UCLA Big Ten
The move from Pac-12 to Big Ten Conference, explained
UCLA Big Ten sports will officially become a reality in 2024. The UC regents approved UCLA’s decision to move from the Pacific-12 (Pac-12) conference to the Big Ten conference in a December 2022 meeting.
UCLA announced its intention to join the Big Ten in a message to campus on June 30, 2022. Read the full UCLA Big Ten announcement here:
One advantage of joining the Big Ten is that UCLA will bring in more revenue from a media deal with the Big Ten than Pac-12. A USA Today article reported that, according to tax records, Big Ten member schools received $48.9 million each during the 2021 fiscal year, while Pac-12 schools received about $19.8 million.
The revenue will allow UCLA to continue to maintain all 25 of its current teams, some of which were in jeopardy due to the athletic department’s debt, according to UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond in a statement in the LA Times.
The UCLA Big Ten partnership will also bring more national visibility to UCLA athletes. With Big Ten schools all across the nation, UCLA athletes will enjoy a broader national audience. Big Ten games also have prime-time television slots, so Bruin fans who can’t go to games in person can easily keep up with their favorite UCLA sports teams.
Finally, the move to the Big Ten preserves UCLA’s historic rivalry with USC, which also announced that it was leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in conjunction with UCLA. However, unlike USC, UCLA is a public school, which means that it needed the UC Regents’ approval before the move to the Big Ten could be official.
On the opposite end, several groups have expressed concerns about the Big Ten move and pushed the UC regents to block the proposal. UC Berkeley opposed the move because its Pac-12 deal will likely decrease in value with UCLA and USC out of the conference, according to ESPN. National College Players Association (NCAP) also argued that increased travel times may negatively impact student athletes’ education quality and mental health, according to USA Today.
The UC Regents approved UCLA’s switch to the Big Ten in December 2022, with a few conditions. According to the New York Times, UCLA will be mandated to pay anywhere from $2 million to $10 million to Berkeley, depending on how much revenue Berkeley loses in its Pac-12 deal, which will be secured in the first half of 2023. UCLA will also have to increase its investment in student-athlete resources; as much as $12.2 million will go to academic support, nutritional support and mental health services for all student-athletes.
More details on the UCLA Big Ten partnership are still coming out, so keep an eye out for UCLA and the Big Ten in the news.
