By: Pac-12 Conference
CBS Sports and the Pac-12 Conference today announced an extension of their partnership which is set to begin with the 2025 football season. The extended partnership will continue with the league’s transformation and begin with the new Pac-12’s launch ahead of the 2026-27 season and carry through the 2030-31 season. 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. 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.
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:
New Pac-12 & CBS Sports Partnership Highlights
- 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.”
“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.”
New Pac-12’s Transformational Process
With today’s announcement, the new Pac-12 and Octagon continue the league’s transformational process and to build for its future with additional media partnerships. While CBS Sports has been announced as an anchor and the first of what will include multiple media partners long term for the league, further media rights partnerships for the new Pac-12 will be announced following finalized agreements. The extended partnership with CBS Sports is inclusive of one additional football-playing, all-sports member of the new Pac-12 Conference.
All current and future members of the new Pac-12 participated in the decision to extend the partnership long term with CBS Sports.
New Pac-12: Looking Ahead
Last Fall, the Pac-12 along with Oregon State, Washington State and six leading universities and premier athletics departments, including Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, San Diego State and Utah State, launched plans to create a new Pac-12 Conference. Though the new Pac-12 will not officially begin until the 2026-27 season, the 2024-25 campaign has offered a glimpse into the on-going and overall strength of the new league from a competitive and brand perspective, with highlights over the past few seasons including:
- Top Five League in Football – Over the last four seasons considering and comparing to future conference compositions (as of May 2025) beginning with the 2026 season, the new Pac-12 has had:
- Five of its seven football programs ranked among the College Football Playoff’s (CFP) Top 25, or 71% of its programs, the fourth-highest total percentage of programs ranked in the CFP Top 25 among all conferences in that time, as displayed here.
- Six of its seven football programs ranked among the Associated Press’ (AP) Top 25, or 86% of its programs, the third-highest total percentage of programs ranked in the AP Top 25 among all conferences in that time.
- A collective average Football Power Index (FPI) ranking of 74th among 136 total FBS teams (as of the 2026 season), the fifth-highest average FPI ranking among all conferences.
- Boise State earn the No. 3 overall seed in the first edition of the expanded 12-team CFP in 2024.
NOTE: The Pac-12 will add at least one more football-playing, all-sports member to begin with the 2026-27 season, not reflected in the figures and highlights above.
- Top Five League in Men’s Basketball – Over the last five seasons considering and comparing to future conference compositions (as of May 2025) beginning with the 2026-27 season, the new Pac-12 has had:
- The fourth-best average NET ranking among all conferences, as displayed here.
- Seven of its eight men’s basketball programs make the Men’s NCAA Tournament since 2021, including two appearances in the National Championship game.
Oregon State and Washington State are currently operating as members of the Pac-12 Conference as part of a NCAA two-year grace period and will continue to do so for the 2025-26 academic season prior to new members officially joining beginning with the 2026-27 season. All current and incoming members will continue to collaboratively chart additional membership as well as other business matters and future conference considerations.
