UCLA cleared by California regents to join Big Ten, will pay Cal at least $2 million per year
Opponents of UCLA's (and USC's) move to the Big Ten Conference just lost their last glimmer of hope.
The University of California board of regents, which oversees UCLA as well the other schools in the UC system, voted 11-5 to approve the Bruins' move, according to the Los Angeles Times, after months of political threats to kill the deal, which figures to reshape the state's college athletics landscape.
USC is a private university and therefore needed no approval to enter the Big Ten.
Moving to a conference located almost entirely in the Midwest will introduce a bevy logistical and financial challenges, with student-athletes likely bearing the brunt of the worst road trips. Critics of the deal went up all the way to the governor's mansion, but the upgrade in revenue from the Pac-12 was likely too great for the regents to ignore.
Per the Times, UCLA is projected to receive somewhere in the neighborhood of $65 million to $75 million in its first year as a Big Ten member, about double what it would get in the Pac-12.
UCLA to pay millions to support Cal, student athletes
On football television rights alone, the Big Ten will be bringing in approximately $1 billion per year thanks to its gargantuan new media deal. The Pac-12's upcoming deal will likely pale in comparison, so much so that the regents voted to have UCLA pay Cal, the system's remaining Pac-12 member, a "Berkeley tax" of $2 million to $10 million per year to offset what the school will lose in a Pac-12 without its Los Angeles schools.
Additionally, UCLA will reportedly pay around $6.3 million per year in academic, nutritional and mental health support for its athletes.
Thanks to those millions of dollars in compromises, UCLA is headed to the Big Ten, to the joy of the Big Ten. Conference commissioner Kevin Warren applauded the deal in a statement released soon after the vote:
"The Big Ten Conference is grateful to the University of California Board of Regents for respecting the decision of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to join our conference in 2024. The landscape of collegiate athletics is evolving, and the Big Ten Conference is in a position of stability and strength with unmatched opportunities, exposure and resources for our member institutions and student-athletes. With the collective goals to prioritize the health and well-being of our student-athletes and forward our academic and athletic mission under the umbrella of higher education, we will continue our methodical integration process of UCLA and USC into the Big Ten Conference."
UCLA and USC are scheduled to make the move in 2024.
