https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/11/sports/ncaafootball/ucla-football-game-attendance.html (Pay-Wall)
UCLA’s Football Wins Can’t Mask Its Financial Woes - The New York Times (Archived copy)
The Bruins are having their best recent season on the field, yet attendance is falling rapidly. Free tickets haven’t helped, and the athletic department’s balance sheet has suffered.
Unable to open the link but very interested to see how poor attendance impacts their balance sheet.
Open the archived copy.
“Just eight years ago, with a top-10 preseason ranking and a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback, Brett Hundley, the Bruins set an attendance record, averaging 76,650 and selling a school-record 46,617 season tickets. This year, season tickets have fallen to 23,077, less than half that high-water mark.”
Good thing they got the $60 million payout from Under Armour. Ticket revenue was $9.2 million for the 2019 season. That’s still decent but it’s apparently declined in 2021 and 2022.
Attendance, and its impact on U.C.L.A.’s bottom line, is apparently a touchy subject in the athletic department. Martin Jarmond, the athletic director, has declined three interview requests from The New York Times in the last 15 months. In July, Jarmond declined an interview request to discuss the move to the Big Ten because an athletic department spokesman, Scott Markley, said he had already addressed the matter.
His first season began with five consecutive losses. His second began with five losses in six games. Kelly’s flippant responses to questions about winning led some fans to an inevitable conclusion: If he doesn’t care, why should I?
They need Tom Herman
Whatever happened to the USC fans during the Pete Carroll days?
I know they dominated as the only good football team in town until the Rams came back.
It seems like LA has stopped supporting the college teams and hopped on the Rams.
USC hasn’t dominated like they did in the 2000s. They went back to back to back on Heisman winners with Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush and were practically unstoppable.
If USC dominates again, they will dominate LA sports scene like they’ve always done outside of the Lakers who no LA team will ever eclipse.
Its rough to be fourth football fiddle in an extremely distracted town. Rams, USC, Chargers, then UCLA. Dodgers and Lakers are bigger names too not to mention nice weather year round. Bottom line is they are buried in the muddled middle entertainment wise in LA. Before you had the NFL and when USC was down, you could argue that they were the best football watching in town in the Hundley days. Now? Good luck getting above 4th. In BIG, vs USC, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State etc. will register otherwise they will always have attendance problems from now on. My opinion.
USC team is doing well, but they aren’t packing the Colosseum like the Carroll days.
Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian, and Clay Helton… 2011, 2014, 2016-2017 were decent years, but not to the level of expectation of SC. Helton put a hurt on the culture of that school. USC has had only 3, 10+ winning seasons since 2008.
As for Attendance - it’s definitely different:
2022: 8-1
2018: 5-7 (losing season and not 2021, other losing season, but after COVID)
2005: 12-1 (technically 0-0, vacated)
USC also is a 10 minute walk from the Colosseum and accesses some beautiful campus areas and Exposition park’s Rose Garden.
I’ve been on USC’s campus.
Their stadium is almost right across the street from some of their dorms.
Once they get to “hot ticket” the affluent will come back in droves & ticket resellers will buy the good seats.
USC also lost a fair % of their multi-generational “T-shirt” fans since the early 2000s.
They were priced out of Torrence, etc.
The areas you can avoid the worst of the freeways to Expo Park/LA Coliseum.
Those were the fans who showed up week after week regardless of winning big.
No reflection on the great USC Campus but get lost leaving to the north and you are in skid row. Possibly cleaned up but gag worthy last time I saw it.
The game day experience is VASTLY different.
USC Colosseum Tour
UCLA Rose Bowl Tour
UCLA needs to move away from the Rose Bowl. That place is a dump amd too far from campus.
The Rose bowl is not a dump and UCLA recently pumped a lot of money into renovations. People I know in LA are much more likely to head to the Rose bowl than the Coliseum, in fact i have been warned to stay away from the USC area
I don’t think the RB is a dump, but the parking situation is AWFUL. It’s a 1-hour parking wait because you have to park on the golf course. What is expected? It’s a 100+ years old property, and the area around it is built up.
I spent a few months a year at the Anaheim Convention Center 10+ years.
The Rose Bowl has a love in the community/area that is odd from a distance but legit . Don’t expect a move from UCLA. Its a great setting in general but not an ideal stadium location. Far from ideal from a distance.
UC Regents make the decision on UCLA’s move to Big Ten in San Francisco by Nov 17th.
Could they possibly say no ?
Like all professional sports cities
Possible to say no, Being CA, it would not surprise me.
I could also see something completely random by saying all UC schools must share athletic revenue equally. (or at least those in the PAC)
Attendance is down in general but schools in metro areas have been hit hard. Miami UCLA USC are all experiencing big attendance drops from the current norm.
Cinci and UCF seem up but Temple, Memphis, UNT, GaTech, etc may be down.
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