UCLA Wants More Fresno State Fans To Show Up at the Rose Bowl?

by Achilles on Sep 24, 2008 10:42 AM PDT in Football Comment 30 comments

Brian Dohn has the story, that originated in the Fresno Bee (and HT to Bruin Report Online's message boards, where I saw the story first.)

UCLA recruits 'Dogs fans

Red Wave encouraged to buy up Rose Bowl tickets.

By Jeff Davis / The Fresno Bee

09/24/08 00:20:20

Fresno State's Pat Hill says Bulldogs fans will paint Interstate 5 red on their way to Pasadena for Saturday's game against UCLA in the Rose Bowl.

But the coach's projection of 20,000 to 25,000 Red Wavers headed south might be a bit overzealous.

UCLA officials say they don't expect a sellout at the 82,000-seat Rose Bowl, although they did place ads in the Sports section of The Fresno Bee encouraging Bulldogs fans to purchase more tickets.

"I don't see that number [25,000 Fresno State fans]," said Scott Mitchell, UCLA associate athletic director for marketing and revenue development.

There are 3,000 to 5,000 tickets left, Mitchell said, all in reserve seating at $35 each. General admission is sold out. The Bruins are unranked and this is the first week students return to campus to start classes.

Fresno State carries a No. 25 national ranking and a 2-1 record into the Rose Bowl. UCLA, which upset Tennessee in its home opener, since has lost two straight by a combined 90-10 score.

Bulldogs fans have traveled well to Southern California in the past. Sports information director Steve Weakland pointed to two examples: 24,500 Red Wavers drove to Anaheim in 1992 for Fresno State's 24-7 defeat of USC in the Freedom Bowl; and 20,000 made the trip to the Los Angeles Coliseum in 2005 to watch No. 1 USC and Reggie Bush escape with a 50-42 victory against the Bulldogs.

A California Highway Patrol spokesman said his department doesn't expect a busier time on the road than normal for weekend traffic.

"We have maximum enforcement periods where we put 80% of our work force on the road, but that's usually Labor Day or Fourth of July," CHP officer Patrick Etchebarne said. "This is not considered an MEP weekend."

UCLA apparently wanted to make it one by trying to entice Bulldogs fans to hit the road.
Mitchell said UCLA placed the quarter-page ad in The Bee to try to sell the remaining tickets. Headlines in the ad said: "Fresno State vs. UCLA" and below it "So you can say 'I was there,' " accompanied by a photograph of a packed Rose Bowl and ticket information.

The bold type was my emphasis.

Just so we're clear, UCLA's marketing department wanted to sell more tickets to the game, so they advertised in the Fresno papers so that more Bulldog fans would show up at the Rose Bowl and root against the Bruins.

I'm stunned, really, at a loss for words.

Unless I'm missing something, this is one for the record books.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHT:

This story is different than this story. I personally thought the "Monopoly" ad was a bit premature, but at least it was an aggressive move that confronted our rival. Using UCLA advertising dollars to encourage our opponents fans to show up and cheer against the Bruins is arguably traitorous.

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Well...

…maybe it’s because they just like the red color. I mean, they did this (indirectly) for Wisconsin fans…twice.

But you know, it’s a shame, it’s almost like they are just giving up on the fairweather fans, and it is going to be a difficult couple of years trying to get our fans to get their passion back.

by tasser10 on Sep 24, 2008 11:17 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

"I see red people." :)

It could be worse….. My son’s school, Indiana U, doesn’t even have an official student section in Memorial Stadium.

Let’s hope it still looks like a sea of blue rather thah red in the blimp shots on Saturday.

I may work with the Waves, but I'm still a Bruin!

by HoozierDaddy on Sep 24, 2008 12:51 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Good grief

This is mighty sad. It’s all about the dinero, apparently.

I shouldn’t be that surprised, but still…

by Barnes2JJ on Sep 24, 2008 1:07 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Pathetic

Memo to UCLA: Here’s an idea. Spend your advertising budget encouraging, you know, UCLA fans to attend the game. Just a thought.

by Bruinut on Sep 24, 2008 1:50 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Of course it's about the money.

