Though UCLA joining the Big Ten will generate tons of revenue for the school, the big tradeoff is the amount of travel the school’s athletic teams will now have. Just look at the Bruins’ football schedule in 2024 as an example.
A Twitter post from College Sports Only circulated online Friday after the Big Ten football schedules were shared. They noted that including non-conference games, UCLA is set to travel 26,762 miles in the 2024 season. That’s insane.
https://twitter.com/collegesportso/status/1667121272310865920
UCLA is scheduled for six road games that year. They have non-conference road games at LSU and Hawaii, which certainly add up the mileage. But the team also is scheduled to play at Rutgers, Indiana, Michigan and Iowa for their conference games.
UCLA to Rutgers is about 2,800 miles one way alone. The Bruins will be traveling three time zones for many of their road games in the Big Ten like they’re a professional football team.
Being in the Big Ten will unlock all sorts of financial and potential recruiting benefits, but the length of travel will be a major issue to overcome for both them and USC.
