UC Regents Approve UCLA's Move to Big Ten, Impose Tax to Support Cal

The Bruins' upcoming move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten was officially codified Wednesday by the school's governing board.

After months of criticism, speculation and uncertainty, the Bruins finally have an answer on their future.

The University of California Board of Regents met at the Luskin Conference Center in Westwood on Wednesday for a special meeting to issue a final verdict on UCLA's move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten. The school's conference move alongside USC, which first came to light in late June, was officially upheld by the regents with an 11-5 vote, albeit with some caveats.

The board determined that, while the Bruins will be allowed to continue with their move as planned, they are recommended to agree to mitigation measures involving travel and other issues regarding student-athlete welfare. The board also recommended UCLA pay the Berkeley campus $2 to $5 million annually, depending on the end result of the Pac-12's ongoing media rights negotiation, to offset Cal's expected losses and stabilize student-athlete support on its sister campus.

After putting it to a vote in the open session, the ceiling of the "Berkeley Tax" was bumped up to $10 million.

The Bruins may have acted in accordance with established UC policies in their move and how they disclosed it, but it ruffled enough feathers for the board to hold five separate meetings on the topic and ultimately take pity on the Golden Bears, who are facing financial and competitive issues of their own.

In regards to its own campus, UCLA will have to budget an additional $1.5 million for student-athlete academic support, an additional $4.3 million for student-athlete nutritional support, an additional $250,00 for nutritious meals while traveling, and an additional $562,800 for student-athlete mental health services. The school will also be required to collect information and conduct and annual survey of student-athletes to determine the effectiveness of these measures, and set aside a reserve fund of $2.5 million to supplement any areas of support that may need more attention.

Altogether, those additional costs would total to just over $9.1 million.

While those qualifiers prevented it from being a 100% clean break for UCLA, the board still may not have appeased all of the move's detractors.

Alumni such as Bill Walton and Troy Aikman were against the move from the jump, wanting their alma mater to stick to its Pac-12 roots. Former UCLA linebacker Ramogi Huma, who is now the executive director of the National College Players Association, wrote a letter to the regents earlier in the month asking them to block the move in the name of student-athlete mental and physical health.

According to a recent report from the New York Times, many parents and alumni were outspoken in their opposition to the school's decision.

On the other hand, the move looped UCLA into the Big Ten's $7 billion media deal and is projected to increase NIL opportunities for student-athletes. Between increasing their annual conference payout and the settlement they received from Under Armour in August, the athletic department is expected to soon wipe out its $103 million deficit, rather than potentially cutting Olympic sports programs to save cash.

"We're excited to join the Big Ten Conference in 2024 and are grateful for the Board of Regents' thoughtful engagement in this decision," UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond said in a statement. "We've always been guided by what is best for our 25 teams and more than 700 student-athletes, and the Big Ten offers exciting new competitive opportunities on a bigger national media platform for our student-athletes to compete and showcase their talent."

Wednesday's decisive meeting began at 10 a.m., but the portion that was centered around UCLA's Big Ten membership didn't commence until the afternoon. It was delayed from its scheduled 2:30 p.m. start time due to graduate students protesting the university in pursuit of increased pay and benefits for student researchers and teaching assistants.

When the time came for the board to discuss the Bruins' potential Big Ten membership, they went behind closed doors to sort through the legal implications of the decision to sign on with a new conference. The regents came out with their guidelines, which were tweaked and finally voted on after months of delay.

Regardless, UCLA and USC will both join the Big Ten ahead of the 2024-2025 academic year. The Bruins and Trojans each have one more college football season remaining in the conference that they have called home for virtually a century, and it remains to be seen where the Pac-12 turns with its media rights negotiations and potential expansion moving forward.

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