JMU Is In. Is New Mexico Next? Breaking Down the “New Mexico Blueprint” for The American

11/05/2026 | Snap Count Press |
New Mexico and The American – the New Mexico Blueprint

James Madison is officially on the way. The American announced on Oct. 12 that JMU will become a full member no later than July 1, 2028 (American Conference [@American_Conf], 2026). As a Roadrunners fan, my first thought after that news was the same one every realignment junkie had: okay, who’s next?

Bryan Webster has an answer, and it’s not one most people in our corner of the league were talking about: New Mexico.

To be clear up front: this is opinion and speculation, not a report. There is no report that UNM is joining The American, and the Lobos remain in the Mountain West for 2026-27. What Webster offers is a blueprint, a “what if,” and it’s worth chewing on.

The Episode

On the Nov. 4 episode of American Blueprint on the American BEAT Network, “Fixing College Realignment: The New Mexico Blueprint,” Webster lays out why he thinks UNM fits (Webster, 2026a).

He teased it on X, too:

The Case on Paper

Strip away the hot takes and some of New Mexico’s resume is just plain verifiable.

Academics. UNM holds a Carnegie R1 classification, “Research 1: Very High Research Spending and Doctorate Production” (American Council on Education, n.d.). Presidents care about that kind of peer-group label, and it’s a box JMU-style additions are increasingly expected to check.

Television. The Albuquerque–Santa Fe market is Nielsen’s No. 48 DMA, with roughly 708,050 TV households in the 2024-25 universe estimates (Nielsen, 2024). That’s a real market The American doesn’t currently touch.

The Pit. If you’ve never seen it, The Pit – Powered by Nusenda is one of the coolest buildings in college sports. The floor sits 37 feet below street level, it seats 15,411 for basketball, and it hosted the 1983 Final Four, the one with NC State’s famous championship dunk (University of New Mexico Athletics, n.d.).

The Pit in Albuquerque

Football timing. The pitch lands at a moment when Lobos football is getting attention. UNM earned its first-ever AP Top 25 ranking on Nov. 1, debuting at No. 22 at 7-1 overall and 4-0 in Mountain West play under second-year coach Jason Eck (AP Top 25 [@AP_Top25], 2026; University of New Mexico Athletics, 2026).

Webster also cites UNM’s endowment as landing somewhere in the $700–900 million range, which he calls “solid mid tier” for the league (Webster, 2026a). I haven’t independently confirmed that figure, so treat it as his number.

The Elephant in the Room: Geography

Webster doesn’t dodge the obvious problem. By his count, Albuquerque sits about 600 miles west of the nearest American school (Webster, 2026a). Football and basketball can absorb that. A softball team flying out for a midweek series is a different story.

His fix is the most interesting part of the episode, and again, this is his idea, not anything proposed by a conference:

  • Full American membership for football and men’s and women’s basketball (baseball optional).
  • Everything else — Olympic sports like volleyball, softball, golf and more — goes into a new, purpose-built regional Olympic sports conference that New Mexico helps anchor.
  • That league would pull from Mountain West leftovers such as Air Force, Wyoming and Nevada, plus Texas and Southwest programs like Tarleton, UTEP and New Mexico State.

Webster points to the flexible models leagues like the UAC and ASUN are already using, and he argues the travel savings for non-revenue sports are the whole point (Webster, 2026a). Whether presidents or TV partners would sign off on that kind of split is a huge open question.

What It Would Mean for UTSA (My Take)

Here’s where I put my Roadrunners hat on. This section is opinion.

Travel and distributions. San Antonio is one of the western-most points in The American, so a New Mexico add would actually make UTSA less of an outlier on the map. But I’d want any expansion — especially one this far west — to protect per-school distributions, not dilute them. If Webster’s hybrid model really does keep Olympic-sport travel off the league’s books, that’s the version that protects schools like UTSA.

Basketball and TV value. The Pit is a genuine basketball destination. Picturing the Roadrunners walking down into that building for a league game is fun, and a top-50 market is the kind of inventory that could help when the next TV conversation comes around.

Football. A rising Lobos program adds another western rival in the same time-zone neighborhood. UTSA was also getting AP votes the same week New Mexico debuted in the poll, so it’s not hard to imagine that matchup meaning something.

Bottom Line

Webster’s New Mexico Blueprint is a thoughtful, creative pitch, especially the Olympic-sports piece. But it’s a blueprint, not a rumor with sources saying it’s happening. UNM is a Mountain West school, and nothing official says otherwise. Still, after JMU, The American’s next move is fair game, and this is one of the more interesting answers out there.

What do you think, Roadrunner Nation — would you want the Lobos?

References

American Conference [@American_Conf]. (2026, October 12). [Post announcing James Madison University as a future full member] [Post]. X. https://x.com/American_Conf/status/2109650006743371822

American Council on Education. (n.d.). Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education: University of New Mexico. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/institution/university-of-new-mexico-main-campus/

AP Top 25 [@AP_Top25]. (2026, November 1). [AP Top 25 college football poll] [Post]. X. https://x.com/AP_Top25/status/2116968993516900502

Nielsen. (2024). 2024-25 local television market universe estimates. Nielsen.

University of New Mexico Athletics. (n.d.). The Pit – Powered by Nusenda. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://golobos.com/the-pit

University of New Mexico Athletics. (2026, November 1). [Lobos earn first-ever AP Top 25 ranking]. GoLobos.com. https://golobos.com/news/2026/11/1/lobos-earn-first-ever-ap-ranking-at-no-22

Webster, B. (2026a, November 4). Fixing college realignment: The New Mexico blueprint [Video]. American Blueprint, American BEAT Network. YouTube. https://youtu.be/NzdnOq4A9jc

Webster, B. [@WebStarSports]. (2026b, November). I have a solution for conference realignment… New Mexico is a perfect fit [Post]. X. https://x.com/WebStarSports/status/2117962837922361686

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