UCLA Seems Confident the Money Will Be There

Despite the chipping away by courts of the distinction between student-athletes and professional athletes in terms of pay for the former that we have reported on, UCLA seems confident that its move to the Big Ten will pay off. (And that there will be a pay off even with the Regents' requirement that there be revenue sharing with UC-Berkeley.) From the LA Times:

Showing they believe Chip Kelly is the right coach to lead UCLA into the Big Ten era, school officials on Friday gave Kelly a two-year contract extension and accompanying small raise that runs through the 2027 season. According to the contract reviewed by The Times, Kelly will make $6.1 million during the 2023 and 2024 seasons — a $300,000 raise over the previous amounts that included $1-million retention bonuses — before getting a bump to $6.2 million per season in 2025, 2026 and 2027. His contract was restructured to add money to his annual salary while removing retention bonuses.

The new contract rewards Kelly for compiling a 17-8 record over the last two seasons while retaining a reasonable buyout should the Bruins struggle in making the transition to the Big Ten in August 2024...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2023-03-03/ucla-coach-chip-kelly-gets-two-year-contract-extension.

We noted yesterday that the Regents plan to review athletic programs more generally on an ongoing basis. (See item G3 in yesterday's post on the Regents' agenda.)