Culver City Observer -

The long-awaited official seal of approval finally arrived on Wednesday, with the UC Board of Regents approval of the move of UCLA athletics to the Big Ten Conference in the fall of 2024. The UCLA Bruins athletic teams will spend the 2023-2024 season in the Pac-12 and that will be their last season in the Pac-12. The vote was 11-5 to allow the Bruins to move to the Big Ten.

UCLA Athletic Director Martin Jarmond released a statement after the Board’s decision: “We’re excited to join the Big Ten Conference in 2024 and are grateful for the Board of Regents’ thoughtful engagement in this decision. 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.”

USC and UCLA will be departing for the Big Ten together. USC is private and does not have to answer to the UC Board of Regents. The Pac-12 can now move forward with their current ten schools and any additional schools once the Pac-12 media deal is done. But that may not be the end of UCLA’s troubles with this move to the Big Ten.

The UC Board of Regents may require that UCLA make a direct payment of $2 million to $10 million to Cal every year, their UC sister institution. That is from the UC Board of Regents Executive summary. It is being called the “Berkeley Tax.” The amount will be based on the dollar amount in the Pac-12 media deal, which is currently being negotiated by the conference leadership.

With UCLA and USC leaving the conference, the new Pac-12 media deal will be negatively affected, which will cost Cal millions of dollars annually. Board of Regents Chairman Richard Lieb mentioned that Cal was hit hard by the departure of UCLA and USC. There are other additional requirements that the Board expects from UCLA, which will entail additional revenue.

The Pac-12 will be down to ten teams, but that will not last long. San Diego State has everything the Pac-12 needs, including geography, as they are the only FBS football program in Southern California available to the Pac-12. They bring a good football and basketball program, and good athletic facilities.

UCLA’s football team will travel down to San Diego next fall to take on the San Diego State Aztecs in the Aztecs brand-new football stadium. This could be the start of a Southern California rivalry between a team from the Big Ten and team from the Pac-12. Only in Southern California.