- CW to broadcast 13 games featuring both schools
- Remaining Pac-12 schools also agree financial settlement with group of ten leaving the conference
The CW is reportedly closing in on a new broadcast deal to show Oregon State and Washington State’s home college football games for the 2024/25 season.
According to college sports insider John Canzano, the two Pac-12 Conference colleges have bundled together their combined total of 13 home games into a single package. The CW are said to have engaged both schools in extended talks, with the intention of being their primary broadcast partner.
Canzano reports that the universities are thought to be prioritising exposure over revenue for their media rights agreement, which a linear broadcaster is better placed to offer than a digital streaming service. Should a deal be reached, the Pac-12 Network would produce the broadcasts for all 13 match-ups.
The agreement will not cover Oregon State and Washington State’s away match-ups against Mountain West Conference (MWC) teams. Those games will be shown by Fox and CBS, as part of the conference’s six-year media rights deals that began in 2020.
The CW has increased its interest in sports programming in recent years, with the network having broadcast partnerships with LIV Golf, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Nascar and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
Speaking earlier this year, the broadcaster’s president Dennis Miller said it was keen to expand into primetime sports, amid the decline of regional sports networks (RSNs) and an increasing rate of cord cutting.
Oregon State and Washington State have also finalised a financial settlement with the ten schools leaving the Pac-12 conference.
The deal will see US$5 million withheld from each of those departing the conference during the 2024 fiscal year. In addition, each school will contribute a supplement payment of US$1.5 million to the two remaining colleges, who will net US$65 million in total.
As part of the agreement, the departing group will not be able to claim any revenue generated after this year, and will not have any ‘vote, direction input or other power with the conference’s use, or allocation of expenditure’ of the US$65 million fund.
‘We are pleased to finalise an agreement with OSU and WSU that provides support for all our student-athletes while ensuring an equal distribution of the vast majority of funds earned by all 12 schools during the 2023-24 academic year,’ the ten leaving schools said in a statement.
‘Under this agreement, our schools will have the right to vote on matters that affect all 12 schools this year, while OSU and WSU will have control over future Conference revenue and decisions.’
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