University of Denver Accepts Invitation to Be part of West Coast Conference in 2026-27

DENVER – The University of Denver has accepted a proper invitation to affix the West Coast Conference (WCC) starting within the 2026-27 educational 12 months (July 1, 2026), DU and the convention workplace introduced on Friday. 

 

“This is an exciting day for the University of Denver and an incredible opportunity to continue to advance our exceptional academic and athletic programs,” DU Chancellor Jeremy Haefner stated. “The excellence of schools that are part of the West Coast Conference is a perfect complement to DU and will help us continue to recruit the very best students and faculty.”  

 

In addition to the institutional alignment because the college’s major convention house, Denver’s 9 athletic packages that will likely be becoming a member of the West Coast Conference are males’s and ladies’s basketball, males’s and ladies’s golf, males’s and ladies’s soccer, males’s and ladies’s tennis and ladies’s volleyball. A convention transition plan for Denver’s males’s and ladies’s swimming and diving packages is in place and will likely be introduced at a later date.   

 

DU’s transfer doesn’t influence the convention affiliations for Denver’s hockey (NCHC), gymnastics (Big 12), males’s and ladies’s lacrosse (BIG EAST) or the males’s and ladies’s snowboarding (RMISA) packages. Denver triathlon will keep impartial as an NCAA-emerging sport. 

 

The West Coast Conference now sits at 10 full members in 2026-27 with the addition of DU and can add an 11^th when the University of California San Diego begins play within the West Coast Conference in 2027-28. Denver will be part of present full-time members Loyola Marymount University, University of the Pacific, Pepperdine University, University of Portland, Saint Mary’s College, University of San Diego, University of San Francisco, Santa Clara University and Seattle University. 

 

“In the University of Denver, the West Coast Conference adds a geographically-aligned, perennial top performer among the winningest non-football athletic programs in the nation,” West Coast Conference Commissioner Stu Jackson stated. “Denver’s dedication to raise males’s and ladies’s basketball to a stage which matches its nationally acknowledged success in different sports activities, whereas sustaining a deal with student-athlete improvement and experiences, is among the many foundational pillars to this growth. Their multi-year basketball development plan reveals an intentional focus that meets our basketball-centric id. The Conference additionally values the addition of one other massive metropolitan space and prime media market which can broaden our attain and ship higher alternative for our membership. The imaginative and prescient of Chancellor Jeremy Haefner and Vice Chancellor for Athletics Josh Berlo to strategically spend money on its packages and compete on the highest stage aligns with our mission as a premier basketball convention. 

  

“As we welcome the University of Denver to the West Coast Conference, we continue our charge in expansion with the addition of two members in the past 58 days,” Jackson added. “This is our next step in expansion. We will continue to identify opportunities that expand our reach and better position us for additional NCAA bids.” 

 

The transfer offers Denver’s Home For College Sports with a major enhancement to the general status of the college and model affiliation, allying DU with extremely regarded, largely personal establishments with stronger educational rating and profiles that can additional strengthen the college’s place within the western United States and past. This new membership won’t solely present an upgraded aggressive athletics house for the 9 packages set to affix the West Coast Conference however will enable DU to collaborate with like-minded establishments exterior of athletics in areas comparable to educational collaborations, analysis and admissions.  

 

“It has long been the ambition of the University of Denver and its community to further align ourselves with institutional peers in the West and that day has now come as we join the academically and athletically prestigious West Coast Conference,” Vice Chancellor of Athletics and Ritchie Center Operations Josh Berlo stated. “I’d prefer to thank Commissioner Stu Jackson and the institutional management of the West Coast Conference for embracing the University of Denver. Joining the convention will place DU with a number of the top-ranked personal universities within the West and their extremely aggressive athletics packages, elevate the college’s model and nationwide status via considerably enhanced broadcast publicity and enhance the institutional presence in key markets for scholar recruitment and alumni engagement within the West.   

 

“On behalf of Denver Athletics, I want to specific our deep appreciation to Chancellor Haefner and the Board of Trustees for his or her management and ardent help of this strategic initiative for the University of Denver to additional empower Athletics to contribute to the mission of DU. 

 

“While we are excited for the transition ahead, our focus remains on our current holistic student-athlete experience and successful completion of the 2025-26 academic calendar. Lastly, I would like to express our sincere appreciation to the entire Summit League membership for an exceptional 13-year tenure with the conference, particularly under Commissioner Josh Fenton’s leadership. We wish them nothing but the best.” 

 

Denver has additionally finalized plans to put in new particular person chairback seating in Hamilton Gymnasium in time for subsequent season (2026-27). Full and half season ticket members for Denver males’s and ladies’s basketball and volleyball will likely be assured the very best seats in Hamilton for the inaugural season within the West Coast Conference. Become a basketball season-ticket member now, and buy tickets for THIS SEASON HERE.

DU has lively alumni chapters in each West Coast Conference market, together with Southern California, the Bay Area and Seattle. California, Washington and Oregon are all within the top-10 states that University of Denver college students and alumni name house.  

