The new-look Mountain West has finalized a fresh set of media rights deals to start next football season.
On Tuesday, the conference announced six-year broadcast partnerships with CBS Sports, Fox Sports, and The CW to encompass its premier football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball inventory.
For football, Fox will retain exclusive rights to the Mountain West Championship Game for each year of the deal. Fox Sports will also air 12 regular-season games across Fox, FS1, and FS2. CBS Sports will broadcast 15 regular-season games from the conference, with one such game guaranteed to air on the CBS Television Network, with others placed on the CBS Sports Network cable channel. Rounding out the football schedule is The CW, which will air 13 regular-season games beginning next season.
Whereas Fox can be described as the lead Mountain West partner for football, CBS is the lead partner for basketball. CBS will broadcast the Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship Game each year under the new deal, as it has done each year since 2013. In addition, CBSSN will carry 18 men’s basketball regular-season games throughout the season. The men’s tournament quarterfinals and semifinals will also air on CBSSN. The Mountain West Women’s Basketball Championship Game will air on CBSSN, in addition to two games during the regular season.
In addition to the CBS games, Fox Sports has agreed to air 20 regular-season men’s basketball games across Fox, FS1, and FS2. The CW will chip in an additional 20 men’s games and 15 women’s games of its own.
Aside from the conference’s three linear partners, the Mountain West is teaming up with Kiswe to distribute over 1,000 live events annually through the Mountain West App. Football and basketball games not slated for linear television, along with most games in other sports, will likely end up here.
The conference will look much different come the start of the 2026-27 football season. Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State have all joined Oregon State and Washington State in the Pac-12. The new Mountain West will include Air Force, Grand Canyon (non-football member), Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Northern Illinois (football-only member), San Jose State, UC Davis (non-football member), UNLV, UTEP and Wyoming.
The Athletic’s Chris Vannini reports that Hawaii will no longer have a separate local TV deal as part of the new arrangement.
Financial terms of the conference’s new deals were not disclosed, but legacy members will continue to get paid the same rate guaranteed to them under the previous agreements. Vannini reports it is not clear whether that money will come fully from the new TV deals or draw from the league’s reserves. The Mountain West and Pac-12 are still tied up in a legal battle over $150 million in alleged poaching fees.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.