On Wednesday, the University of California system’s Board of Regents held an hours-long meeting to address an impact report on and the options available to them in the wake of UCLA’s expected move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten. The report (which can be read in its entirety here) was presented by UC President Michael Drake at the request of California Gov. Gavin Newsom — who was notably absent at the meeting after publicly demanding accountability from UCLA — and other regents.

During that meeting, system leadership proposed new rules that could potentially take decision-making authority out of the hands of UCLA leadership. According to The L.A. Times’ Ben Bolch, two UC regents and the general counsel of the UC system suggested after the meeting they might have a way to block the Bruins’ move.

From Bolch’s report:

“It’s important to understand that when the regents delegated authority to the president, they didn’t give it away or lose it,” UC system attorney Charlie Robinson said during a regents’ meeting at UCLA’s Luskin Center. “Essentially, what they did was extend it such that authority was with the regents and the president.”

After the end of a closed session spanning more than an hour, regent John Perez told The Times that the regents retained the power to block UCLA’s move.

…

“One mechanism would be for the [regent] board chair to say, ‘I’m directing you, in this instance, to stand down,’ ” Robinson said, “and the board will be exercising authority in this area.”

Perez told The Times that all options were on the table for the regents, including those that could prevent UCLA from following USC to the Big Ten in 2024.

The prevailing belief was that UCLA chancellor Gene Block had the authority to authorize the Bruins’ jump from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten based on a 1991 UC system policy where campus chancellors in the system were delegated the authority by the UC Office of the President to execute individual contracts, including intercollegiate athletic agreements. The board’s chair, Richard Leib, concluded Wednesday’s meeting by saying they “always have the ability to retain authority,” per Bolch.

With the Big Ten’s media rights deal made official on Thursday, UCLA stands to earn an average of $70 million a year in media rights payouts from its new conference when (if?) it joins the league in 2024. That number does not include other conference revenue distributions like bowl payouts or NCAA basketball tournament revenue.

A settlement reached last month with Under Armour over the nixed apparel deal between the two should help the UCLA athletic department’s bottom line even more.

But UC system leadership is concerned about the impact UCLA’s departure would have on Cal Berkeley. The report presented on Wednesday specified that Cal Berkeley would be the only other UC system school that would experience a significant impact from the move.