Oregon State, Washington State Closing in on Deal with The CW to Broadcast Football Games

The Pac-12 is looking a lot more like the Pac-2 these days. In 2024, the conference will feature just two schools: the Oregon State Beavers and the Washington State Cougars, as all other universities formerly belonging to the conference have announced deals to play in new leagues starting this fall. Amidst the proceedings, the question of what would happen to Oregon State and Washington State’s broadcast rights has persisted, but a new report from college football columnist John Canzano indicates that the two schools are nearing a deal with The CW to air their home football games in 2024.

• The two schools will play a combined 13 home games in 2024.
• Oregon State and Washington State will each play road games against Mountain West schools that will air on CBS and Fox.
• Games could stream for free on the CW app, but there has been no confirmation of such plans.

Canzano reports that Oregon State and Washington State have combined their 13 total home games in 2024 to sell as a single unit. He says that The CW “is believed to be the primary broadcast partner” involved in negotiations, suggesting that another outlet could also be in on discussions. The primary goal for the two schools in seeking a deal was different than in most negotiations. Due to the unfortunate collapse of the conference, the schools are focused far more on reach, than revenue.

As an over-the-air broadcast network, The CW reaches nearly 100% of American households, and is carried in at least some markets by DIRECTV STREAM, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV. Totals for the Pac-12 Network varied between 12 and 19 million subscribers during its run, so sending games to The CW would clearly represent a significant expansion for the two schools. The Pac-12 Network has already started the process of shutting down operations, and is expected to finish by this summer.

Additionally, The CW has a digital app that it routinely uses to allow viewers to stream live sports and other programming for free. However, it is not currently clear if a deal with Washington State and Oregon State would include streaming rights, or if those could be sent to another distributor.

An agreement with the Mountain West means that Oregon State and Washington State’s road football games against schools from that conference will air on CBS and Fox this season, giving the two teams even more exposure. It represents a long fall from the lofty heights that the Pac-12 saw in the past, but these broadcasts combined with the potential CW deal offer a viable option to keep football games from the conference’s two remaining programs on TV.

The crumbling of the Pac-12 began 2022, when USC and UCLA announced that they were leaving the conference for the Big Ten. Those programs brought in huge revenue for the conference, and after their announced departure it became more and more difficult for the Pac-12 to find a new broadcast partner. The conference appeared on the cusp of a deal with Apple in August 2023, but some of its member schools saw they could make more money in the long term as members of other conferences, leading to a stunning implosion of the once-proud league.

What Other Sports Are Available on The CW?

The CW has worked hard over the past year and a half since being acquired by local station-owner Nexstar to increase the inventory of live sports contests on its airwaves. The channel began offering broadcasts of LIV Golf tournaments in 2023, and also acquired the rights to NASCAR's Xfinity Series last year as well. NASCAR’s Xfinity Series will begin airing on The CW starting in 2025.

Football games from Oregon State and Washington State will not be the only college sports available on The CW if the deal becomes official. The channel is also carrying ACC football and basketball games through the 2026-27 season as part of a deal struck in July 2023. Those games formerly aired on Bally Sports regional sports networks, but the channels’ parent company Diamond Sports Group decided to reject ACC contests last June as part of its bankruptcy proceedings.

The CW is building itself an impressive sports portfolio, snagging select rights that bring high-profile events like college football and auto racing to its airwaves without having to pay extreme prices. The channel could be preparing to add home football games from Oregon State and Washington State, giving those schools exposure and potentially helping them draw more colleges to the nearly-defunct Pac-12.