SAN RAMON, Calif.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Pac-12 Conference and The Big West jointly announced today a collaborative men’s soccer partnership designed to strengthen and sustain Division I men’s soccer opportunities across the western United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As part of this strategic partnership, California Baptist, Cal Poly, UC Riverside, and UC San Diego will compete as affiliate members in Pac-12 men’s soccer beginning with the 2026\u201327 season. In addition, the Pac-12 and Big West will implement a scheduling collaboration featuring crossover matches between member institutions of both conferences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This joint initiative reflects a shared commitment to preserving competitive opportunities for student-athletes and ensuring long-term sustainability for men’s soccer programs across the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Big West Commissioner Dan Butterly Quote\u00a0
\n“This partnership represents what can happen when conferences work together with purpose,” said Big West Commissioner\u00a0Dan Butterly. “Our shared goal has been clear \u2014 protect opportunities for student-athletes, preserve Division I men’s soccer in the West, and ensure our institutions continue to have meaningful access to NCAA championship pathways. This collaborative approach reflects the strength of our partnership with the Pac-12 and our collective commitment to the future of the sport.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould Quote\u00a0
\n“The Pac-12 is proud to partner with the Big West on this important initiative,” said Pac-12 Commissioner\u00a0Teresa Gould. “By working together, our conferences are ensuring stability for men’s soccer programs across the region and\u00a0maintaining\u00a0strong competitive opportunities and postseason access for our student-athletes. This collaboration and partnership\u00a0advances\u00a0our goal of supporting competitive and\u00a0viable\u00a0Olympic sports.”\u00a0
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\nWhat 2 Watch 4 in 2026\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\nThe seven teams in The Big West boast\u00a0the 2006 national champion\u00a0and 15-time NCAA participant\u00a0UC Santa Barbara, the 2025\u00a0Big West\u00a0champion\u00a0UC Irvine\u00a0with eight NCAA appearances to their name, three-time league champion\u00a0and 10-time NCAA postseason competitor\u00a0Cal State Fullerton, one-time\u00a0conference\u00a0victor\u00a0and\u00a0seven-time national postseason participant\u00a0CSUN, Cal State Bakersfield out of the Central Valley and incoming members Utah Valley from the WAC and upgrading to full membership, Sacramento State.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, The Pac-12 touts Oregon State, who most recently played for the 2023 national championship and has made six consecutive NCAA appearances, 2024 WAC regular-season champion San Diego State, Gonzaga, back-to-back Big West regular-season champion Cal Poly, 2023 NCAA tournament team California Baptist,\u00a02022 national postseason participant UC Riverside and UC San Diego.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2026\u00a0Big West by the numbers:\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN RAMON, Calif.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Pac-12 Conference and The Big West jointly announced today a collaborative men’s soccer partnership designed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-245705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}