The Big West Conference Board of Directors today announced the addition of California State University, Bakersfield and the University of California, San Diego as the 10th and 11th members of the Conference of which the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is a member.
CSU Bakersfield will become an official member of the conference on July 1, 2020, and will be immediately eligible in round-robin and single-site championship sports for Big West titles, awards and honors and continue its eligibility for NCAA automatic qualification in these sports.
UC San Diego will begin an NCAA mandated four-year reclassification period to Division I on July 1, 2020. Its teams will be included in all Big West round robin sports schedules beginning with the 2020-21 academic year. UC San Diego will become an official member of the conference on July 1, 2024.
“The addition of these two outstanding universities will further strengthen the Big West’s position as the preeminent NCAA Division I public university conference for the states of California and Hawaiʻi,” said Big West Conference Commissioner Dennis Farrell. “The 2018–19 academic year marks the 50th anniversary of the Big West Conference and this membership development positions the conference to continue growing and thriving for the next 50 years.”
