Calimony coming? UC Regents recommends UCLA pays Cal $10 million a year through 2030

The California Golden Bears could net over $60 million from their UC brethren, a huge financial windfall that will greatly assist the athletic department.

After a long impasse, we have news on the Calimony front: The UC Regents is recommending the full annual payment of $10 million, at the behest of UC President Michael Drake. This payment will last through 2030, which is the extent of the existing Big Ten TV media deal.

The primary reason for Calimony becoming a thing was UCLA leaving the Big Ten, the igniting factor in breaking up the Pac-12, and leaving Cal in a very precarious financial situation to support high-level college athletics. Because UCLA is a member of the University of California system, they are both governed by the UC Regents, and UC Berkeley is the flagship program. UCLA going rogue definitely rankled many people in high places.

While this action did significantly financially help UCLA with over $60 million in revenue, this was offset by Cal scrambling for a disadvantageous ACC deal that averages out to $11 million a year. This angered numerous individuals, including Governor Gavin Newsom, and the concept of annual payments from UCLA to Cal to mitigate financial damage.

UCLA faced significant financial challenges when they made their decision to jump, and ended up chasing Big Ten money. Instead of playing their old Pac-12 foes, they will end up making numerous cross-country trips to go to Rutgers in October, and will now lose a significant portion of that revenue to Cal because they went rogue and caused financial damages to the flagship.

This could end up being a tough $60 million lesson in trusting USC. You should have known better UCLA!

Obviously, even if Calimony is processed, Cal Athletics is still very far away from financial stability. Their new home in the ACC will yield them significantly less annual revenue than a proposed Pac-12 TV deal would have gotten them a year from now. Many more moves are needed to ensure the long-term survival of the Golden Bears.

But this helps in the short-term until the Bears can find a more advantageous situation. Much love to UCLA for doing the right thing!

Here’s a snippet from the statement:

In December 2022, UCLA’s decision to join the Big Ten was endorsed by the Regents with conditions. One of the actions taken by the Regents at that time included a direction that the President return to the Regents at a future meeting, after Pac-12 media agreements are finalized, with a recommendation for a contribution by UCLA to the Berkeley campus in the range of $2 million to $10 million, to be used to enhance student-athlete support at that campus. Such a recommendation would be based on the best available information on projected revenues for both campuses.

While universities and colleges are still in tumultuous times with an unsettled landscape in college athletics, there is some clarity on projected media rights revenues in the near term. It is anticipated that there will be an approximately $50 million difference between UCLA’s Big Ten contract and UC Berkeley’s agreement with the ACC. As a result, the President is proposing that UCLA contribute $10 million a year to UC Berkeley, the top end of the range established by the Regents in December 2022.

Berkeley campus leadership is working with Cal Athletics to address its financial challenges, including a number of initiatives to increase revenues for the department. The Berkeley campus appreciates the commitment of the University of California to continue the tradition of excellence in Intercollegiate Athletics at Berkeley.