On May 20, 2022, the MW announced that it would eliminate its football divisions effective with the 2023 season, instead sending the top two teams in the conference standings to the title game.

[1] Two days earlier, the NCAA Division I Council had approved a rule change that gave all FBS conferences full freedom to determine the participants in their football championship games.

[2] The inaugural MW Championship Game was played on December 7, 2013, at Fresno State's Bulldog Stadium and televised by CBS.

[3] The Mountain West Conference champion customarily receives a berth to play in the Las Vegas Bowl.

If the teams have the same record, the following tie-breaking procedure is used:[7] From 2013 to 2017, the division champion with the higher College Football Playoff ranking going into the final week of regular season was designated as the host school unless it lost its final regular season game.