Tommy Lloyd hopes UA-UCLA rivalry can continue; Pac-12 will try to compel Bruins to stay

SAN FRANCISCO — If Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd has his way, the Wildcats will continue to play UCLA even after the Bruins move to the Big Ten in 2024.

“Hopefully, we can figure something out,” he said.

But if Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff has his way, and the Bruins and Wildcats won’t have to figure it out. Because they’ll still be playing mandatory conference games against each other, if the University of California Regents somehow reverses UCLA’s decision after Kliavkoff urged them to do so for financial and other reasons.

USC and UCLA announced on June 30 that they will move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten for the 2024-25 academic year. The move drew media projections that each school could earn more than $70 million in annual distributions from the Big Ten instead of about $42 million in the Pac-12.

But, in a letter obtained by the New York Times last month, Kliavkoff pointed instead to Pac-12 projections that said UCLA could spend up to an extra $38.7 million annually as a member of the Big Ten.

“We believe that between the travel and coaches’ salaries and some of the other expenses that you incur when you join the Big Ten, that the small delta in the media rights field will be more than offset,” Kliavkoff said. “And we stand by those numbers.”

Speaking at the Pac-12’s annual men’s basketball media day Wednesday, Kliavkoff declined to specify the conference’s financial projections for UCLA. But in his letter, he said UCLA faces a 100% increase in its $8.1 million annual travel costs if it flies commercial — and much more if it flies charter for some or all sports, as has been expected.

If the Bruins travel by charter half of the time, the Pac-12 expected it would face a 160% increase and, if they charter everywhere, a 290% increase — or an extra $23.7 million. In addition, the Pac-12 projected that UCLA would spend an extra $15 million on coaching salaries, administrators and other expenses “just to compete at an ‘average’ Big Ten budget.”

Kliavkoff’s letter to the UC Regents also noted that Cal will be adversely affected, since Pac-12 media revenues will be reduced if both USC and UCLA left.

Since the Pac-12 is currently in the middle of media rights negotiations, Kliavkoff told the Regents that there is “urgency” in addressing UCLA’s decision.

“We are soliciting bids with and without UCLA,” Kliavkoff said. “If we are forced to sign a deal without UCLA, the financial harm will be locked in for years to come.”

In his letter, Kliavkoff also cited the negative effect on well-being of athletes both academically and mentally, the additional travel hardship for families and alumni, in addition to a “significant impact on the UC System’s stated goal of reducing carbon emissions.”

On Wednesday, Kliavkoff also said he also has received negative feedback from “dozens” of players, coaches and others around USC and UCLA.

“I have yet to talk to anyone in the UCLA and USC community who is in favor of the move,” Kliavkoff said. “I will say that I probably hear from folks who are not in favor, but that’s not surprising.”

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

But when asked Wednesday about Kliavkoff’s statement, both USC coach Andy Enfield and UCLA coach Mick Cronin largely sidestepped the issue.

“I’d rather talk about these guys (players) than all that stuff,” Cronin said. “Those ADs, presidents, commissioners, make those moves so they can talk about it. … I think every media day should be about the players.”

Enfield spoke first about how “outstanding” the Pac-12 has been during his 10 seasons in the league.

“We haven’t really thought about what the transition means,” he said. “The Big Ten is obviously another power conference. They have outstanding teams as well. And that’ll be something that we’ll think about more so in the next year and a half, two years. So right now we’re focused on our season ahead and the outstanding conference that we’re in.”

If history is any indication, the Trojans and Bruins may not be missed all that much.

“You know, since I’ve been in the league (2010-11), USC hasn’t won the conference title or the tournament,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “UCLA has maybe won one tournament (2012-13) and a league title (2014). Arizona has been up there. We’ve won four conference titles. So our basketball league is gonna survive. We’ve got good coaches, good programs. We’ll find our way.”

Having played in a mid-major conference as an assistant at powerhouse Gonzaga, Lloyd said “Arizona basketball is strong enough to stand up on its own.”

“Obviously, we want to do everything we can to compete for conference championships and national championships and that’s still my focus,” Lloyd said. “So I wish those guys the best of luck. I’ll be able to compete with them the next couple of years, and then beyond, I would love to continue to play those schools.”

When asked specifically whether he has had any talks with UCLA, which typically draws strong interest from UA fans, Lloyd said the situation was still new with “so many moving parts” at this point.

“I haven’t run that through the channels or even talked to UCLA about it,” he said. “But I’m sure in the near future, we’ll sit down and have those conversations and hopefully we can figure something out.”

Rim shots

Arizona wing Pelle Larsson and forward Azuolas Tubelis were named to 20-player watch lists for Naismith positional awards, Larsson for the Julius Erving Award given to the best small forward in college basketball and Tubelis to the Karl Malone Award (power forwards) watch list.

Four-star class of 2024 guard Dedan Thomas Jr. is scheduled to take an unofficial visit to Arizona this weekend. A 6-foot-1 guard from the Las Vegas area, Thomas is also considering Houston, UCLA, UNLV, Gonzaga, and Florida as well as the possibility of reclassifying to 2023.

Pac-12 deputy commissioner Jamie Zaninovich said the Pac-12 has benefited in exposure from adding two extra games into December to total 20 for the conference season. However, he said the league has not yet considered whether it might revert to a double round-robin schedule, or continue to move games into December, if it plays only an 18-game schedule without USC and UCLA in 2024-25. “We’re trying to avoid a lot of scenario planning right now until we have more certainty of what our membership will be in 2024,” Zaninovich said.