The University of California at Los Angeles had signed an agreement to join the Big Ten Conference beginning in 2024, and on Wednesday the school was given final approval to make the jump, signaling a seismic shift in the college sports landscape.
The Board of Regents voted to allow UCLA to leave the Pac-12, which it had been a member of since 1928, and join the Big Ten beginning with the 2024-25 academic year, joining the University of Southern California in making the move.
“We’re excited to join the Big Ten conference in 2024 and are grateful for the Board of Regents’ thoughtful engagement in this decision,” Athletic Director Martin Jarmond said in a statement. “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.”
The approval was contingent on the school pledging to take “mitigation measures” to help with travel and other well-being issues for athletes, according to the Board of Regents.
Nicole Auerbach of the Big Ten Network also reported that the school had also pledged to pay the University of California-Berkeley, the state’s flagship school, between $2-to-10 million for leaving the conference without them.
With USC and UCLA both joining the Big Ten, the number of schools in that conference will grow to 16. The move will help the conference to span from coast-to-coast, with Maryland and Rutgers having joined in 2014.
Sports
The 2024-25 season will also mark an important expansion of the College Football Playoff from four teams to 12.
The move is just one of several massive shifts that will take place in the coming years. Texas and Oklahoma, both fixtures of the Big 12 for decades, will move to the Southeastern Conference beginning in 2025, adding two more powerhouses to the 14-team league.
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In response, the Big 12 has announced that BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston will all join the conference beginning with the 2023-24 season.
The last Big Ten expansion occurred in 2014, when Rutgers and Maryland joined. Previous to that, Nebraska had expanded the conference to 12 schools in 2011, and Penn State had been the first team added to the conference in 40 years when they joined in 1990.
