What if UCLA Football doesn’t move to the Big Ten after all?

UCLA football announced its move to the Big Ten with USC recently but the State of California is pondering legal action to stop it. 

Just like last offseason, college football received a major shock this summer as two big-name programs announced moves from one power conference to another.

Last year, it was Texas and Oklahoma bolting the Big 12 for the SEC, which was the first step in creating super conferences. The Big Ten, not wanting to be left behind, took steps to form its own super conference by poaching USC and its rival, UCLA from the Pac-12.

It was a move that shocked the college football world. USC is a huge name but UCLA football being added was essential. It kept the Bruins as USC’s top rival and also gives the Trojans at least one foe that’s close to home.

The reason why USC and UCLA were willing to make the move had to do with the potential TV deal the Big Ten could get, which would trump anything the Pac-12 has had or will have. In terms of TV deals, there is the Big Ten and the SEC and then everybody else.

UCLA football and USC were tired of being part of the also-rans, so they decided to jump ship. However, California Governor Gavin Newsom wasn’t too happy about the move and there could be some legal action by the California Board of Regents to stop it.

California is exploring its options

That regents will be meeting this week according to the report from Sports Illustrated and at any rate, the Governor, who chairs the board of regents didn’t sound happy about the move in some recent comments:

"“No big deal – governor, state of California – but maybe a bigger deal is I’m chair of the UC regents and I read about it,” Newsom said. “It was done in isolation, it was done without any regental oversight or support, it was done without any consideration, to my knowledge.”"

The board could explore legal action to stop UCLA from leaving the Pac-12 and Newsom told the San Jose Mercury News, “Trust me when I say this, we’re not going to be looking into it – we are already looking into it,” he said.

It’s obvious why UCLA and USC would want to make this move. It puts them in the upper-echelon of conferences and puts them in line for big paydays because of that in football and basketball.

But if the state of California can put a stop to it somehow, college football could be in line for another shock as the Big Ten would certainly try to make another move.

It’s also conceivable that there could be a push to add schools such as Cal and Stanford, and then maybe Washington and Oregon, although the Big Ten hasn’t shown any interest so far.

But with all of college football possibly facing an upheaval based on the Big Ten’s expansion, this board of regents meeting and any possible legal action that follows is definitely something to monitor going forward.