It has been almost two months since the Pac-12 announced their new TV deal with Fox and ESPN that made it the richest conference in the country. It was a windfall for the conference and each university in the conference, UCLA included. It meant that on average, UCLA would get $15.1 million more per season than they were getting under the previous deal and that is before the Pac-12 Network is taken into account.
Back when the deal was announced, I called upon Dan Guerrero and the Morgan Center to tell us exactly what they were going to spend all the extra money on. It's an incredible amount of money that the Morgan Center is going to be getting and frankly, they've given no indication that they can spend that money well.
The facilities at UCLA aren't top notch and the one facility that they supposedly were trying to make top notch, Pauley Pavilion, is a perfect example of how to ruin a renovation. We just lost a top women's basketball coach to LSU and the marketing remains terrible. All are things that the Morgan Center have been unable to take care of and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Now they have all of this money. They have the chance to fix things. There is a long list of things they can fix. There is also the opportunity to be groundbreaking and spend the money on something completely new that will pay great dividends for the teams, the athletic department and the university.
The TV deal doesn't go into effect until after this upcoming year so the money isn't there right now. The Morgan Center can't get going on making huge fixes yet, but they should have a plan in place to start revamping things for when they can move forward.
This Pac-12 TV deal is being sold by the conference as transformative and a revolution for the conference. Many experts in the business have said the same, but why isn't UCLA? Why aren't we hearing how great the deal is and all these things that the Morgan Center is going to do with the money to make the athletic department the envy of the country again?
Are we going to invest in the top head and assistant coaches that can be found? Are we going to upgrade the facilities. Will there be a department-wide program put in place to collaborate with the medical center for revolutionary sports medicine work? How about an overhaul of the video system? Something? Anything?
It's been almost two months and we've barely heard a thing on the Pac-12 TV deal from UCLA. It was announced by the university and that has been it. This is supposed to be transformative. Dan Guerrero, you're facing heat. There is very little faith in the Morgan Center so tell me Dan, what are we going to do with this money? We're still waiting.