UCLA spent a lot of money to rent golf carts for college football recruiting visits. They barely went anywhere…
The cost per mile is the perfect representation of the spending problem in collegiate athletics.
Schools are dropping big bucks on things that most people would not consider necessary for day-to-day operation. That is especially true when it comes to the college football programs, which are rarely limited in what they can and cannot do.
UCLA athletics is in the red every year since 2019.
UCLA had the chance to change its financial outlook when it left the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in 2024. That has not happened. The Bruins’ athletic department continues to lose money each year. And a lot of it.
Chancellor Julio Frenk decided to fire athletic director Martin Jarmond at the beginning of September because of the ever-expanding money pit he created. The athletic department went more than $220 million over its budget over the last six years, which was then supplemented by the university.
“UCLA Athletics currently carries a significant financial deficit, and its current path is not sustainable,” Frenk wrote in a statement. “Now is the moment to build a model for Athletics that protects the breadth of our program, creates new opportunities for student-athletes and coaches, and supports itself through the revenue it generates. I believe UCLA should help lead the transformation of intercollegiate athletics: our future must be shaped by purpose — not by pressure.”
Part of the financial woes stem from a lack of college football ticket sales. The Bruins sold approximately $19 million in tickets during the 2024 and 2025 seasons combined. That was less than eight other Big Ten schools in 2025 alone.
A lack of monetary donations is another glaring issue. UCLA received only $27.2 million in financial gifts in 2024 and 2025 combined. That was less than the amount that 10 other Big Ten schools collected in 2025 alone.
Jarmond was fired in large part because of his budget failures. He was replaced by former Los Angeles Lakers executive Tim Harris. Scott Dochterman detailed the move and why it was necessary. His breakdown of the financial numbers is even more astonishing when you consider where that money went.
The Bruins spent a lot of money on golf carts for college football recruiting.
UCLA is operating at a loss when it comes to athletics. And yet, the football program continues to spend as if it is not.
Former BroBible editor David Covucci founded the FOIABall newsletter to “dig through public records to break college football secrets” so you don’t have to. You can get it straight to your inbox by subscribing here. His latest post serves as “a solution to a $95,000 problem.” It is titled ‘The Protect College Sports Act should ban golf cart rentals.’
Covucci found that UCLA rented golf carts on 20 different occasions from October 2025 to April 2026. 18 of those 20 rentals were specifically labeled as “recruiting visits.” 10 of those 18 recruiting visit rentals were on college football weekends in the fall.
The Bruins also included the mileage totals from the rentals in its response to Covucci. The total distance driven is way less than you would ever think. Each cart drove an average of 5.5 miles over five days in the fall. That is approximately 1.1 miles per day.
UCLA essentially rented the golf carts to drive their recruits a distance equivalent to one end of campus to the other. A full loop around the outside edge of the main campus is roughly 4.4 miles if you include the surrounding paths and residential hills, which is only one mile less than the total amount driven in the golf carts over five days.
And to rent these golf carts, which drove less than 1.5 miles on average, the Bruins spent a total of $95,000. All while at a deficit.