Bill Walton is not in favor of the UCLA Bruins transferring conferences from Pac-12 to the Big Ten. He made that extremely clear in a written statement, as shared by John Canzano.

I don’t believe that joining the Big 10 is in the best interest of UCLA, its students, its athletes, its alumni, its fans, the rest of the UC system, the State of California, or the world at large,” Walton said. The UCLA basketball legend also enumerated the reasons why he doesn't want UCLA to go from Pac-12 to Big Ten, particularly mentioning the toll the increased travel would have on the school's student-athletes, “physically, mentally, and in their overall lives.”

Walton also warned of the financial strain UCLA would have to endure in the event that the school successfully becomes part of the Big Ten, saying “the increased costs of joining the Big 10 will negate the projected increased revenue assumptions of this proposed move.”

Apart from UCLA, the USC Trojans are also departing the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, which is expected to happen in 2024. The decisions of UCLA and USC to switch conference allegiances is a ground-shaking, to say the least, as these are two nationally, if not globally, academic brands leaving one of the major conferences and moving to another.

Walton has gone to lengths to try to convince people in positions to stop the looming departure of UCLA from the Pac-12.

“I have made my feelings known, privately, to the powers that be in the State of California, including the UC’s Board of Regents.”

Walton played for UCLA from 1971 to 1974 during which he eked out one of the greatest careers in the history of college sports.