UCLA will help subsidize the athletic program of an in-state rival.

The UC Board of Regents voted Tuesday that UCLA will pay Cal athletics $10 million each of the next three years. Payments for six years were originally proposed. Tuesday, the regents voted to revisit the issue after three years.

UCLA’s move to the Big Ten ahead of the 2024-25 athletic season for a more lucrative media rights deal is the reason for the subsidizing payments, nicknamed “Calimony” by media outlets. USC is also moving to the Big Ten for 2024-25 and beyond, but is not subject to the UC Board of Regents as a private school.

UCLA hurt in B1G by UC Regents vote

UCLA left the Pac-12 for the Big Ten for the revenue opportunity with the B1G’s new mega deal. As a member of the Big Ten, UCLA is expected to collect approximately $60 million per year in media rights revenue.

After the departure of USC and UCLA, the remaining members of the Pac-12 were unable to agree to a new media rights deal, and 8 of the 10 remaining members left for the Big Ten (Oregon, Washington), Big 12 (Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Colorado) and ACC (Cal, Stanford).

Cal will collect reduced ACC media rights revenues for its first seven years of membership. The school in Berkley is expected to bring in roughly $11 million per year during that time.

Even after the UC Regents decided to institute the “Robin Hood” policy, UCLA comes out way ahead of Cal in terms of revenue for the athletic department. The problem, though, is that the $10 million payments put UCLA behind many of its new B1G peers.

Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times points out that the $10 million payments are also a hit to an athletic department dealing with $167.7 million in debt that has accumulated since the 2019 fiscal year. On the plus side, UCLA will be receiving a larger share of College Football Playoff revenue as a B1G member.