UC regents finally bless UCLA's move to the Big Ten with an added 'Berkeley Tax'

After months of haggling over UCLA’s end-around move to join the Big Ten Conference, the University of California regents are stepping aside and allowing the departure to proceed as planned.

The regents voted during a meeting Wednesday at UCLA to allow the Bruins to leave the Pacific-12 Conference and join the Big Ten provided they pay a hefty tax to UC sister school California-Berkeley and take measures to mitigate travel and improve nutrition and mental-health services for student-athletes.

By joining crosstown rival USC as part of an expanded Big Ten that will include 16 teams, the Bruins will help form the nation’s first coast-to-coast conference as well as a worthy foil to the supercharged Southeastern Conference.

The move slated for August 2024 is expected to secure the financial future of a UCLA athletic department swimming in nine figures of debt while also avoiding the possibility of cutting Olympic sports teams. In just its first year of Big Ten membership, the school is projected to pocket $65 million to $75 million in media rights revenue, roughly doubling what it would have made by remaining in the Pac-12.

UCLA’s bolting for greener pastures while leaving Cal behind as part of a diminished Pac-12 was among the reasons the move caused a massive uproar in political and academic circles. A few weeks after the decision was announced June 30, Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed outrage that UCLA would make such a monumental move without fully disclosing its plans to the regents except for UC President Michael V. Drake.

The regents voted 11-5 to allow the move. Conditions, outlined in an 11-point list, include up to $12.2 million for travel, academic support, nutritional improvements and mental health services. Adding charter flights and other investments for travel will cost between $4.66 million and $5.83 million, with the goal of reducing the travel burden on athletes to levels comparable to their experience in the Pac-12. The agreement also calls for $4.3 million for food, requiring breakfast and lunch on campus for all UCLA athletes, professional dietitian services and nutritious meals while traveling.

The board also approved an amendment that established what regents called the "Berkeley Tax" that will range from $2 million to $10 million subject to board approval. The tax on UCLA would serve as a subsidy for Cal, helping the Bears offset an expected reduction in revenue caused by the Bruins' departure. Cal is the only other UC university in the Pac-12.

The "Berkeley Tax" is expected to be an annual payment, a source not authorized to speak publicly told The Times.

"A lot of people felt it was important that we somehow made Berkeley, not whole, but we at least help them in that situation," said Richard Leib, Chair of the Board of Regents. "In the end, we’re a system, not an individual campus. So this was an unusual situation that happened; we’ve never had a situation where a decision by one campus had this kind of impact on another campus within our system."

The regents spent months assessing the proposed move, as well as their ability to thwart its execution if they chose to do so. During a meeting at UCLA in August, UC system attorney Charlie Robinson told the regents they retained the authority to block the Bruins' departure even though UCLA Chancellor Gene Block had operated within his delegated authority to execute a contract involving his school.

Other critics of the move weighed in, including Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff, UCLA basketball legend Bill Walton and Ramogi Huma, a former Bruins linebacker and executive director of the National College Players Assn. Among their concerns were increased travel demands on athletes, the abandonment of traditional rivalries and the lack of beneficiaries besides UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond and a handful of highly compensated coaches on campus.

“The UC Regents are now complicit in sacrificing UCLA athletes’ education to increase salaries for a few people and to gold plate a few more facilities," Huma said in a statement. "Allowing UC Berkeley to join the financial and academic exploitation of UCLA athletes does not make it any better. UCLA leaders and UC Regents have lost their way. UCLA athletes are not university property. They should be treated fairly in both the educational and business aspects of college sports. This move does neither.”

Since announcing the jump to the Big Ten, Block and Jarmond remained steadfast in supporting their belief that membership would bolster the athletic department by enhancing its brand and increasing its recruiting base, among other benefits.

The Big Ten has pledged to help offset some of UCLA’s increased travel costs by holding neutral-site jamborees involving Olympic sports from multiple conference schools, and the Bruins could lower airfare expenses by sharing flights with USC teams.

Block cited increased national exposure for UCLA athletes and stronger competition as additional reasons why Big Ten membership would benefit the Bruins. The Big Ten has placed eight teams into the College Football Playoff since its debut following the 2014 season as opposed to only two from the Pac-12 — none since the 2016 season. Additionally, the Big Ten put nine teams in this year's NCAA men’s basketball tournament compared to only three from the Pac-12.

Jarmond was ecstatic after the vote, saying, "We have some things to plan, it's 2024, that’s a little ways away, but we’re excited about it. This is great for UCLA and our student-athletes, specifically. This will really help us."

In a statement, Jarmond added, "We 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."

In a rare display of unity between archrivals, UCLA athletes prioritized remaining in the same conference with USC over Cal. According to a survey of 111 Bruins athletes conducted by UCLA and the UC Office of the President, 93% said it was important or very important to keep UCLA in the same conference as USC compared to only 24% who said keeping UCLA and Cal together met the same level of importance.

With the regents clearing the way for UCLA to join the Big Ten, the Bruins will have plenty of possible new rivals to choose from in the years to come.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.