On Monday, CBS and the new-look Pac-12 announced a media rights agreement that will see the network serve as the conference’s lead broadcast partner through the 2030-31 season.
The deal is set to begin in 2026, when the Pac-12 adds Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Utah State, and Gonzaga (for basketball), along with one other permanent football member, to complete the conference’s rebuild. Monday’s agreement was a long time coming, but it signals that the Pac-12 just solidified its status as a shell of its former self, well below its old counterparts in the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, and Big 12.
Take one look at the details released about the conference’s deal, and it’s clear that this isn’t an agreement that will thrust the Pac-12 back into financial relevancy. In fact, it appears to be the opposite.
The deal outlines that CBS airs just three regular season football games per season, plus the conference championship game. Similarly, CBS will air just three regular season men’s basketball games per season, plus the conference tournament championship.
That’s just eight games of broadcast network exposure between the two highest revenue sports, with two of those games being championships. In other words, CBS will air about one game per month during football season, and fewer than one game a month during basketball season. It doesn’t take an expert to tell you that’s not a ton of exposure for the conference.
The Pac-12 will indeed be looking to solidify other media rights agreements in the coming weeks and months. Conference commissioner Teresa Gould has previously stated that the Pac-12 is looking to ink deals with multiple broadcast networks. Should it be successful in doing so, that’ll help with the exposure issue. But so far, the optics don’t look great.
CBS is described as the “primary long-term media partner for the new Pac-12” in Monday’s announcement. That means the network presumably gets first dibs on the conference’s best inventory. One could expect those games to include Oregon State or Washington State when they host their respective in-state rivals in football, or some marquee Gonzaga games during the men’s basketball season. Other than that, nothing really stands out as must-watch TV.
This is simply the new reality for the Pac-12, and likely the reason why CBS didn’t want to commit to more than three regular season games in football and men’s basketball. The bench is not deep.
That will make it difficult for the Pac-12 to find a meaningful rights partnership with another major broadcast network. In 2025, the “Pac-2” re-upped a deal with The CW to keep most Oregon State and Washington State home games on the network. They would seem to be the leader in the clubhouse should the Pac-12 want another broadcast network, like Gould suggested. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The CW is a solid partner. The network has better reach than most cable channels and wouldn’t treat the Pac-12 like an afterthought. But it’s still not a destination channel for college football or basketball viewing, unless you’re seeking out a specific lower-tier ACC game.
Perhaps the most damning thing about Monday’s announcement, however, is what wasn’t included in the press release: financial details. If there’s been one constant over the latest round of conference realignment in college athletics, it’s that everything has been done with one reason at the forefront: money.
Typically, when major conferences announce new media rights deals, the financial details are front and center. They may not be included directly in the press release, but it’s not long before a reporter gets a hold of the number. That wasn’t the case during today’s Pac-12 announcement. The financial terms are nowhere to be found. Considering how few games CBS is slated to air, it’s likely that whatever the conference is earning is a mere fraction of what the ACC or Big 12, for instance, are earning under their respective contracts.
Of course, no one expected the Pac-12 to be on that level. But if the CBS contract had been significant financially, we would know about it by now.
None of this is to say the Pac-12 is doomed, far from it. If the conference can secure another one or two media rights deals with other partners, it can position itself firmly as one of the top mid-majors in the country. But for a brand as storied as the Pac-12, that’s not a sentence anyone would have wanted to read just a few years ago.