ESPN reveals further explanation on UCLA's decision to leave Cal, PAC-12

Every school remaining in the PAC-12 is going through internal turmoil. Perhaps none more so than the California Golden Bears, who were left behind by UCLA.

Even though Cal and Stanford are traditional rivals, while USC and UCLA are matched together due to geography, UCLA and Cal are connected too. They’re both public schools in California. They are also both ranked among the best public schools in the country. The Bruins leaving for the Big Ten blindsided them, and now they’re dealing with the fallout from this. After all, no one was more surprised by UCLA leaving the PAC-12 than Cal.

“We wanted to operate in a position of strength, and that was the Big Ten,” UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond told ESPN.

UCLA and USC realized that they were a package deal. They’re the traditional rivals who share Los Angeles. Even though one is a private and the other is a public school. Given the nature of realignment, things had to be done in secret. So, only the two schools that needed one another knew what was happening. Cal didn’t need to know.

“The urgency was there for both of them,” a Pac-12 source said. “It would have been much more difficult if one tried to move by themselves.”

“The mystery to me is how the regents allowed UCLA to go and leave Cal…wounded,” one source said. “This is not good for Cal or anybody else in the Pac-10.”

How UCLA left Cal and the PAC-12

UCLA and Cal even share a Big Ten connection. University of California president Dr. Michael Drake served as president at Ohio State. Jarmond, for his part, was working in the Ohio State athletic department during this time.

“UCLA leadership informed President Drake that discussions between UCLA and the Big Ten were occurring but he was not involved at all in those discussions or in any negotiations,” a spokesperson for the University of California Office of the President told ESPN.

While the University of California regents didn’t need to formally approve the separation, UCLA likely needed some support to make this move. After all, while it helps UCLA, this move will likely hurt Cal, its sister school.

This move to join the Big Ten was initiated by USC and UCLA, according to ESPN’s sources. It occurs at a time when the Big Ten has a significantly better media rights deal than the PAC-12, which now has to renegotiate without its major brands. For UCLA, this is incredibly important financially.

“I inherited a deficit with UCLA athletics,” Jarmond said. “So when you have a significant financial challenge, it’s difficult to just maintain, never mind to invest. This move not only preserves the programs we have now but also allows us to invest in them in levels that can lead to more competitive success.”