This Wasn’t the Future the Pac-12 Envisioned

The Pac-12 is still alive, just not in the way anyone hoped a few years ago. This week, the conference announced a renewed media rights agreement with The CW Network, locking in football and basketball coverage through the 2030-31 season.

Starting in 2026, The CW will carry 13 football games per year, along with a combined 50 men’s and women’s basketball matchups and the women’s basketball championship game. All of it will be produced by Pac-12 Enterprises, the media wing that rose from the ashes of the failed Pac-12 Network.

This is exactly what the Big Ten and Big 12 warned about when the realignment wheels started turning. While the rest of the college football world is cashing checks from ESPN, FOX, TNT, and CBS, the Pac-12 will be running games on a channel best known for airing superhero shows and syndicated crime dramas. The CW might technically be a national network, but it is hardly the broadcast home of a power conference. It is the media equivalent of showing up to a playoff game in hand-me-downs while everyone else is wearing custom suits.

Still, the Pac-12 has managed to avoid complete collapse. With Oregon State and Washington State still standing, the league is adding Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State, Colorado State, Utah State, Gonzaga, and Texas State to reach the eight members needed for College Football Playoff eligibility. The conference also landed a smaller deal with CBS that will include a few football and basketball games each season, including both championship events. That gives the league at least a minimal presence on a traditional sports network, but it does little to elevate the perception of the product overall.

In the end, this is a survival play, not a power move. The Pac-12 is no longer competing with the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, or the Big 12. It is competing with late-night time slots and whatever airtime The CW can spare between dramas and entertainment reruns. For a league that once called itself the Conference of Champions, this feels more like a broadcast lifeline than a television deal.