In a letter provided to the University of California Board of Regents ahead of a closed session Thursday to discuss University of California at Los Angeles‘s to the Big Ten conference, Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff detailed “significant concerns” he had with the move, including the mental health of student athletes, increased travel and operating costs, and the negative impacts on both Cal and UC revenue. system climate goals.
Klivakoff’s letter was provided in response to a request from the regents about the conference’s perspective on the UCLA move, according to a source.
“Despite all the after-the-fact explanations, UCLA’s decision to join the Big Ten was clearly financially motivated after UCLA’s athletic department managed to rack up more than $100 million in debt over the last three fiscal years,” Kliavkoff wrote.
From there, he argued that the increased revenue UCLA will receive would be fully offset by increased costs from increased travel, the need for competitive salaries within the Big Ten, and game guarantee expenses.
“UCLA currently spends approximately $8.1 million per year on travel for its teams to compete in the Pac-12 conference,” Kliavkoff said. “UCLA will incur a 100% increase in its team’s travel costs if it flies commercial in the Big Ten (increase of 8.1 million per year), a 160% increase if it charters half the time ($13, 1 million per year) and a 290% percentage increase if you charter all flights ($23 million per year increase).”
Kliavkoff did not cite how those figures were calculated or indicate whether there was a genuine belief that UCLA would consider charter travel for teams other than football and basketball.
According to a source familiar with UCLA’s internal estimates of rising travel costs, the school is working with the expectation that it will spend approximately $6-10 million more per year on travel in the Big Ten compared to the Pac- 12.
A move to the Big Ten, Kliavkoff speculated, would also lead UCLA to spend more on salaries to align with conference norms. He calculated that UCLA would need to increase its athletic department salaries by about $15 million for UCLA to catch up with the Big Ten average.
“Any financial gain UCLA makes by joining the Big Ten will end up going to airlines and charter companies, administrator and coach salaries, and other recipients rather than providing additional resources for student-athletes,” Kliavkoff said. .
A UCLA spokesman declined to comment.
in a interview with the new york timesUC President Michael V. Drake, who was previously Ohio State President, said, “There are no decisions. I think everyone is gathering information. It’s an evolving situation.”
Beyond the financial impact to UCLA, which is widely seen as the main driving factor in UCLA’s move to the Big Ten, Kliavkoff said it will also hurt Cal, which, like UCLA, is also overseen by the UC system. With media rights negotiations underway, Kliavkoff said it was difficult to reveal the exact impact without revealing sensitive information, but confirmed the conference is soliciting bids with and without UCLA in the fold.
Beyond the financial component of the additional travel, Kliavkoff said “media research published by the National Institutes of Health, studies conducted by the NCAA, and conversations with our own student-athlete leaders” will have a negative impact on health. mental health of student-athletes and take distance from their academic pursuits. He added that it would also be a burden on family and alumni to face cross-country trips to watch UCLA teams play.
Finally, Kliavkoff said the additional trips run counter to the UC system’s climate goals and run counter to UCLA’s commitment to “climate neutrality” by 2025.
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