LAS VEGAS – Gloria Nevarez stepped to the podium at the Palms Casino & Resort with a slightly new Mountain West logo behind her, a reshaped membership around her and a conference that, for the first time in nearly two years, could speak more about what it had built than what it had lost.
The Mountain West commissioner’s opening address at the league’s 2026 football media days amounted to a State of the Mountain West: part progress report, part sales pitch and part reminder that rebuilding a conference does not end when the membership invitations are accepted.
The Mountain West has moved its headquarters from Colorado Springs to Las Vegas, where its new office will include a replay center and production studio. It distributed a league-record $118 million to members in 2025-26, including $35 million through postseason football and the College Football Playoff. Four schools have announced jersey sponsorships, with another expected soon.
“We are not defined by tradition alone,” Nevarez said. “We are built bold.”
It was fitting language for a conference that has been under pressure much of Nevarez’s tenure. She became the Mountain West’s second commissioner on Jan. 1, 2023, then watched realignment pull five schools into the rebuilt Pac-12. In December, the league extended her contract through Dec. 31, 2030, rewarding the commissioner who helped hold the remaining membership together and reconstruct the conference.
The new version officially arrived on July 1.
Hawai‘i, long a football-only member, is now a full member. UTEP has returned to a conference filled with familiarity and built-in rivalries. Northern Illinois and North Dakota State have joined as football affiliates, while UC Davis, Grand Canyon and Utah Tech broaden the league’s affiliate structure.
Nevarez repeatedly returned to one word: fit.
Hawai‘i becoming a full member was “a no-brainer, largely because of mission and value and fit,” she said. UTEP, with its history against Mountain West programs and access to Texas, “made a lot of sense.”
“When I went down to visit, you could feel donors and fan bases were excited to get back in the mix,” Nevarez said. “Adding the Texas market, both for eyeballs in viewership and recruiting, was really important.”
North Dakota State offers a different type of value. Fargo is not Chicago or El Paso, but the Bison arrive with one of the strongest brands outside the traditional FBS power structure. Nevarez described the early response around NDSU as “overwhelming,” citing fan awareness, brand penetration, clicks and subscriptions. The Bison will also be eligible for the Mountain West championship, bowls and College Football Playoff selection in their first FBS season.
Northern Illinois provides an entry into the Chicago market and gives the conference a presence beyond its traditional western footprint. The geography is unconventional, but Nevarez said the programs share an identity.
“While we are extremely diverse, the tie that binds is that grit and that toughness,” she said. “You never have a weekend off. I just love that we always find a way to get it done.”
The rebuilt league now has 10 football members. Nevarez said the Mountain West has been open to 12, but is not searching simply to reach a round number. Some eyes have looked to UC Davis as an easy add when the school is ready.
“We don’t want to add just to add,” she said. “We’re not actively looking right now, but we’re always open to thinking about if there’s another school that can fit.”
For the moment, Nevarez believes the conference is as stable as any league can reasonably claim to be. The remaining core members signed a grant of media rights through 2032, a commitment she described as stronger than exit fees or a conference handbook. With most FBS conferences now locked into long-term television agreements, she sees fewer available dollars capable of fueling another immediate round of realignment.
“I do believe the Mountain West is as stable as we can be at the moment,” Nevarez said.
The phrase “at the moment” is notable because, as the industry knows, realignment never sleeps. Certainty has become a dangerous promise in college athletics, and several of the biggest questions around the new Mountain West remain unanswered publicly.
The conference announced agreements with CBS Sports, Fox Sports, The CW and Kiswe that begin this season. The package will place more than 150 events per year on the three linear partners, while inventory not selected for national television moves to MW+, the conference-owned streaming platform. But the Mountain West has not publicly disclosed the total financial value of the agreements or the precise annual distributions they generate.
Nevarez said the league confirmed at its summer board meetings that it will meet “all obligations under the grant of rights.” Legacy members were promised they would not fall below their previous annual media distribution of approximately $3.5 million, with conference reserves available if the new rights revenue does not reach that threshold.
That assurance provides stability but not complete clarity. The same curiosity surrounds the rebuilt Pac-12, which has announced partnerships with CBS, The CW and USA Network without publicly releasing its full financial terms. Until either league provides the numbers, comparisons between the two western conferences will be fueled by projections and speculation.
Nevarez instead emphasized reach, inventory and ownership.
“Time zone is one of the things that makes us valuable to media partners,” she said, acknowledging that late-night windows remain part of the Mountain West’s television appeal. She added that the conference built in protections so no school or sport carries too much of that burden.
MW+ may be the league’s most ambitious bet. The Mountain West is calling itself the first FBS conference to own and manage its direct-to-consumer platform. Annual subscriptions begin at $79.99, and a majority of subscription revenue purchased through a school’s portal will return directly to that institution.
“Let’s bet on ourselves. Let’s reinvest in ourselves,” Nevarez said of the message from the conference’s presidents and athletic directors.
The premise is simple: Schools that create compelling content and activate their fan bases can generate more revenue. Each institution controls its own portal under the Mountain West umbrella, creating a direct relationship with subscribers and an incentive to treat streaming as more than a place to deposit games not selected for television.
“The more schools interact with their fans through these portals, the more they financially benefit,” Nevarez said. “That alignment between fan passion, institutional growth and student-athlete support is what makes Mountain West Plus such a special differentiator for us.”
Other questions are still coming. The league continues to evaluate merit-based revenue distribution and minimum investment standards. Its bowl structure beyond 2026 depends partly on the future size of the College Football Playoff. Even the football championship game remains under review as the conference weighs whether playing it helps or hurts its best team’s playoff case.
The Mountain West supports expanded CFP access, Nevarez said, but opposes awarding multiple automatic bids based solely on conference brand.
“We support more access,” she said. “Absolutely, but not multiple AQs based on league brand or name.”
For all the discussion of television windows, subscriptions and playoff models, Nevarez repeatedly brought the address back to the athletes. The conference doubled the number of student-athletes to attend media days, from two to four per school, in part because constant roster turnover has made it more important to showcase the league’s stars and allow their personalities to emerge.
When conference officials asked those players what the Mountain West represented, Nevarez said they answered with words such as grit, toughness and finding a way to get things done.
The Mountain West is smaller in some traditional measures, broader geographically and still withholding financial details that will help define its place in the new college sports hierarchy. Yet it survived the raid, secured its membership, added recognizable schools, launched a new media model and entered its first season with a clearer sense of itself.
Nevarez did not declare the rebuild complete. Her message was that the foundation is finally visible.
The State of the Mountain West, in other words, is stable – but still unfolding.