Boise State condemns Grand Canyon’s early admission to Mountain West

The Mountain West Conference made a surprising move on Tuesday to bring Grand Canyon into the fold one year early. 

The Lopes were slated to join the MWC for the 2026-27 athletics season. Instead, Grand Canyon will be a full member of the MWC beginning this fall. 

“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 Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in a statement. “Grand Canyon brings elite recruiting, a passionate fanbase, 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.”

The MWC will be a 12-team conference for men’s and women’s basketball this season with Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Grand Canyon, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, San Jose State, Utah State, UNLV and Wyoming. The Lopes do not compete in football. 

Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State are all leaving the MWC for the Pac-12 after the 2025-26 athletics season.

The last-minute addition of Grand Canyon will cause scheduling issues in several sports. 

For the 2024-25 men’s basketball season, the MWC implemented a fully-balanced 20-game conference schedule for the first time. With the addition of Grand Canyon, the MWC will likely return to an unbalanced schedule for the 2025-26 season. 

The MWC will also need to re-do its volleyball schedule, which was released in April without Grand Canyon. 

In a statement released to B.J. Rains of Bronco Nation News, Boise State condemned the early admission of Grand Canyon to the conference. 

“The Mountain West Conference’s addition of Grand Canyon University as a member for the 2025/26 academic year significantly and negatively impacts the schedules, opportunities, and budgets of Boise State and the other departing universities,” the statement read. “The Mountain West’s actions are also contrary to express representations the Mountain West and its Commissioner made to the departing universities and, despite being members of the Mountain West through June 30, 2026, the universities were not consulted or permitted to vote on the early invitation to GCU. We will address this matter and the harm to the departing universities in litigation.”

Boise State, Colorado State and Utah State are suing the MWC over exit fees. The Pac-12 and MWC are also involved in a lawsuit over poaching penalties. 

The Pac-12 and MWC began mediation in May. The deadline to reach a resolution through mediation is July 15.