The Governor Is Annoyed About the Big Ten Decision - Part 4 (Open Secrets)

Yesterday, we raised questions about the legality of the closed Regents meeting on UCLA's move to the Big Ten.* As we noted, the rationale officially offered for a closed session discussion cited an Education Code section on secrecy needed for "litigation." But, as far as anyone knows, there is no litigation pending or even rumored. 

We do know that the governor - who normally doesn't attend Regents meetings even though he is an ex officio Regent - did attend the closed session. He spoke about his opinion BEFORE the session - so there is no secrecy about that. And, as the LA Times pointed out below, there is no secrecy about  UC's response. Specifically, there will be a presumably public report by August 17 from UC president Drake about this matter. In short, the secret meeting is becoming an open secret:

The University of California announced Thursday it will scrutinize UCLA’s Pac-12 exit and issue a public report on the effect on student-athletes and the ripple effect on UC Berkeley and other campuses. The request for a review came from the UC Board of Regents and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who demanded an explanation from UCLA on its planned move in August 2024 after he attended a closed-door regents meeting Wednesday about the matter in San Francisco. He has expressed concern about what he views as a lack of transparency by UCLA, which informed UC President Michael V. Drake about its conversations with Big Ten officials but did not consult with regents. Only a handful of UC regents were notified just before the decision was announced. UC Berkeley — the only UC campus that will be left behind in a weakened conference without UCLA and USC — will probably take a big financial hit...

Drake’s office will conduct and publicly present its findings and recommendations to the regents on or before Aug. 17. The report will assess several major areas. First, regents have asked for information on the effect of the Pac-12 move on UCLA and other UC campuses’ culture, operations and finances.

UCLA stands to gain big, touting its move to the Big Ten as a huge boost for its male and female athletes. In addition to the ability to compete for national titles across all sports and draw high-profile media exposure, the change in conferences will help secure the financial future of an athletic department facing an unprecedented $102.8-million deficit.**

A new Big Ten media rights deal including USC and UCLA, which is expected to yield in excess of $1 billion, could more than double the yearly payout the Bruins would have received by remaining in the Pac-12. Also, the move spares UCLA from a doomsday scenario it potentially faced — the elimination of some Olympic sports teams — because of diminished resources. But regents also want to know how other UC campuses will fare. UC Berkeley is bracing to lose millions in media revenue under a new TV contract in two years, which will probably be far less lucrative without USC and UCLA and the huge Southern California market.

Regents also want to know the effects of the move on UCLA’s student-athletes, including how the campus plans to address issues related to travel, competition schedules and academic support. As part of the Big Ten, UCLA student-athletes will play in the nation’s only conference spanning coast to coast, boosting recruiting efforts and enhancing their ability to secure lucrative name, image and likeness deals. But the longer travel distances and time zone differences could affect their health and academic achievement. Finally, UC will examine the regents’ policy that allows each university to control its athletics operations, and offer recommendations on policy changes necessary to ensure “proper oversight of major athletics-related decisions.” ...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-21/uc-regents-ask-for-a-review-of-uclas-controversial-pac-12-exit.

It is doubtful there is any recording of the closed session, but if there is, it should be made public. There surely are minutes which should now immediately be made public. If not, there should be an explanation as to what litigation justified closing the meeting.

===

*http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-governor-is-annoyed-about-big-ten_22.html.

**It's unclear whether this sum is a debt or a deficit. Most likely, it is the former. As blog readers will know from our coverage of state budgeting, news reports often confuse the two concepts.