UC Regents are meeting today to make a determination on UCLA leaving for the B1G.
The consensus seems to be that they let them walk, but many folks think the Regents will impose some kind of financial penalty on UCLA to be paid to Cal. There is also the chance they do nothing.
Some figures:
The B1G deal numbers have been inflated - the average per year per school take home is $62.5M. UCLA released a report estimating increased travel costs in the neighborhood of $10M by switching conferences (this number almost certainly is a lowball). If you figure the take home, less increased travel expenses is somewhere in the neighborhood of $50-52M AND the Regents impose some kind of financial penalty on UCLA for leaving (say, $5-7M per year), now all of a sudden UCLA's take home is in the $45-47M a year range. Most estimates have a Pac12 that retains the LA market bringing in distributions north of $40M per year on new media rights. All of a sudden, UCLA is faced with a decision to leave the Pac12 for relatively small increased revenues (at least in the near term - 8-10 years) and deal with significant political blowback from fans, stakeholders all while separating the UC schools athletically. Not to mention aligning UCLA with midwestern schools rather than their traditional counterparts on the west coast.
Meeting could get interesting. It's being live streamed if people want to watch it.
The consensus seems to be that they let them walk, but many folks think the Regents will impose some kind of financial penalty on UCLA to be paid to Cal. There is also the chance they do nothing.
Some figures:
The B1G deal numbers have been inflated - the average per year per school take home is $62.5M. UCLA released a report estimating increased travel costs in the neighborhood of $10M by switching conferences (this number almost certainly is a lowball). If you figure the take home, less increased travel expenses is somewhere in the neighborhood of $50-52M AND the Regents impose some kind of financial penalty on UCLA for leaving (say, $5-7M per year), now all of a sudden UCLA's take home is in the $45-47M a year range. Most estimates have a Pac12 that retains the LA market bringing in distributions north of $40M per year on new media rights. All of a sudden, UCLA is faced with a decision to leave the Pac12 for relatively small increased revenues (at least in the near term - 8-10 years) and deal with significant political blowback from fans, stakeholders all while separating the UC schools athletically. Not to mention aligning UCLA with midwestern schools rather than their traditional counterparts on the west coast.
Meeting could get interesting. It's being live streamed if people want to watch it.
