West Conference, both the league and the University of Wyoming put great emphasis on the experience for our student-athletes. We are excited to continue our work and relationship into the future."
The conference still needs to add an additional program before the 2026 season to reach the FBS minimum requirement. Conference USA members UTEP and New Mexico State, along with Texas State of the Sun Belt, are thought to be potential replacements for the original four schools -- Fresno State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Boise State -- who bolted for the Pac-12 last week.
Utah State also received and accepted an invite to join that league on Tuesday. The Mountain West reportedly had an eight-team alliance early in the week before the Aggies jumped ship.
All five of those departing programs are assessed an exit fee of $18 million. "Poaching fees" are in excess of $43 million. The Pac-12 in turn filed an antitrust complaint against the Mountain West earlier this week over those latter fees, stating they are "unlawful and unenforceable" despite signing an agreement last December.
Oregon State and Washington State, the two remaining members of the Pac-12, at the same time, inked a scheduling agreement with the Mountain West.
Those two schools were left for dead last year when 10 Pac-12 schools found new homes. Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA left for the Big Ten. Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado all joined the Big XII. Stanford and Cal landed in the ACC.
"I commend the members of the Mountain West Conference and Commissioner Nevarez for their commitment to ensuring a competitive future for our league and for their dedication to our student-athletes, their success, and overall experience," said Mountain West Board Chair and UNLV President, Dr. Keith E. Whitfield.
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