In a recent interview, UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond said the Bruins’ jump from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten ensured the survival of their Olympic sports in the face of mounting financial issues.
“If you love Olympic sports, you should be a fan of this move,” Jarmond told the LA Times on Tuesday. “When your program is in significant debt, it’s difficult just to maintain, never mind to invest. This not only preserves the programs now — which was not a given — but also will allow us to invest in them. This move allows us to reimagine what UCLA athletics can be with more strategic investment and resources.”
Over the past three fiscal years, UCLA’s athletic department racked up $102.8 million in debt, putting non-revenue sports in peril. The future didn’t seem bright with football attendance numbers dropping and the Pac-12 paying out less than other major conferences. Now, the Bruins will likely bring in $100 million annually when they join the Big Ten in 2024, if the expanded conference’s new media rights deal exceeds $1 billion as expected. It likely won’t be long before UCLA’s athletic department turns its deficit into a surplus.
Could the B1G money be enough for the Bruins to consider reinstating their men’s swimming and diving team? It might be a stretch, but they had a very successful program before it was shockingly axed in 1994. UCLA men’s swimming and diving won a national team title in 1982 and sent 16 alumni to the Olympics. The Bruins would certainly have a great recruiting pitch for local talent looking to stay close to home if they decide to join the nine other schools in the expanded Big Ten that sponsor men’s swimming. Plus a $14 million aquatics facility doesn’t hurt, either.
At the very least, the money infusion means that the Bruins should avoid the type of situation that Stanford managed to escape a couple years ago, when the school revealed it was cutting 11 sports due to budgetary constraints. Stanford ultimately went back on its decision amid a backlash of lawsuits and kept the sports that had been on the chopping block. More than 30 colleges across the country have cut sports in the last 2½ years, blaming fiscal problems that worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Four UCLA programs — beach volleyball, men’s volleyball, and men’s and women’s water polo — won’t be making the move to the Big Ten. However, they will still benefit from increased resources afforded by the switch, including more funding for facilities, travel,and coaches’ salaries. Jarmond also noted the Big Ten partnership could open more doors for name, image, and likeness (NIL) opportunities.
The future seems secure for UCLA’s Olympic sports, which have accounted for the majority of the school’s 119 national championships.
“I constantly think about, how do we get No. 120?” Jarmond said, referring to UCLA’s hunt for its next NCAA team title. “How do we not only get to the Final Four, but win it all? How do we help the programs win and win big in this changing environment? These days, you have to be constantly increasing your resources to help coaches and student-athletes reach those goals and to stay competitive as a department.
“We want to bring more excitement and energy to our teams,” he added. “We want more exciting games in the Rose Bowl, more fun in Pauley Pavilion. I think about, how do we help softball not only continue to get to the College World Series but to win it all again? Our student-athletes deserve an elite experience, and this move will play a significant role in our ability to provide that for them.”
Any Pac-12 school left behind after this next phase of conference realignment might not be as lucky as UCLA with its Olympic sports.
Where is this assumption that money is the issue with bringing back a mens program?
Have we forgot about Title IX in it’s literal 50th anniversary?
The realities of college athletics have changed rapidly in just the last few years where now athletes receiving compensation for their services and NIL deals and accompanying boosters collectives are blossoming overnight. It’s not greed driving this but survival of college athletic programs. The reality is that revenue sports – particularly football and men’s basketball – pay the bills and essentially provide funding for the “expense” sports – Olympics, minor non-Olympics (lacrosse) and women’s sports.
Follow the money, not the idealogy. UCLA cut men’s swimming and gymnastics roughly 25 years ago where the Bruins won NC’s in both those sport not for budget reasons but to comply with Title IX. Big boost for women’s sports and the Bruins have… Read more »
Big talk from a school that cut a very successful men’s program. Somewhere, universities lost sight of the fact that college athletics were supposed to be about developing another facet of an individual’s gifts, not generating more money for the school. I’m sure we’ll never the institutional greed back in the box, but there are schools out there that are doing it right.
This is “soccer mom” politics – trying to get the Olympic sports to support (and not complain about) their decision.
This has to be a record of unanimous + votes!
There have been some real gem quotes from Pac 12 athletic directors on these pages in recent months.
Who is next in line?
Things you trust more than the UCLA Athletic Department:
OJ Simpson at Thanksgiving
I don’t think joining the B1G will reinstate men’s swimming at UCLA. B1G money didn’t reinstate men’s and women’s swim at UMD or save it at Michigan State.
It also didn’t help women’s water polo at UMD either, which was cut at the same time as swimming and diving despite the success of the program :/