All seven home games will be televised nationally with six being broadcast on The CW.
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There is a lot to like about the television schedule Oregon State announced Tuesday for its seven home football games this fall.
All seven games will be televised nationally with six games being broadcast on The CW. The rivalry game with Oregon will be shown on either FOX or FS1.
The schedule mostly features early start times as well. There are three games which kick off at 3:30 p.m. (Idaho State, Colorado State and Washington State) and one at 5:30 p.m. (Purdue).
The time for the Oregon game has not been determined and the UNLV and San Jose State games will either be at 12:30 p.m. or they will be late, with 7 or 7:30 p.m. kickoffs.
Given the circumstances, this is a good package for Oregon State and Washington State, which also announced its television schedule Tuesday. The CW is easily accessible and is expanding its sports coverage. It is a part of basic cable packages and for those without cable there are CW apps available for a wide range of devices, including Apple TV and Roku.
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Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes said accessibility was a primary goal.
Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes, right, speaks with assistant athletic director Shawn Schoeffler during the Spring Showcase at Reser Stadium. Barnes said national exposure was crucial for Oregon State in the negotiations for its football television contract which was announced this week.
LES GEHRETT, Mid-Valley media
“National exposure and the ability for Beaver Nation to easily access our games was a top priority during the process. Additionally, the ability to announce game times well in advance provides an improved experience for our student-athletes and fans,” Barnes stated in the announcement.
But it’s hard not to feel like this is a classic case of too little, far too late. The Pac-12 Conference’s media rights negotiations were at the heart of the conference’s breakup. Former Pac-12 Conference Commissioner George Kliavkoff spent more than a year trying to negotiate a new television contract.
It didn’t help that Kliavkoff was trying to make a deal after USC and UCLA announced in June 2022 that they were leaving for the Big Ten. The loss of the Los Angeles TV market made the Pac-12 rights harder to sell and he ended up with a streaming-heavy proposal backed by Apple.
That proposal was announced on Aug. 1, 2023, and within days the Pac-12 collapsed. Oregon and Washington departed for the Big Ten while Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah joined the Big 12. Stanford and Cal later accepted an invitation from the ACC.
The rejection of that streaming package may prove to be short-sighted. Streaming live sports is becoming more common and the NFL is adding more online-only games to its schedule. In addition, several of the departing schools accepted reduced media rights payments from their new conference partners in the short term.
But that is little comfort for Oregon State and Washington State. Both schools have faced a steady stream of departures of administrators, coaches and players over the past few months and the future of the athletic programs at both schools remains uncertain.
Two details stood out in Tuesday’s announcement. The first is the reminder that this deal was negotiated by new Pac-12 Conference Commissioner Teresa Gould following the departure of Kliavkoff in February. His tenure was a catastrophe and Gould is stepping into the most difficult situation one could imagine. This is a start.
The second detail is that even though it has become common to refer to the Pac-2, it officially remains the Pac-12. Yes, that seems an odd name for a conference with two teams, but this is where we find ourselves in 2024. The Big Ten will have 18 teams next fall and the Big 12 will have 16 teams. It’s the new math.
The next step in the process is the announcement of broadcast partners for the Beavers’ five road games. Four of those games will be against Mountain West opponents: San Diego State, Nevada, Air Force and Boise State.
CBS and FOX are the broadcast partners for the Mountain West and last year the conference announced its television schedule in late May. Last season, 30 games were broadcast on CBS or CBS Sports and 17 games, including the conference championship, on FOX/FS1/FS2.
It will be interesting to see how Oregon State and Washington State games are prioritized when the Mountain West makes its announcement.
We are also waiting to learn the broadcast partner for Oregon State’s game at Cal on Oct. 26. The decision on that game will be made by the ACC and its broadcast partners, which include The CW in addition to ESPN/ABC.
Sports editor Les Gehrett can be reached at [email protected].
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