The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors will become a full-time member of the Mountain West Conference in 2026, the league announced Tuesday.
Hawaii will officially become a full-time member of the Mountain West and compete in all sports beginning on July 1, 2026. The school is currently a member in football only, with its remaining sports in the Big West Conference.
“We are thrilled to welcome the University of Hawaiʻi to the Mountain West as a full-time member,” said MW Commissioner Gloria Nevarez. “Hawaiʻi has been a tremendous football-only member since 2012, and we’re excited to add their incredible national brand across all MW sports. As the flagship institution on the islands, with extraordinary academics and a celebrated athletics tradition, we look forward to providing their student-athletes with exceptional educational and athletic experiences.”
With the addition of Hawaii in all sports beginning in 2026, the Mountain West now has the required minimum number of full-time institutions — eight — to meet the NCAA requirement for Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conferences.
“This is a momentous day for University of Hawai‘i Athletics,” said UH Athletics Director Craig Angelos. “We’ve had the privilege of being a football-only member in the Mountain West for the last dozen years. Now the majority of our sports will enjoy the same experience of competing in this exceptional conference. Joining the Mountain West allows us to renew historic rivalries, creates opportunities for increased exposure, and provides stability in the constantly evolving world of collegiate athletics.”
Beginning in the fall of 2026, the Mountain West will include Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San José State, UNLV, UTEP, and Wyoming.
Per the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the move also means that Hawaii will no longer have to pay travel subsidies to visiting teams.
The subsidies — “travel cost sharing,” in contractual terms — amount to the equivalent of covering charter flights for visiting football teams. That amount ranges from $150,000 to schools in Pacific time zone to $175,000 for teams on Mountain time.
Future Hawaii Football Schedules
The Mountain West will be back where it was from 1999-2005, and 2011-12 with 8 members. UNLV, UNM, Wyoming, and AF will be the only remaining original members. The other 4 were in the WAC at some point.
I wonder if the Big West will look to replace Hawai’i at all. I would love to see Sac State and/or Cal Baptist join the Big West, but I don’t see that happening. Maybe they’ll be content with 10 members.
I think if the Big West does expand, they will look to D2. It was ridiculous a month ago, but I now see Sacramento State going to the PAC-12. Cal Baptist would be a good fit if the Big West is okay with taking a private school.
Cal Baptist will likely go to the WCC now that Gonzaga is leaving. Sacramento State should downgrade to football-only membership in the Big Sky and join the Big West for other sports. The Big West should also add Cal State LA (a charter member that left in 1974, Cal Poly Pomona, and Cal State San Bernardino to go to 14.
Sac State has a 0& chance of going to the Pac-12. If UNLV isn’t willing or able to spend $60M on athletics every year how will Sac State?
I think Sac State has some weird contract that has them stuck in the Big Sky, because UC Davis and Cal Poly are football-only members of the Big Sky, but in the Big West for everything else. If Sac State wanted to and was allowed to join the Big West, they would have moved there years ago.
I don’t think the other Big West schools would be against inviting Cal Baptist because they already play a lot of Big West schools in non-conference play, and they’re located right down the road from UC Riverside. Plus, University of the Pacific (a private school) was in the Big West for decades.
We’ll see, my guess is that the Big West will stay at 10 for the time being, and maybe CBU will go to the WCC if the WAC collapses.
As for Sac State, I think there’s a small chance they go to the Mountain West, but I really think they’re not going anywhere.
Money talks, right?
CSUSac alums are accumulating massive amounts of donations and support for an invite.
AND, if YOU were the Pac7 up against deadline and desperate for 8th conference member …
OK, Here’s your invite.
Branding then changes to “California State”. Place yer bets.
New Mexico State should be next.
Fully agree with you Z-Man New Mexico State Aggies deserves be in Mountain West.
If the NCAA changes the FBS minimum to 7 members and the MW adds NMSU, I could see Air Force and Colorado State playing each other in a non-conference game every year on Thanksgiving weekend.
The conference games in the Pac-12 that weekend would then be:
Boise State-Utah State
Fresno State-San Diego State
Oregon State-Washington State
The conference games in the MW on Thanksgiving weekend could be:
Hawaii-San Jose State
Nevada-UNLV
New Mexico-Wyoming
New Mexico State-UTEP
New Mexico State should be worth something before anyone adds them
It’s Hawai’i. ‘ is a letter known as an ‘okina.
The University uses it, so omitting it is like talking about Alabaa.