University of California Los Angeles and the University of Southern California will join the Big Ten conference in 2024!

The landscape of collegiate sports has changed drastically during the last two years. The University of California Los Angeles and the University of Southern California will join the Big Ten conference in 2024, marking one of the organization’s greatest changes.

Martin Jarmond, the athletic director of UCLA, said to CBS News that “this is about the future and where collegiate sports is heading.” And if you want to succeed in this climate, you have to work from a position of strength, and that’s what we’re going to do.

After the announcement, he and the university saw a range of responses from Bruins supporters and sports purists. To continue to be a top national contender, the change, which will terminate the school’s 96-year stint in the Pac-12 league, was required, according to Jarmond.

When West Coast teams play late games, for instance, they aren’t as well-received as they ought to on the East Coast and Midwest, he added. Being a member of a conference that extends from the Pacific to the Atlantic will provide you that national stage. It’s like our talent deserts.

According to ESPN, the Big Ten also obtained a historic television contract with Fox, CBS, and NBC that experts estimate may be worth up to $8 billion over the next seven years. As a result, any school that belongs to the Big Ten will get a larger share of the conference’s future distributions, which are expected to total up to $100 million annually for each of the conference’s 16 members.

According to Jarmond, more money equals greater influence when it comes to luring the next generation of the best athletes in the country. Particularly in the brand-new NIL (name, image, and likeness) market that has flourished since the U.S. Supreme Court declared that collegiate athletes should be allowed to manage and profit from their own brands last year. The landmark decision made it possible for sports departments to link its athletes with household names like Nike, Puma, Door Dash, United Airlines, and others. In an effort to get the largest media agreements and increase funding, it has also sparked a competition among program and athletic administrators.

In his third year as UCLA’s athletic director, Jarmond remarked, “To win, to compete at a high level, it demands resources, period.”

The 42-year-old is unconcerned about the Bruins playing on an unfamiliar field. And his assurance to supporters worried about the end of lengthy rivalries was that the club will soon have new ones.

And the truth is, you’ll support a move of this sort if you believe in college athletics, if you believe in our sports, and if you want us to compete, prosper, and win at a high level, he added.