When the Big West lifted their moratorium on expansion last month, the flood gates were opened. Hawaii, who is seeking a conference home for it’s non-football sports should they get invited to the Mountain West for football-only, is hoping to make the Big West it’s new home.

Such a move would benefit the schools sports teams by allowing them to fly into only Los Angeles and San Francisco airports in order to easily reach all it’s conference road games. The change in travel would be much easier than the current WAC situation, where Hawaii needs to fly to Louisiana, El Paso, Sal Lake City, Spokane and other distant cities.

CSU-Bakersfield has long hoped for an invitation to join it’s Cal State brethren in the Big West. But the moratorium kept them at bay. With the Big West showing interest in expanding, Cal State – Bakersfield has officially submitted their application to join.

With the potential for Hawaii and even CSUB joining, the Big West would be at a membership number of 11. The conference appears willing to consider a 12th school as UC-San Diego has also asked to be included in the Big West. The move would require the school to upgrade to Division 1 from their current home in Division 2. But their addition would give the Big West access to a large California market they currently have no members in, while only a couple hours south of current members such as UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton.

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Comments 1 comments

Nathan Brice said…

They would not get UC-San Diego for four or five years depending on if the rules for Division 1 transition are changed.