 

In phrases of higher publicity for the University and its athletic packages, the West Coast Conference has nationwide tv offers with ESPN and CBS Sports Network and expanded its relationship with ESPN in 2023 to make the most of ESPN+ as the exclusive digital home for more than 900 conference events a year. Originally based in 1952, the West Coast Conference will now be house to seven establishments contained in the U.S. World News Report top-120 universities within the nation and will embrace six of the highest 30 DMAs (Designated Marketing Areas) within the United States, together with Denver’s seventeenth spot within the rankings.  

 

About the University of Denver:  

Founded in 1864, the University of Denver is a non-public college that empowers college students who need to make a distinction. Recognized as one of many prime analysis universities within the nation, DU has greater than 300 educational packages serving about 12,000 graduate and undergraduate college students. DU college students profit from an expertise on two campuses—within the metropolis and within the mountains — that channels their passions to serve the general public good. 

 

About Denver Athletics: 

The University of Denver is house to 35 nationwide championships, rating Denver because the 14th-most prolific national-title profitable athletic division within the nation. Denver has completed as the best athletic division with out soccer (DI-AAA) within the Learfield Directors’ Cup Standings 16 of the final 17 educational years. Since the late Daniel L. Ritchie elevated Denver’s total athletic lineup to Division I in 1998-99, Denver has 95 convention common season titles, 126 convention event titles and has made 208 NCAA Tournament appearances.  

 

About the West Coast Conference: 

The West Coast Conference was shaped in 1952 and has grown to turn into a nationally acknowledged and aggressive power in Division I intercollegiate athletics. We Rise within the West with a footprint that represents the western area’s largest metropolitan areas, together with Gonzaga, LMU, Pacific, Pepperdine, Portland, Saint Mary’s, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Seattle. Across 16 sports activities, we’re fueled by a conviction to realize our championship objectives with sturdy core values of integrity, respect, collaboration, innovation, and inclusiveness. For extra info, go to WCCsports.com and comply with the West Coast Conference on X, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok @WCCsports. 

  

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Frequently Asked Questions:

What different faculties are within the West Coast Conference?  

The West Coast Conference now sits at 10 full members in 2026-27 with the addition of DU and can add an 11^th when the University of California San Diego begins play within the convention in 2027-28. Denver will even be part of present full-time members Loyola Marymount University, University of the Pacific, Pepperdine University, University of Portland, Saint Mary’s College, University of San Diego, University of San Francisco, Santa Clara University and Seattle University. 

 

What is the legacy of the West Coast Conference? 

Originally based in 1952 and with nearly all of its present members having joined by the 1970’s, the West Coast Conference is an exceptionally profitable and secure league in Division I athletics. They have had a robust NCAA postseason presence in basketball, soccer, golf, tennis, and volleyball.  

 

Which Denver athletic packages will likely be becoming a member of the West Coast Conference?  

Denver’s 9 athletic packages that will likely be becoming a member of the West Coast Conference within the convention’s present sports activities are males’s and ladies’s basketball, males’s and ladies’s golf, males’s and ladies’s soccer, males’s and ladies’s tennis and ladies’s volleyball. A convention transition plan for Denver’s males’s and ladies’s swimming and diving packages is in place and will likely be introduced at a later date. 

 

What does this transfer imply for Denver’s different athletic packages not becoming a member of the West Coast Conference? 

DU’s transfer doesn’t influence the convention affiliations for Denver’s hockey (NCHC), gymnastics (Big 12), lacrosse (BIG EAST) and snowboarding (RMISA) packages. Triathlon will even stay impartial as an NCAA-emerging sport. The advantage of the transition to these packages is a extra recognizable University of Denver model, particularly within the western United States.  

 

How do I buy tickets for DU athletic occasions in the West Coast Conference?  

In addition to the convention transition, Denver has additionally finalized plans to put in new particular person chairback seating in Hamilton Gymnasium, which is scheduled to be accomplished previous to the beginning of the West Coast Conference period at Denver subsequent summer time. Season ticket members (full and half) for Denver males’s and ladies’s basketball and Denver volleyball in 2025-26 will likely be assured a renewal possibility for the very best seats in Hamilton for the inaugural season within the West Coast Conference in 2026-27. Not a season ticket member? Purchase basketball tickets for THIS SEASON HERE.  You can entry all different sports activities simply as you might have prior to now via the DU Ticket Office. 

 

How will I watch Denver Athletics contests in the West Coast Conference?  

The West Coast Conference has nationwide males’s and ladies’s basketball in addition to ladies’s volleyball tv offers with ESPN and CBS Sports Network. All different convention video games for males’s and ladies’s basketball, males’s and ladies’s soccer and ladies’s volleyball will likely be streamed dwell on ESPN+.   

 

How does the West Coast Conference match the University of Denver’s educational mission? 

