UCLA, USC 'chase the money' with Big Ten move

Yahoo Finance's Josh Schafer joins the Live show to discuss UCLA and USC moving to the Big Ten.

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AKIKO FUJITA: A big shake-up in college football. The Big Ten is getting bigger. USC and UCLA are leaving the Pac-12 to join the-- is it even the Midwest conference?

BRIAN CHEUNG: Not anymore.

AKIKO FUJITA: I mean, it's happening in 2024. Josh Shafer is here to console me. I've got my USC hat.

JOSH SHAFER: Yes, of course.

AKIKO FUJITA: We had a family conversation yesterday about what this means for USC's traditions. It's a big deal.

JOSH SHAFER: Yeah. And really, what it means-- and we've known this for a little while-- is we care about traditions as college sports fans. The institutions don't really care about their traditions anymore. And they're going to go where the money flows, right?

And we can pull up a graph that we have here that shows projections for what these conferences are going to pay out. So the top two conferences there are the Big Ten and the SEC. Those are right around $100 million. It's basically double what the Pac-12, the ACC, the Big 12 are going to be paying out down the line.

It's an easy decision for USC and UCLA. They're going to chase the money. I really hope it works out for your Trojans, Akiko.

AKIKO FUJITA: But I'm not worried about it working out for USC. Let's put it that way. When USC is good, they'll be good. But just the reality is, these Power Five conferences-- used to be Power Five conference, it just doesn't exist. Where is this all headed?

JOSH SHAFER: I think it's probably headed to two big conferences. We're talking about the SEC. And we're talking about the Big Ten. And really, we're only talking about the teams that we want to talk about from those other conferences. Those are the only other teams that become relevant. And that's a big discussion we can get into about where those other schools might go. But it's streaming.

The Big Ten has media rights coming up that are valued at over a billion dollars. And that was before they added USC and UCLA. Someone's going to pay a pretty penny.

And you can see right there. Those are the companies that are reported to be involved. That big company that we talk about a lot here, Apple, reportedly made a call last night to the Big Ten, saying, hey, we haven't talked in a while. I'm interested in that.

BRIAN CHEUNG: You up?

JOSH SHAFER: Yeah. And I think it's a great way for Apple to get into sports if you get a big brand like that. They need to sort of step into it at some point. They want to. That's an entry point.

BRIAN CHEUNG: I want to ask about the NIL element. And by the way, I'm holding this--

AKIKO FUJITA: Solidarity.

BRIAN CHEUNG: Well, she threatened me--

AKIKO FUJITA: Can we show the Rose Bowl?

BRIAN CHEUNG: Yeah, there's the Rose Bowl there. Yeah, we get it. You went to USC.

The NIL implications though. Is this good or bad for players that are looking at USC or UCLA, knowing that-- I mean, yes, there's more revenue coming in from the Big Ten. But I mean, I imagine that's part of the story as well.

JOSH SHAFER: I think it's probably good. And it's good for Big Ten players because now you have access to LA, California, Hollywood, which was the pitch for when Lincoln Riley, the USC head coach, just went over there. He brought over Caleb Williams, the quarterback from Oklahoma. And he had this picture of, we're going to Hollywood. It's a big market.

And guys, today is the one year-- oh, we got Brian with the hat on now.

BRIAN CHEUNG: Honorary Trojan.

AKIKO FUJITA: I love it.

JOSH SHAFER: I think, yeah, maybe Nike NIL deal coming soon.

BRIAN CHEUNG: Hey, are you ready for those Rutgers games though? You can go to Piscataway. You can go see your team.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, I don't know if Piscataway's the first place I'm going to be going. I'll probably go to The Big House before.

BRIAN CHEUNG: The Big House? Wow.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah.

BRIAN CHEUNG: I mean, she's already strapped in for Big Ten football.

JOSH SHAFER: She loves Big 10 football.

BRIAN CHEUNG: You're all aboard. Put your hat on.

JOSH SHAFER: She doesn't want to go to Stamford for a game.

AKIKO FUJITA: Every weekend is going to be like the Rose Bowl. That's my new one--

BRIAN CHEUNG: What do they say? Fight on.

AKIKO FUJITA: Fight on.

BRIAN CHEUNG: Fight on. Rah, rah, rah.