PASADENA, Calif. — The departure of USC and UCLA out of the Pac-12 and into the Big Ten has had a significant impact on the future of the conference of champions, with commissioner George Kliavkoff and his team still working to nail down a media rights deal to avoid losing any additional members.
When USC and UCLA were first reported to be out the door, there was chatter that the Bruins would have to make regular payments to Cal, their sister school in the UC system, to offset the lost revenue due to UCLA's departure. Those figures are reportedly upwards of $10 million per year, a significant chunk of change but one that is unlikely to cause UCLA to change their mind, now or in the future.
In fact, Locked on Pac-12 host Spencer McLaughlin doesn't believe there is much hope for UCLA to ever rejoin the conference, even if it has been brought up as a possibility by other media outlets.
"I just don't see this as a realistic option that fans should really be getting their hopes up about," McLaughlin said. "For a myriad of reasons."
For starters, even with an annual payment to Cal, the expected revenue for UCLA in the Big Ten far exceeds what they would make in the Pac-12, and until a media rights deal is secured there is little reason for optimism about anyone wanting to join this conference.
A future where the Pac-12 is brining in enough revenue for their member schools where a move back by UCLA is financially advantageous is hard to imagine at this point, although things change regularly in the college sports landscape.
The Pac-12's best bet right now is to continue to hammer out the best media rights deal they can, and then turn their attention to expansion with San Diego State, SMU, and others remaining a possibility on that front.