As the Pac-12 gets set to relaunch in 2026 with new schools and a new schedule, CBS Sports and the conference have announced a media rights extension set to begin with the 2025 football season.
With the departure of many of its schools to other conferences in 2024, the Pac-12 has been adding new schools to the two universities, Washington State and Oregon State, that remained from the conference’s former roster. It has also been working to boost revenue with new deals for TV, streaming and other media rights.
The new agreement establishes CBS Sports as the primary long-term media partner for the new Pac-12, with additional partners to be announced at a later date, the league said. As part of the extended partnership, football and men’s basketball games for the new Pac-12 will air throughout each season on the CBS Television Network (and streaming on Paramount+, as well as CBS Sports Network.
“As the new Pac-12’s primary media partner, CBS Sports’ top-tier coverage will showcase the best of the conference’s football and men’s basketball games annually across our platforms, including the championship game for both sports,” said Dan Weinberg, executive vice president, programming, CBS Sports. “Extending this partnership strengthens our multiplatform college football and basketball schedule and, at a pivotal moment for the new Pac-12, allows us to collaborate, grow the conference and expand its reach."
Octagon, the Pac-12’s exclusive media rights advisor, served as advisor for both the 2025 partnership and subsequent long-term extension.
Highlights of the extended partnership between CBS Sports and the new Pac-12 include:
- Annual football championship game on CBS and streamed live on Paramount+.
- Annual men’s basketball tournament championship game on CBS and Paramount+.
- A minimum of three regular season football games on CBS and Paramount+ each season.
- A minimum of three regular season men’s basketball games on CBS and Paramount+ each season.
- Football and men’s basketball games throughout the regular season on CBS Sports Network, with details to be announced at a later date.
“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,” said Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould. “I am thankful to the team at CBS Sports for seeing our vision and investing in our shared future as we build, launch and realize a new Pac-12 together.”
In announcing the deal with CBS, the conference said further media rights partnerships for the new Pac-12 will be announced following finalized agreements with schools set to join. One of the factors that led to the breakup of the original Pac-12 was that some of its most prominent schools felt they could get more media revenue as member of the Big Ten and other conferences.
Last fall, Oregon State and Washington State were joined by Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, San Diego State and Utah State in plans to create a new Pac-12 Conference set to begin play in 2026-27.
Oregon State and Washington State are currently operating as the Pac-12 under a two-year NCAA grace period and will continue to do so for 2025-26. Outside of football, the two schools are entering their second year of a two-year arrangement as affiliate members of the West Coast Conference in men’s basketball and other Olympic sports.
