UC Regents Approved UCLA’s Move To Big Ten, What’s Next For The Pac-12 (10)?
Dec 16, 2022, 10:00 AM
Pac-12 LA schools USC, UCLA are reportedly going to the Big Ten Conference. Naturally, the college football world was stunned. (Photo by Sean M. Hafey/Getty Images)
(Photo by Sean M. Hafey/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY- The Pac-12 (10) will look vastly different after the 2023 season. USC and UCLA will be moving on to the Big Ten in 2024, though the UC Regents held things up a tad for the Bruins before finally approving the move on December 14 in an 11-5 decision.
In what many felt like was a bombshell move over the summer that took the entire college football world by storm, both SoCal schools will be moving on from a conference they have called home for the better part of a century.
USC as a private institution never had to answer to anyone when deciding to jump to the Big Ten, but UCLA is part of the California Higher Education System and there had been some debate for months if the UC Regents Board wouldn’t block the move in an attempt to protect Cal among other local universities. Rumors have been prominent since late June that many on the board were upset with the Bruins and their handling of the situation and might move to make them stay in the Conference of Champions. Ultimately, the board approved the move, though it appears to come with some hefty stipulations.
UCLA gets UC Regents blessing to go to Big Ten… a “Berkeley tax” is on the table and looms.
(Also some student-athlete health and wellness provisions.)
Regents will revisit the subsidy after Pac-12 Media Rights deal is done.
— John Canzano (@johncanzanobft) December 15, 2022
UCLA Is Moving On, So What Now?
It’s unclear exactly how the Pac-12 (10) will decide to move forward. There are several interesting scenarios that could play out, but we most likely won’t have solid answers till after the Holidays.
The Pac could decide to stay with the 10 remaining members and move forward with their media rights negotiations that have rumblings of including streaming services such as Amazon along with traditional networks like ESPN in an effort to get the most bang for their buck.
It's Day 1 ALA for the #Pac12 (After L.A., officially). What's next? More of the same, with the stage clearedhttps://t.co/olGWWs7pdc
— Jon Wilner (@wilnerhotline) December 15, 2022
The Pac could also decide to add new members in an attempt to replace what they will be losing with USC and UCLA moving to the Big Ten. Two schools that seem to be mentioned a lot as of late when it comes to Pac-12 (10) expansion is San Diego State and SMU, but there is uncertainty as to how serious if at all these moves would be.
At this moment it seems hard to tell exactly how much urgency the Pac may be feeling in regard to expansion. In theory it would appear the arms race in college football that felt very imminent after the Trojans and Bruins declared their move to the Big Ten has cooled after College Football Playoff expansion was approved for 2024.
With the Playoffs moving to a 12-team model, there doesn’t seem to be as much need to move to two “Super Conferences” as it did a few months prior. However, as we’ve all witnessed over the past six or seven months with college football, it doesn’t take much to get the ball moving toward big, wholesale changes. The biggest moves always seem to come at the most unexpected times.
For now, at least, there appears to be some peace in college football to where we can all just sit back and see exactly how the Pac-12 (10) and commissioner George Kliavkoff choose to move in the coming year.
Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and The Saturday Show (Saturday from 10 a.m.–12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @BodkinKSLsports
