Why was GCU added for 2025-2026 Athletics Year?

by Zach

If you were sleeping under a rock or something like that over the last 10 months, you would be aware of the situation brewing between the PAC and the Mountain West. While the sides are involved in lawsuits and other happenings, something happened this week, in an expected move after the five universities leaving the Mountain West (Boise State, CSU, Fresno State, SDSU, and USU) gave their official notice to the conference, that Grand Canyon would be joining the conference for every sport (except football) for the final year of this makeup of the conference. People can have their opinions about GCU and the gray area of their for-profit or not status, and other things, but this situation doesn’t matter in this case, GCU was and is going to be a member of the conference, so why was GCU added for this Athletics Year, is the question we will be looking at in this post.

Why were they added this year?:

The easy answer to this question is GCU was going to be a nomad this year if the Mountain West didn’t add them for this year. After a decent amount of time in the WAC (RIP), they were slated to join the West Coast Conference this year, but after the Mountain West extended an invite to the conference they needed to back out of the deal, since the WCC didn’t want to have them for only one year (among other reasons). GCU needed to be added for the individual programs to continue the momentum they have built for their teams, this year as nomad’s would have made it almost impossible for them to make noise on the national stage, and basically would end any hopes of making National Tournaments. This takes those questions away, and this helps the Mountain West this year, and moving forward. While there are some cons to the move to add GCU for this year, I would make the strong argument that the pro out weigh the cons, even for the departing members of the conference.

Pros:

  • First off GCU has started to build a few really good Athletics Programs over the last 5-10 years, including Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Softball, Baseball, Golf, Women’s Soccer, and Volleyball to name a few. This makes the Mountain West better in all these sports for this year and the coming years. This will rise the bar for the conference for this year, the College Sports fan in me is excited to see the matchups that will come from this. Having GCU as a weekend series for baseball instead of midweek games are going to be fun.
  • I mentioned this a little earlier in the post, but having them join the conference at this juncture helps them continue their progress as an Athletics Program, they will get a lay of the land of the conference even though it’s changing.
  • One of the reasons I was excited with GCU joining the conference was the games the Lobos, and other programs would get to play in GCU Arena in front of the HAVOCS. This is awesome for West Coast Basketball, and I’m sure GCU is excited to play in bigger arenas then they have been playing their entire history.
  • Having a 12-team Conference Tournament is something that is exciting to me, we add an extra game for the week in both Tournament’s, giving us a 4,4,2,1, this also makes the first round byes a bigger deal with a true advantage of finishing in the top 4 with all other teams having to play a first round game. There wasn’t a difference between finishing 4th or 5th in the 11-team bracket.
  • Potentially adding units for Basketball. This maybe the biggest pro over the next handful of years, the conference has a chance to be very strong in Men’s Basketball this year (if the year’s rebuilds goes well). Having probably close to 8 or 9 teams depending on how their year shapes up with a realistic chance to make the NCAA Tournament, give the conference a decent chance for 4+ bids again. This rises the floor of the conference, it would be a shock if GCU wasn’t in the Top 8 of the conference, and this will also raise their metrics playing better teams. While it won’t be to the extent of the Big 12 or SEC to raise the bottom to respectable numbers, this should take some of that burden away. If GCU is able to add a unit+ for this season, that’s a massive win for the conference.
  • Starting the relationship with Arizona and the Phoenix area for recruiting a year early. Arizona is a massive recruiting pipeline in the West, and being able to tell recruits that their families can see them play more often helps. This is a major win for UNM and UNLV for Basketball and probably Baseball and Softball (other sports too). Their could be a lot of big recruiting battle coming up for Phoenix area prospects between GCU, UNLV, and UNM in the coming years.
  • While nothing will top the early 2010’s Tournaments in terms of attendance and crowds with the biggest example being the true PIT WEST during the 3-peat of 2012, 2013, and 2014. GCU students will flock to Las Vegas for the Tournament, and it could really bring added life to what should be a wild Mountain West Tournament in 2026. The tensions and emotions in the crowds are going to be wild to watch.
  • This is with the assumption that GCU isn’t getting any media money (which I assume they aren’t), them adding value to different sports, and potentially bringing in more money (see basketball units, and Conference Tournament).
  • Hearing Boise State, SDSU, and others complain about all the small things.

Cons:

  • The Mountain West will have to rework the schedules for Women’s Soccer, and Volleyball. This is a hinderance, but is workable. This is probably a bigger con for GCU than it is for the conference.
  • This will get rid of the true double round robin for Men’s Basketball, which I was a huge fan of. It will be interesting to see how the matchups shape up and who doesn’t go where. I would be shocked if SDSU doesn’t have to go to Wyoming this year. Reminder that playing all the good teams twice is worse for Conference Standings, but better for your NCAA Tournament Resume.
  • Hearing Boise State, and others complain about all the small things.
  • Hearing “law experts” talk about how this is a win for the PAC (it isn’t).

Conclusion:

While the conferences are in lawsuits and other legal matters, this shouldn’t be a problem with everything going on (especially if it doesn’t impact their media rights deal for this year). As mentioned earlier the departing five universities are no longer voting members of the conference, and have no saw in the future of the conference, adding GCU this year is a future of the conference matter, and is something the departing five should have no say in. I trust Gloria’s legal background over basically every “law expert” on the internet. I’m excited for what this add does for this year, and what GCU will add to the conference, even if I don’t agree with everything GCU is about. Also, all this is stupid and the conference that could have been would have been so much fun.