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LAS CRUCES – It was an offer that was too good to pass up.
New Mexico State will join Conference USA as a full sports member, beginning July 1, 2023, following a 5-0 vote on Friday morning by the Board of Regents, accepting an invitation that came earlier this week and was recommended by Chancellor Dan Arvizu.
The board granted Arvizu the ability to complete the process for NMSU athletics programs to change conferences from the Western Athletic Conference to C-USA
Conference USA is expected to announce the addition of New Mexico State, Liberty, Jacksonville State and Sam Houston this afternoon. NM State has scheduled a 3 p.m., news conference.
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“It also provides us with additional financial stability over time,” Arvizu said.
The move is beneficial for a New Mexico State football program that has been playing as a FBS independent since 2018, and C-USA, which has lost nine of its 14 members during the latest round of realignment in college sports and is in search of FBS teams to add to the conference. Two more C-USA members, Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee State, could soon bolt for the MAC.
For the rest of the Olympic sports, the change will end New Mexico State’s stint in the Western Athletic Conference, which began in 2005 and has resulted in multiple conference championships.
With the move to C-USA, New Mexico State will rival UTEP in the same conference for the first time since the old Border Conference in 1961.
This story will be updated.
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