College football realignment: Surprising reason why UCLA decided to join the Big Ten

UCLA needed the Big Ten pretty badly when looking at its financial situation.

USC and UCLA caused the latest seismic shift in college football realignment by announcing they will join the Big Ten conference in 2024.

Now we may know the primary reason why at least UCLA decided to make the move.

It turns out money was the motivating factor behind UCLA moving to the Big Ten. But it wasn't just another case of greed and profit, but one of real need.

UCLA was about to cut sports

UCLA was looking at the possibility of cutting almost half its sports programs, according to a new report from the Los Angeles Times.

UCLA was running out of money hand over fist — until the Big Ten came along.

"Given its perilous athletic department finances, UCLA faced the prospect of cutting sports had the school not greed to bolt for the Big Ten," the report said.

It continued, "The timing isn't certain and the number of teams that would have been affected isn't known, but the Bruins were headed toward an Olympic sports Armageddon without the infusion of cash that will accompany its departure from the Pac-12 Conference in 2024."

Now, with the move to the Big Ten, UCLA should be able to make enough money to keep their Olympic sports programs going into the future.

Big Ten money will help big time

The latest wave of college football media rights deals has left the sport basically a two-horse race between the Big Ten and the SEC.

And while the SEC still dominates on the field, winning 12 of the last 16 national championships, the Big Ten currently laps every other league in money made.

That's thanks to a landmark TV deal the Big Ten inked starting in 2017 that runs for six years and is worth $2.65 billion.

Compare that with the Pac-12 deal: worth $3 billion, but lasting 12 years.

Going forward, reports indicate that the Big Ten could make up to $1 billion per year on its next media deal, netting each member school around $62.5 million per year.

That's compared to the $33.6 million the Pac-12 handed out to each school in its most recent reporting.

And those estimates were calculated prior to the news that USC and UCLA would join the Big Ten. By adding two LA-based schools with long-established athletic programs, the conference could have the bargaining power to bid that price even higher.

(h/t Los Angeles Times)

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