UC Regents Allude to Action Against UCLA Regarding Big Ten Move

The board will close the book on the Bruins leaving the Pac-12 in a meeting Thursday, which they previewed in a document released Tuesday.

The debacle between UCLA and the University of California Board of Regents may be nearing its conclusion.

Ahead of the UC Regents' upcoming meeting on Thursday, a letter was addressed to the board making the Bruins' impending move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten a discussion item at said meeting. The agenda was then revised to make it an action item.

The move has faced plenty of scrutiny since it was first announced nearly five months ago, with prominent figures such as Governor Gavin Newsom, Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff and Bill Walton all coming out against it.

The regents held a special meeting back on Aug. 17 to discuss what the wider university was going to do about UCLA's decision, and after also breaking it down at theor Sept. 22 meeting, they are set to reconvene on the topic Thursday. According to the letter, the board plans to take action on UCLA's agreement to join the Big Ten in 2024.

Some details on UC Board of Regents plans for the UCLA action item on Thursday pic.twitter.com/Aqnx1IWz4W

— Jon Wilner (@wilnerhotline) November 15, 2022

The Regents are standing by their claim that they have the authority to withdraw UCLA from its agreement with the Big Ten, despite recognizing that the Bruins exercised authority delegated from the President in executing the agreement in the first place.

According to the Los Angeles Times, UCLA chancellor Gene Block and UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond are expected to attend the meeting at UC Mission Bay.

The board will sort through findings from the student-athlete experience, financial impacts and legal risks, which were compiled in the letter released Tuesday, before coming together about next steps.

The University of California Office of the President, in partnership with UCLA, administered a survey of over 600 student-athletes to gauge their opinions on the move to the Big Ten, earning 111 responses. 77% of respondents were concerned about the increased travel times that will come along with the move, while 66% were concerned about missed class times.

Of the women who responded to the survey, 46% were worried about an impact on mental health and 54% were worried about an impact on physical health, but only 16% of the men who responded shared those concerns.

Those student-athletes shared ideas for how to negate the negative impacts of the move, such as more nutritional support on the road and on campus, faculty support for missed classes, academic support traveling with the team and more mental health resources. Interestingly enough – considering the board's concerns about how the Bruins' move will impact UC Berkeley's athletic and financial situation – 93% of student-athletes said it was important to be in the same conference as USC, while only 24% said the same of the Golden Bears.

UCLA also came up with estimates of how much it would cost to accommodate the student-athletes dealing with those newfound issues.

To mitigate the travel impact alone, the school would spend an additional $4.62 million to $5.69 million annually to increase the number of charter flights and decrease the number of days away from campus. To enhance nutrition for all student athletes, the school would spend an additional $2.927 million annually.

Addressing the concerns around academic support and mental health services would cost just shy of $1.6 million a year, according to the report, bringing the total annual cost to between $9.15 and $10.32 million.

As the report states, though, UCLA expects those new costs to be offset by the revenue boost provided by the move to the Big Ten and its accompanying billion-dollar media rights deal. Kliavkoff has stated the opposite on several occasions, but the UCOP was unable to draw a direct comparison since the Pac-12 media rights negotiations are still underway.

There are also undisclosed legal issues and litigation risks associated with UCLA not fulfilling its end of its agreement with the Big Ten, which it signed on July 13.

Taking all of this into account, the board will have the opportunity to intervene or withdraw any objections if they are able to come to a consensus during the open period.

It is unknown if that will mark the end of this discussion, or if it will be kicked down the line yet again, but it appears as if UCLA will finally get an official word on its fate by the end of the week.

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