College football realignment: CA governor Gavin Newsom blasts UCLA move

UCLA helped kickstart the latest phase of college football realignment after announcing its decision to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in 2024.

The talks were so secret that no one around college football knew they were happening until the agreement was in place.

Neither, apparently, did the governor of California.

Gavin Newsom said he was blindsided by the news that UCLA would be leaving the Pac-12, as was the University of California system of which the school is a part.

"It was done without any regents' oversight or support. It was done without any consideration, to my knowledge," Newsom told Fox 11.

You can see and hear Gov. Newsom's comments here.

NEWS: @GavinNewsom is furious @UCLA didn't give CA any head's up that they're leaving @pac12.

"I read about it..."@CAgovernor is chair of the UC regents & says they were kept totally in the dark.

He's investigating why that happened.

Exclusive interview on @TheIssueIsShow pic.twitter.com/c8YNtvFps8
— Elex Michaelson (@Elex_Michaelson) July 15, 2022

That such a monumental change could happen with a major institution ranked as the No. 1 public university in the nation without the knowledge of even the highest government officials in the state, is quite something.

But apparently, it's allowed. Reports indicate that UCLA was under no legal obligation to inform the University of California Regents about the move to the Big Ten.

And although Gov. Newsom said the regents had no knowledge of the move, it's believed that UCLA wouldn't have taken on such a major change without at least getting some informal support from those in the system.

One person in the system who clearly didn't give any support was the governor.

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