College football realignment: Pac-12 boss on chance UCLA backs out of Big Ten

College football realignment took another great leap forward when USC and UCLA announced they would join the Big Ten in 2024.

But some close to the scene are wondering if UCLA could find itself changing course, including Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff.

"I'd say UCLA is in a really difficult position," Kliavkoff said at Pac-12 Media Days.

"There are a lot of constituents related to UCLA who are very, very, very unhappy with the decision."

"Student-athletes, the families of student-athletes, the faculty, the staff, politicians, the fans, the alumni. There's a lot of really, really upset people with that decision and there's a hearing coming up about that decision."

That hearing will be with the University of California Board of Regents, of which UCLA is a member, and to which the school will have to defend its decision.

California governor Gavin Newsom runs that body and has already gone public saying he wasn't exactly thrilled by UCLA's decision to leave the conference.

Especially since the school didn't tell many people beforehand, at least not him.

But analysts say UCLA had no legal obligation to get the regents' permission to leave the Pac-12, or even have to tell them about the decision.

Could the machinery in the UC Regents system pull some strings that would make UCLA re-think their move to the Big Ten?

"I can't give you a percentage chance," Kliavkoff said. "I think it's unlikely, but if they came back, we would welcome them back."

In all likelihood, state officials are expressing concern about the UCLA move in order to give the public some impression that the political system still has some control over the situation.

But in reality, the state's politicians probably don't have much of a say in what the university can do in this regard. If they did, UCLA almost certainly wouldn't have acted as it has.

USC, being a private school, is allowed to make whatever moves it wants, but UCLA will have to at least answer some questions from the state of California before everything becomes official.

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