The Pac-12 is rolling into the season with a very different look, and Thursday brought a batch of announcements that touch just about every corner of the game day experience: television, access, officiating and bowl ties.
For a conference now opening with eight teams in non-conference games from Friday through Sunday, the first spotlight is already set. Those matchups will air nationally across CBS, Fox, CBS Sports Network, ESPN and USA Network, setting the tone for a season in which every Pac-12 home game will be on national linear television under the league’s new media partnerships with CBS Sports, USA Sports and CW Sports.
The conference also unveiled “Pac-12 Field Pass,” a new feature built to get fans closer to the action through mic’d-up coaches and players during games. Pac-12 Enterprises will work with participating programs and broadcast partners to produce and quickly review the content for live broadcasts, and the league said it pushed for updated rules to make the microphones possible.
Another big piece of the rollout is aimed at the replay booth. Broadcasts will now include live looks and updates from the Pac-12 command center and replay crew, following the ACC’s well-received move to bring that process to viewers last year. The Pac-12 will also have an on-air rules expert to help explain how reviews unfold and how final decisions are made.
On the officiating side, the conference introduced a new communications policy meant to bring more transparency to major calls. The Pac-12 office may issue public statements on game-ending calls or no-calls, significant officiating-mechanics errors, rules-interpretation mistakes or other extraordinary circumstances. If a statement is going to be released, it must come no later than the end of the day after the game.
The conference also laid out its future officiating structure, saying it will have five crews under contract in 2026, with most officials carrying previous autonomy-level conference experience. David Coleman will remain vice president of officiating through the 2026 season before moving on, and the Pac-12 will start searching for a new head of officiating during the year.
There’s also a new layer of game availability for fans and teams alike. The Pac-12 will provide player availability reports for conference and non-conference games, with the first report coming three days before kickoff and posted publicly on Pac-12.com.
Thursday’s news also included bowl affiliations. The 12 legacy Pac-12 schools will continue to be tied to the Alamo, Las Vegas, Holiday, Sun, Poinsettia and Independence bowls, with selections based on overall record rather than conference record.
The six new Pac-12 schools will be linked to the Poinsettia and Hawaiʻi bowls and will also be eligible for ESPN’s bowl pools. Washington State and Oregon State would represent the new Pac-12 side of the Poinsettia Bowl matchup.
Put together, the announcements paint the picture of a conference leaning hard into its new era: more national exposure, more access for viewers, and a louder push for transparency from the replay booth to the officiating office.
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