The Southern CaliforniaCrosstown Cup is a year-long all-sports college competition between theUCLA Bruins and theUSC Trojans.[1] While UCLA and USC have had a sports rivalry since the 1920s, the official yearly head-to-head all-sports competition began with the 2001–2002 season as theLexus Gauntlet. After the 2008–2009 season, Lexus' sponsorship ended. For the next five seasons USC and UCLA continued to keep track of the scores and yearly winners.[2][3][4][5][6] Without an official sponsor, the competition was referred to as theCrosstown Gauntlet from fall 2009 to spring 2014.[2][7] Starting with the 2014–2015 season, the series was sponsored for two years by The Southern California BMW Centers and renamed the SoCal BMW Crosstown Cup.[8][9] Since the 2016–2017 season there has again been no official sponsor and the competition has been referred to as theCrosstown Cup.
During the original Lexus sponsorship, a Northern California version of the Gauntlet was held betweenStanford University andUniversity of California, Berkeley for three seasons.
Points are awarded for each of the 19 NCAA-sanctioned sports in which the two schools compete against each other. Each of these 19 varsity sports is worth 10 points. All regular season and postseason head-to-head competition in a single sport counts as a series, and all of the points for that sport are awarded to the winner of the series. Points are split in the event of a series tie. For sports without head-to-head competition, such as both men's and women's golf, all of the points for that sport are awarded based on which school finishes higher in the conference tournament. In sports with both head-to-head and multi-competitor events, such as swimming and track & field, only the head-to-head results are counted. For example, as there is only one match played, a football victory is worth 10 points, while all head-to-head Men's water polo victories count as a series worth 10 total points. Currently, with 19 active sports in which UCLA and USC compete against each other, there are 190 points available in a season, with 100 needed to clinch an overall win.[8][9] In the event of a tie after all points have been settled, there are three tiebreakers. The first tiebreaker is regular season head-to-head wins. If a tie remains, next is postseason head-to-head wins. Finally, the third tiebreaker is whichever school won the most conference championships in head-to-head sports.
Under the original Lexus sponsorship and the unsponsored period from 2009 to 2014, the scoring structure was slightly different. Instead of each sport being worth 10 points, only football, men's basketball, women's basketball, and women's volleyball were worth 10 points. All other sports were worth 5 points. As a result, there were originally 110 points available with 57.5 points needed to win. After the two schools began competing in women's beach volleyball for the 2012–2013, this changed to 115 points available and 60 needed to win.[10]
The Southern version matched Los Angeles rivals theUniversity of Southern California and theUniversity of California, Los Angeles. It began with the 2001 Fall season.
| Year | Winner | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lexus Gauntlet | |||
| 2001–02 | USC | 55–55 | USC won with the first tiebreaker: regular season head-to-head wins (16–15) |
| 2002–03 | UCLA | 55–55 | UCLA won with the second tiebreaker: postseason head-to-head wins (4–0) |
| 2003–04 | USC | 57.5–52.5 | |
| 2004–05 | UCLA | 67.5–42.5 | UCLA clinched the Gauntlet prior to the conclusion of the athletic season, and the resulting trophy inscription showed the score 70–40. Afterwards, USC won back 2.5 points with a victory over UCLA in theNCAA Women's Tennis Championship |
| 2005–06 | USC | 60–50 | |
| 2006–07 | UCLA | 72.5–37.5 | |
| 2007–08 | USC | 67.5–42.5 | |
| 2008–09 | USC | 65–45 | [11] |
| Crosstown Gauntlet | |||
| 2009–10 | USC | 65–45 | |
| 2010–11 | USC | 72.5–37.5 | |
| 2011–12 | USC | 62.5–47.5 | |
| 2012–13 | UCLA | 65–50 | |
| 2013–14 | USC | 60–55 | [12] |
| SoCal BMW Crosstown Cup | |||
| 2014–15 | UCLA | 95–85 | First year under new scoring system; each sport is now worth 10 points. Teams did not meet in Women's Beach Volleyball, meaning the total points possible were 10 less than in subsequent years.[13] |
| 2015–16 | USC | 120–70 | |
| Crosstown Cup | |||
| 2016–17 | UCLA | 105–85 | Starting this year, the schools quietly stopped referring to this competition by the sponsored name and instead used Crosstown Cup. The new scoring system was retained.[14] |
| 2017–18 | UCLA | 115–75 | [15] |
| 2018–19 | USC | 105–85 | |
| 2019–20 | Suspended | 85–45 | UCLA was leading when the competition was suspended due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. |
| 2020–21 | USC | 100–90 | [16] |
| 2021–22 | UCLA | 100–90 | [17] |
| 2022–23 | USC | 105–85 | [18] |
| 2023–24 | UCLA | 120–70 | [19] |
| 2024–25 | USC | 115–75 | [20] |
| Total Wins | |||
| USC | 14–9 | ||
The Northern version matchedBay Area rivalsStanford University and theUniversity of California, Berkeley. It began with the 2004 fall season and ended after the 2007 spring season.
| Year | Winner | Score |
| 2004–05 | Stanford | 70–65 |
| 2005–07 | 77.5–57.5 |
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