What has been rumored for quite some time looks like it’s going to become reality on Monday.
UC San Diego has called a press conference on campus that the school says “demonstrates the campus’ continued growth and upward trajectory as one of the top 15 universities in the world.”
In short, it’s expected that the Tritons will officially announce they are becoming a Division-1 athletics program and becoming the 10th member of the Big West Conference.
Students at UC San Diego voted in 2016 to approve a fee increase to fund a D-1 athletics program and the faculty followed suit in early 2017. The Big West initially denied the Tritons admission to the conference so if the announcement on Monday is, indeed, what we expect it to be then another vote was held recently and some schools have changed their minds.
The Big West currently consists of:
UC Davis
Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo
Cal-State Fullerton
UC Riverside
Cal-State Northridge
Long Beach State
UC Irvine
UC Santa Barbara
Hawaii
The move to Division 1 is expected to take up to six years to complete. The Tritons will have to get their funding for athletic scholarships up to the proper level and several sports schedules have been decided for years out. Some sports will likely be able to move up sooner than others.
The Tritons have had multiple sports, including men’s and women’s basketball, softball, baseball, men’s and women’s soccer, and men’s and women’s water polo compete in the Division II NCAA Tournament in recent years.
