University of California Board of Regents will discuss UCLA's move to Big Ten, potential litigation

UCLA’s pending move to the Big Ten is about to be a topic of discussion at a University of California Board of Regents meeting. The board is preparing to meet about the decision — and some potential legal issues.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News reported the board is planning to meet next week and discuss possible litigation. The board will meet in a closed session to discuss it, according to the agenda posted on the Board of Regents’ website.

“Can the regents prevent UCLA from departing the Pac-12, along with USC, in the summer of 2024?” Wilner wrote. “Or are the regents themselves facing litigation for allowing the Bruins to leave the conference that has been their home for more than a century?”

UCLA and USC shook the college athletics landscape late last month when they suddenly decided to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten starting in 2024. The Big Ten announced the move, which is sure to increase the value of the league’s next media deal.

After Wilner initially broke the news of UCLA and USC’s decisions to leave for the Big Ten, he joined The Paul Finebaum Show and mentioned the university system’s role in the move — and whether or not it could impact things.

“This whole thing [got] done very, very quietly. Incredibly quietly,” Wilner said. “[Commissioner George Kliavkoff has] got to figure out when are those schools leaving and is there any chance they would reconsider, could politics intervene? That’s one thing that I think we don’t know 100% is the politics because Cal and UCLA share a university system and is [California Gov.] Gavin Newsome or Sacramento politicians going to somehow get involved and block UCLA’s move? I don’t know if they can, but that’s something that probably people are wondering about.

“That’s what [Kliavkoff] has got to do and then he’s got to start thinking about what his options are. My guess is he’s got to get on the phone with Fox and ESPN and CBS and anybody else because … a lot of this stuff starts with the TV networks.”