Pac-12 signs eye-catching deal for CW, CBS, ESPN for 2025 CFB season: What does it mean for Oregon & Washington State?

The PAC-12 conference is currently in a transition stage. For years, it was the premier college athletics conference for schools on the West Coast, with the likes of Oregon, USC and Washington. However, fears over a lack of a TV deal led to the conference's collapse, with all programs except Oregon State and Washington State leaving.

These two teams will be the conference's only members for the 2025 season before a major expansion occurs in the 2026 season. Luckily, fans of these programs will be able to see their team play out their 2025 football schedules, as the Pac-12 conference has announced a new broadcasting deal.

The new broadcasting deal will involve Oregon State and Washington State games being televised on ESPN, CBS and the CW.

As per this deal, CBS (which includes streaming service Paramount+, a potential destination for these games) and ESPN will broadcast two weeks each. This will be the first time in 10 years that ESPN has shown football from this conference.

The remaining weeks will be shown on the CW. This is a network that is slowly becoming associated with sports, mostly through its "CW Sports" network. This network is not new for fans of Pac-12 football, as they showed 11 games last season, then shared with Fox, who had the other two.

This acquisition furthers the relationship between the CW and PAC-12 and adds to their sports programming lineup, which already includes ACC basketball and the NASCAR Infinity Series.

However, the arrival of heavyweights such as ESPN and CBS means these networks are interested in the conference. This comes just before a massive expansion in 2026. This means more games to be shown, something that these networks will only benefit from. The 2025 deal could be a test run before the important 2026 season.

What is the future of the PAC-12 conference?

The 2025 season will be the last season which the PAC-12 will be a two-team conference. This will create an interesting scheduling note, as the Oregon State Beavers and Washington State Cougars will face off in a home/home series this year for the conference title.

However, the team that wins the conference title will not be eligible for a spot in the College Football Playoff due to the PAC-12 not having enough members. They need a minimum of eight to be eligible.

Their 2026 expansion will help this with Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State, Utah State and San Diego State joining from the Mountain West. Gonzaga is also planning to join, but the Bulldogs are not a football-playing school, meaning that the conference is one below the required amount.

The conference has to make a move for one more school, but time is running out.