ESPN and The CW strike deal that’s a game-changer for college football fans

While conference realignment has changed the landscape of college football, the broadcast partners have also changed. The SEC is no longer on CBS as the league joined ESPN and ABC at the start of the 2024 season. The CW is a recent entrant into the college football landscape as well after getting a package of ACC games before signing a deal with the Pac 12.

When The CW added Pac 12 games, the only teams left in the league were Oregon State and Washington State after conference realignment. Now after surviving near extinction, the Pac 12 adds 6 new football members and Gonzaga as a basketball only member giving the league excitement again.

ESPN becomes The CW's streaming partner in major win for the fans

On Wednesday, ESPN announced that it reached a deal with The CW to become their streaming partner.

The deal will allow ESPN to stream The CW's games live on the ESPN App for subscribers. Given how much ESPN broadcasts across college and professional sports, most fans likely already have a subscription which means the fans are given more.

As more consumers move away from traditional cable towards streaming, broadcasting the games in additional locations is never a bad thing. Adding in that the ESPN App has features like multi-view, and the fans can watch the games all at once or with other sporting events they're watching.

While the SEC and Big Ten are dominating viewership, bringing more views to the Mountain West, ACC, and Pac 12 is never a bad thing. Further College Football Playoff expansion is seemingly going to take place sooner rather than later, and as the sport continues to grow in popularity at a rapid pace, it only makes sense to give the fans every outlet possible to tune in on Saturday's.

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