It was announced that California State University, Sacramento will be joining the Big West conference in the academic year of 2026-27 on June 18.
The Sacramento-based school is currently a member of the Big Sky. However with their departure, the Big Sky no longer has any conference members in California. The university will pay the Big Sky’s exit fee of $250,000 within the next month.
During a conference meeting with all member institutions, the Big West unanimously voted to extend an invitation to Sacramento State to join the conference on June 5.
Sacramento State’s baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, women’s soccer, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field and women’s volleyball teams will be joining the Big West conference as part of this move.
Sacramento State’s addition to the Big West once again provides a member institution in Northern California.
The Sacramento State Hornets baseball team will be leaving the Western Athletic Conference. This will lead the conference towards collapse if no other members are found, as only four members, Abilene Christian, Tarleton State, UT Arlington and Utah Tech, remain for the 2027 season. The Hornets fell in the semifinals of the Western Athletic baseball championship 7-0 to Abilene Christian on May 23.
Sacramento State’s men’s basketball team fell in the first round of the 2025 Big Sky tournament to Weber State 83-70 on March 3. On the women’s side, the Hornets fell in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky tournament to Northern Arizona 69-65 on March 9.
“We’ve made a significant investment into our basketball programs, certainly men’s basketball; Mike Bibby, Shaquille O’Neal all the things that we’re trying to do in our basketball programs, that’s certainly played a significant part of seeing the strategic direction that the Big West is doing in the sport of basketball,” said Sacramento State athletic director Mark Orr during a press conference on June 20.
The Hornets beach volleyball team, a sport UC Irvine does not sponsor currently, is already a Big West member. The team finished 7-19 and without a win against Big West competition for the entirety of the 2025 season.
Men’s and women’s cross country teams at Sacramento State both placed eight in the Big Sky championships in the 2024 season.
A large cause of the conference alignment change is centered around football, a sport UC Irvine also does not sponsor. Sacramento State is currently a Football Championship subdivision team. The team was looking to advance to the Football Bowl subdivision, however, their hope to be independent in that subdivision seems to be heading towards failure. The team now hopes that one of the ten conferences in the Football Bowl subdivision invite them to join, as that is their path towards admission into the subdivision.
Their on field play last season did not help their cause, as they went 0-2 against Mountain West opponents and lost by at least 16 in each game. If the team does not get admission to the Football Bowl subdivision, they plan to compete as an independent in the football championship subdivision beginning in the 2026 season, joining Merrimack College which has also gone that route.
The men’s golf team finished ninth in the Big West in the 2025 season. However, the Big Sky will once again sponsor the sport for the 2026 season, so the Hornets will move back to play in the Big Sky before moving back to the Big West for the foreseeable future. This will once again cause the Big Sky to look for another affiliate member for the 2026-27 academic year or send all other current teams to compete in other conferences.
Sacramento State’s women’s golf team is a strong addition to the Big West’s growing strength in the sport. The Hornets finished tenth in the 2025 NCAA regional in Gold Canyon, Ariz.
The Hornet women’s gymnastics team – a sport UC Irvine does not sponsor – finished third in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), which it seems will be a three member conference beginning in 2027. The Big West does not sponsor this sport.
Sacramento State’s rowing team – a sport UC Irvine does not sponsor – finished fourth in the West Coast Conference last season, and will remain in the conference as the Big West does not sponsor the sport.
The men’s soccer team is already in the Big West and went 3-6 in conference play last season.
Sacramento State’s women’s soccer team is also a nice addition to the Big West. However, the Hornets fell against No. 5 University of Southern California 5-0 in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2024.
Sacramento State’s softball team – a sport UC Irvine does not sponsor – fell 8-5 to University of Northern Colorado in a quarterfinal matchup in the 2025 Big Sky tournament.
The Hornet men’s tennis team fell 4-0 to the University of Montana in the first round of the Big Sky championships. As for the women, they are another strong team which is a great addition for the Big West. However, they fell against No. 19 UC Berkeley 4-0 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Indoor track and field is a sport that can pressure the Big West to sponsor a championship. Sacramento State men finished sixth, while the women finished third in the Big Sky championship in 2025. However, the Big West does not sponsor either sport. With the addition of Sacramento State, there are seven schools which sponsor women’s indoor track and field who also are not independent. One issue with sponsoring the sport is the lack of available venues in the western part of the United States.
One possible venue is the Reno-Sparks Convention Center located in Reno, Nevada. However, the venue is already hosting the Mountain West and MPSF conference championships. If the Big West began to sponsor women’s indoor track and field, then it is likely that the remaining teams in the MPSF would join the Big West, as the conference would be filling the role of the MPSF for women’s indoor track and field. On the men’s side, it would seem that the sponsorship numbers are not at the same level as they are on the women’s side – but, if the Big West were to sponsor the women’s side, it seems likely the men’s side would also be picked up.
For outdoor track and field, Sacramento State’s men finished fifth while the women finished fourth at the 2025 Big Sky championships.
The final great addition to the Big West is Sacramento State’s women’s volleyball team, who fell against No. 5 Stanford University in the first round of the NCAA championship in 2024.
Jack Fedor is a 2024-2025 Assistant Sports Editor. He can be reached at jfedor@uci.edu.
Edited by Benjamin Flores, Annabelle Aguirre