Pac 12 Agrees to New Television Contract: How Will Washington State Be Impacted?
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="4826"]
The Washington State Cougars will benefit financially from the Pac 12's new media deal, but how much remains uncertain. [/caption]
In the latest piece of good news for the rebuilt conference following an exodus of schools after the 2024 season, the Pac 12 has signed a contract with CBS Sports to televise football and men’s basketball games.
Under terms of the deal, games will be televised on CBS and CBS Sports on Paramount +. The deal will start in the 2025-2026 season and run until 2030-2031. CBS will also televise the football championship and men’s basketball championship games.
In a statement, Pac 12 commissioner Teresa Gould said, "Our goal with this process was to find transformational partnerships for the new Pac 12, and throughout our discussions and time together it became more and more clear that a partnership with CBS Sports would be just that.”
NEWS: CBS Sports & Pac-12 extend partnership through the 2030-31 season! 🤝
📜: https://t.co/fjEB6yXTtI#BackThePac pic.twitter.com/4r73zA64Ej— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) June 23, 2025
Getting a major TV deal is a huge news development for the conference. With the old Pac 12 network having a contract with ESPN and the rest of the games being on a heavily criticized Pac 12 network that wasn’t available in a lot of homes, playing games on CBS and its affiliates gives the conference more eyeballs as it transitions into a new era.
The general consensus seems to be that the rest of Pac 12 games will be televised on either ESPN or the CW. Having a streaming network in Paramount + also will be very important with less people watching traditional cable, providing an outlet for non-cable subscribers to watch the games instead of trying to figure out how to stream an independent Pac 12 network as one in the past.
Currently, the Pac 12 has two members in Washington State and Oregon State for a second straight season, with the CW and ESPN set to televise all 13 home football games for the two programs this upcoming season.
Expected members of the remade Pac 12 starting in 2026 include Washington State, Oregon State, Colorado State, Boise State, Fresno State, Utah State, and San Diego State with Gonzaga joining all sports other than football. With the Pac 12 needing eight schools to be recognized as a fully functioning FBS conference, Texas State, Memphis, and UNLV have been the rumored schools for the eighth spot, though recent reports indicate UNLV will stay in the Mountain West.
According to Jon Wilner, under the new television agreement, the Pac 12 will receive $7 to $10 million per year, but it remains to be seen how revenue sharing will be handled among schools. With Gonzaga not having a football program, it’s possible, if not probable, the deal will include a mix of full and partial shares for member institutions. In addition, Washington State and Oregon will maintain their revenue from a three-year College Football Playoff agreement through 2028.
