Report: UCLA and USC Looking to Join Big 10
The Bruins find themselves in the middle of a cataclysmic shift in college sports.
Good afternoon from Big Ten country!
As first reported by Jon Wilner, UCLA and USC are looking to leave the Pac-12 to join the Big Ten conference as early as 2024. Other national sportswriters quickly confirmed the accuracy, including Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated and Nicole Auerbach of the Athletic. Putting together some information:
Auerbach reported that Big Ten officials had a meeting last night and were not talkative afterward. Reportedly, that’s when they were informed of the intentions of both LA schools.
Pete Thamel of ESPN reported two things. First, obviously, finances were the biggest factor, as the gulf between projected revenues between the two conferences is massive. Second is that UCLA was the biggest obstacle, as a move would be a conscious decoupling from the UC system (specifically UC Berkeley), but the Bruins were able to get over that.
Bruce Feldman reported that this was UCLA and USC reaching out to the Big Ten. Interesting to note both schools are working together here.
Stewart Mandel pointed out that Fox would be a big driving factor behind the move. Fox is already in bed with the Big Ten, and is based out of LA.
This is a seismic shift in the college sports landscape, to be sure. Let’s start with one point that this deal is not official yet by any means. The leak of this news could be part of negotiations between the two LA schools and the Pac-12 Conference to try and increase the amount of money that those two schools receive (as a reminder: all schools share revenue equally in the Pac-12, which has been a sticking point for the LA schools which primarily drive that revenue).
That said…
Thamel reporting this is essentially a done deal is a pretty good sign that both UCLA and USC looked at the Pac-12 and decided that they needed to leave in order to secure the future of their sports, which makes sense. Anyone paying attention to the college sports landscape in recent years would recognize that this was a smart, bold move to position UCLA to not only survive, but thrive in this new landscape, as they would now have the money to not only compete at the highest level, but to theoretically comply with any potential new future moves to, for example, pay players officially.
There are questions that need to be answered still. Reports are that all sports will be moving to the Big Ten, and the new increase in revenue means those sports will be funded, but it does lead to logistical questions regarding travel. That should not be a huge deal, though it has led to a lot of national media to speculate that two more schools will join in on the move, either the two Bay Area schools or Washington and Oregon.
But will come with time. Right now, I have to credit athletic director Martin Jarmond and Chancellor Gene Block for recognizing how things are trending and being bold enough to make a move.
Go Bruins!
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As a brief "Yay, me!" moment, I'll copy a paragraph from an article I wrote here on TMB last year:
"Expansion will happen. Physics and money dictate it. But if the Pac-12 sits by, it will become a smaller and less powerful player in the arms race that is college football and risk getting our existing schools poached by bigger and more powerful conferences in the future. But since circumstances allows us a chance to direct the outcome, it’s critical that the Pac-12 be the driving force that brings its selected Universities into its orbit."
https://www.themightybruin.com/p/the-physics-of-college-football-expansion
I actually wrote that article a couple years earlier but it got lost amongst other issues at the time, and then the OU and Texas to the SEC rumors got hot and I updated it and published it. Sadly, if this idea occurred to a schmo like me 3 years ago, it should have occurred to professional athletic conference leaders long before that. But instead we had guys like Larry Scott and Dan Guerrero sitting around collecting checks and dust, and so today, as if Thanos just snapped his fingers, we watch the Pac12 itself turn to dust.
This sucks. As someone who’s been a UCLA fan since watching Cade McNown lead the Bruins to a victory over Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl, I hate everything that this move represents for the LA schools and the future of college sports.
I mean it’s great for UCLA and secures their athletes’ and the athletic department’s for the mid term, but it never should have come to this.
Culturally this makes little sense outside of academic affiliation; geographically it makes zero sense. At least Texas and OU are somewhat to other SEC teams when they moved.
But ooh boy, we get to play Michigan and Ohio State now on a semi-annual basis for BrAnDiNg aNd PrEsTiGe aNd MiLlIoNS!!!!!!!!!
I hate Texas and OU for moving to the SEC and being the precursor to this last insane domino.
I hate this arms race that’s turning college football into a glorified semi-pro league.
I hate how 150+ years of college athletics is about to go down the drain because of pure economics.
Some of that did need to go — archaic amateurism rules and restrictions on student-athletes, for example — but this ruins the traditions and local/regional aspect of college sports. This also kills any national presence mid and low major D-I schools will get in non-football sports.
This is basically what the European Super League was supposed to be for club soccer. At least Europeans had the good sense to riot against the owners for the sake of the smaller clubs, and FIFA, cartel it may be, at least threatened players with not being able to compete for their countries in international competition so they could put pressure on the owners.
I wish our sports organizations —“amateur” or otherwise—had the same kind of integrity, especially in the face of the NCAA being so toothless at this point.
But most of all, I hate that UCLA —like gbruin said— was the next university to sell its soul, with its rich tradition in both academics and athletics.
I think I may have to take an hiatus from college sports indefinitely.