Great West Football Conference

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Great West Football Conference

Data
Classification	NCAA Division I FCS
Established	2004
Members	5
Sports fielded	1 (football)
Region	Midwest and West
States	4 – California, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah
Headquarters	Elmhurst, Illinois
Commissioner	Ed Grom
Locations

The Great West Football Conference is a NCAA college athletic conference. As its name suggests, it is a football-only conference. It is a member of the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS; still frequently known by its former designation of Division I-AA), the lower of two levels of NCAA Division I football.

1 History, Background and Reorganization
2 Members
3 Champions
4 Conference facilities
5 Notes
6 External link

[edit] History, Background and Reorganization

St. Mary's (CA) was slated to join the conference but then dropped football prior to the 2004 season. Charter member Northern Colorado joined the Big Sky Conference for all sports in the 2006 season.

The conference's first season was 2004. Cal Poly won the conference title in 2004 and tied with UC Davis for the title in 2005. In 2005 Cal Poly was the conference's first participant in the I-AA (now FCS) tournament. North Dakota State won the conference title in 2006

On March, 7, 2007, North Dakota State and South Dakota State announced that they would leave the conference in 2008 and join the Gateway Football Conference^[1] This has fueled speculation of the conference dissolving, though several expansion candidates have been proposed, including North Dakota, South Dakota, San Diego, and Sacramento State. The ultimate goal of the conference would be to get an automatic bid to the Division I playoffs.

[edit] Members

[edit] Current

Institution	Aka	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Joined	Nickname	Primary Conference
California Polytechnic State University	Cal Poly	San Luis Obispo, California	1901	Public (California State University system)	17,683	2004	Mustangs	Big West Conference
North Dakota State University	NDSU	Fargo, North Dakota	1890	Public (North Dakota University System)	10,426	2004	Bison	Mid-Continent Conference (2007)
South Dakota State University	SDSU	Brookings, South Dakota	1881	Public	9,208	2004	Jackrabbits	Mid-Continent Conference (2007)
Southern Utah University	Southern Utah	Cedar City, Utah	1897	Public (Utah System of Higher Education)	5,881	2004	Thunderbirds	Mid-Continent Conference
University of California, Davis	UC Davis	Davis, California	1905	Public (University of California system)	23,000	2004	Aggies	Big West Conference (2007)

[edit] Departing members

North Dakota State University (Gateway Football Conference), 2004-2008
South Dakota State University (Gateway Football Conference), 2004-2008

[edit] Former member

University of Northern Colorado (Big Sky Conference), 2004-2006

[edit] Champions

2004 Cal Poly
2005 Cal Poly and UC Davis
2006 North Dakota State

[edit] Conference facilities

School	Football Stadium	Capacity
Cal Poly	Alex G. Spanos Stadium	11,775
North Dakota State	Fargodome	19,000
South Dakota State	Coughlin-Alumni Stadium	16,000
Southern Utah	Eccles Coliseum	8,500
UC Davis	UC Davis Stadium	15,000