The transfer contributes to the establishment model and status by uniting extremely respected and largely personal establishments that delight themselves on sturdy teachers, analysis exercise, fascinating places, stunning campuses, achieved school and workers and nation-wide alumni networks. This transfer will even enable the DU campus to ally with these establishments exterior of athletics in areas comparable to educational collaborations, analysis and admissions.   

 

Moreover, the West Coast Conference now has 9 establishments within the U.S. News and World Report National Rankings with a median rating of 98 (with out Denver, which sits at No. 117), in comparison with a median Summit League rating of 243 (with out Denver).  

 

From each an educational and athletic standpoint, it is a transfer that was a part of the late Daniel L. Ritchie’s imaginative and prescient when Denver made the transition to Division I within the late Nineteen Nineties, and we’re assured he could be happy with at the moment’s announcement. 

 

How do Denver’s athletic packages examine with these within the West Coast Conference?  

The West Coast Conference is the premiere non-football convention west of the Mississippi, aligning Denver with the athletic packages it is competing in opposition to for the I-AAA Learfield Directors’ Cup. Denver has completed as the highest athletic division with out soccer in 16 of the final 17 seasons and is worked up to compete immediately in opposition to different athletic packages striving for that honor. In seven of the 9 sports activities set to affix the West Coast Conference, Denver has performed almost 120 non-conference video games in opposition to the legacy West Coast Conference athletic departments so far with appreciable success. 

 

What is the “Multi-Year Plan” to elevate the males’s and ladies’s basketball packages within the WCC period? 

This is a complete roadmap that’s a part of our general Athletics Strategic Plan. A key ingredient of becoming a member of a convention that hosts a better aggressive stage of basketball, DU will likely be investing within the program help and amenities for basketball and lots of different sport packages.  The cornerstone of such help will likely be via philanthropy and income technology. 

 

Will Denver Men’s and Women’s Basketball proceed to play in Hamilton? 

Yes – This convention transition will assure a number of high-profile males’s and ladies’s basketball and volleyball video games in Hamilton Gymnasium yearly. The University is dedicated to using Magness Arena as a high-demand venue for males’s and ladies’s basketball contests for choose video games when acceptable, and demand exceeds that of the capability in Hamilton.  

 

The University of Denver Soccer Stadium continues to be one of many prime pure grass enjoying surfaces within the nation, and put in a brand new videoboard earlier this month, the primary for the power. Denver males’s and ladies’s tennis will proceed to play on the Denver Tennis Park, which opened seven indoor courts and 6 outside courts forward of the 2 packages’ 2019 season. Denver will get pleasure from the advantages of high quality athletic amenities in the West Coast Conference and assist positively contribute to that portfolio. 

 

Will Denver make any important upgrades to Hamilton Gymnasium? 

As with all the campus, the athletic amenities are consistently being evaluated and enhanced as potential. As a part of the University’s dedication to its amenities, Denver is scheduled to change and improve the greater than decade previous seating expertise in Hamilton Gymnasium with the set up of particular person chairback seats in alternative of the present bleacher bench system. The seating alternative is scheduled to be accomplished prematurely of the 2026-27 season, Denver’s first marketing campaign within the West Coast Conference.  

 

How does this convention transition elevate publicity for the University of Denver via athletic competitors?  

Exposure extends past the competitors floor; athletics is a pathway into elevating the general profile of the establishment from scholar recruitment and enrollment to general model recognition and publicity to the collaboration of educational analysis pushed mindsets to develop leaders of tomorrow.  

 

With the addition of Denver, the West Coast Conference has illustration from six of the highest 30 DMAs (Designated Marketing Areas) within the nation.  With these prime metropolitan areas, our college presence and general profile will enhance although athletic competitors engagement that features 30-second college commercials to showcase our nice establishment and drive demand for individuals who have an curiosity in pursuing an training within the Rocky Mountain area.  

 

DU has lively alumni chapters in each West Coast Conference market, together with Southern California, the Bay Area and Seattle. Membership within the West Coast Conference will give alumni the chance to unite, foster institutional delight and encourage their help for the University.  

 

Membership within the West Coast Conference will elevate the profile of the Denver Athletics packages that compete within the league. In addition, the West Coast Conference has nationwide basketball tv offers with ESPN and CBS Sports Network, and in 2023, expanded its relationship with ESPN to make the most of ESPN+ as the exclusive digital home for more than 900 conference events a year. The convention has 43 complete linear nationwide tv video games per 12 months, and West Coast Conference males’s basketball packages are on nationwide TV 57 occasions throughout league and non-league video games in 2025-26.  

 

ESPN+ is house to 25 million ESPN+ subscribers in Q1 of 2025, and ESPN’s digital platforms reached 112 million distinctive guests in March 2025.  

 

How lengthy will Denver be in the West Coast Conference? 

The West Coast Conference has been an extended sought-after transfer for the University of Denver for all the tutorial and athletic advantages listed above, and DU is thrilled to turn into a absolutely vested member of the West Coast Conference for the foreseeable future, a convention with some of the secure memberships courting again to 1952.