Less than a year after taking over as the commissioner of the dormant Pac-12, Teresa Gould appeared this week with a bullish update on the expanding conference’s ongoing media rights talks.
For the 2024 season, games for the remaining members of the Pac-12 were broadcast on The CW. Oregon State and Washington State fans could watch most of their football teams’ home games on the free broadcast network. The CW aired a total of 11 of these games.
Now, Gould is leading talks on what she hopes will be a “transformational partnership” to “rebuild the new Pac-12” after the conference added four football programs in September. Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State will compete in the Pac-12 starting in 2026.
As Gould canvasses the marketplace for a deal, she called the response from potential partners “overwhelming” in a recent interview with Sports Business Journal.
“We’ve been out on the marketplace for, I would say, about six weeks. And I have to say, the response that we have gotten from potential media-rights partners has been overwhelming,” Gould said. “It just reinforces what I knew when I took this job, which was people really care about the Pac-12 brand. It really means something in the marketplace. And the media-rights partner interest has been really, really extraordinary. They’re pleased with the strength of the conference top to bottom, competitively. They’re pleased with the relevance of the brands that we have.”
The Pac-12 recently hired Octagon to advise the conference in these negotiations, at which time Gould hinted at “non-traditional” game days and windows to gain an edge in viewership and consumption. But before it can be officially recognized as a conference by the NCAA again, the Pac-12 will need to add at least one more member school. Gonzaga will compete in the new-look Pac-12 in non-football sports.
Viewership on The CW was solid for the “Pac-2” this year, with games frequently averaging close to a half-million viewers. Adding the consistent Mountain West contender Boise State and the potentially frisky Colorado State under Jay Norvell could bode well for the Pac-12’s future. Schools like UNLV or Texas State could bring growing media markets like Austin and Las Vegas into the conference’s potential television audience.
Gould clearly has her work cut out for her and as commissioner, is incentivized to be optimistic. That said, the Pac-12 has progressed through its rebirth fairly quickly and so far, successfully. And we know there is an appetite for live football across many networks and streamers these days.
[The SBJ Sports Media Podcast]
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.