Football is a revenue sport. Rose Bowl rent has to be paid. And the Bruins aren’t winning. Lately, they aren’t even scoring, as we are all too painfully aware. If I didn’t have season tickets and was contemplating the possibility of having to drive some distance, get baked in the sun, watch another losing effort and face the jam on the way out, would I do it? Well, I might. But watching Bruin fans with gloomy faces leaving the scene of the crime early last Saturday, I’m guessing a lot of people might decide to skip the experience. Fresno fans, on the other hand, are probably looking forward to delivering a delightful whuppin’ to the city slickers. I hope they get a big disappointment. But we’ll certainly take their money.

by ReineSeite on Sep 24, 2008 2:41 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Yea

I have no problem with this.

by TheTJCummingsEra on Sep 24, 2008 2:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

This act is just one of many bad decisions by the Athletic Department which finally prompted us to cancel our football season seats. We had our seats before the move to the Rose Bowl, but it was time to finally give it up. Not that we are no longer Bruins, because we are, but things have changed, and changed significantly where it’s not as fun to go the games as it use to be. The Rose Bowl is a great venue, but the seating is horrific. The AD has decided that season ticket holders are not much of a priority and therefore makes it extremely difficult, at best, to order extra tickets to the USC game – just like they did for the Notre Dame game. (Can you say that they are more concerned about making sure USC gets their allocation instead of making sure the stadium if full of Bruins for that game. Hmmm. Sounds too familiar given the recent bone decisions to promote the game to the visiting team like Fresno State…). Ticket prices are going up and up while the product (ie wins and loses) continues its downward spiral. The hiring of incompetent coaches like Karl Dorrell and Steve Lavin, firing them, and them paying them a boat load of money to while getting nothing in return. And the list goes on and on.

It’s been weird the past couple of homes not being at the Rose Bowl, but instead I get to go to my nieces and nephews soccer games which provides alot more joy and satisfaction. Plus the money we saved on season seats were used to get a nice big flat screen TV which means I can enjoy the game at home without having to be squeezed out of my Rose Bowl seat by some overweight fat-so neighbor…

It was time, and it was the right decision

by retiredSTH on Sep 24, 2008 2:58 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I disagree with a few of your points

1. SEATS AT THE ROSE BOWL – I’ve had season tickets at the Rose Bowl since 1993 and the seats have only improved (switching from metal benches to theatre style seats ensures that the obese fan to my left does not take over my space, not to mention, the seats lifting up make it much easier to navigate the aisles). If you want to see bad seats, try Cal’s stadium. How about wooden benches with no backs all the way around? That’s what you’ll find there!

2. U$C TICKETS – Extra tickets for the U$C game are held back every year, attempting to get UCLA fans to (GASP!) purchase season tickets and support their team ALL SEASON, not just for one game. They always open up the tickets that are available midway through the season and sell them to their SEASON TICKET HOLDERS, starting with those that donate, then to the rest of the season ticket holders. Our allocation for the Notre Dame game was completely sold out, thus the reason that each season ticket holder was only able to purchase two tickets. This had NOTHING to do with the AD, and everything to do with supply and demand. A limited number of seats available to UCLA and a huge demand from season ticket holders to purchase them.

3. CANCELING YOUR SEASON TICKETS??? – I’m sorry you were not having a good time at the UCLA football games any longer. More so, I’m sorry that you allowed what you deemed to be poor administration, drive you to retract your support of our football team by coming to the Rose Bowl and cheering on Saturdays. I on the other hand still have a great time at every game, win or lose. I love the tailgate atmosphere and I love supporting my team through good times and bad. It’s staying loyal through the bad times that makes the good times much sweeter. Canceling your season tickets only hurts the team, not whatever cause you think you may be supporting. Think of this…there may be Fresno State fans sitting in your seats this Saturday…fans that you could have kept out of the Rose Bowl had you decided to stay loyal to UCLA football.

GO BRUINS!

by rgalloucla on Sep 25, 2008 12:10 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

AMEN!!!

by uclafan11 on Sep 25, 2008 12:15 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

First of all, I have a much better time going to my nieces and nephews soccer games on Saturday. That’s an investment worth making. Not only is it a picture and memory that can’t be duplicated and compared to, but it’s something my nieces and nephews appreciate so much and value – seeing their uncles and grandparents at their games each week. I love it!

As far as the USC tickets, this year was the first year we were not allowed to order extra tickets to that game at the Rose Bowl. As long as we have had season seats, we have ordered at least two, if not more, extra tickets to that game on our season seat renewal form. (Your facts are wrong – they never held back seats from season ticket holders until this year and last years ND game. And I suspect that has everything to do with a new marketing mentality broght in by their new Chief Fundraiser) That was not offered in this years season seat renewal package as I’m sure you know. That’s the first time they have made that restriction. UCLA will NOT sell enough additional season seats resulting in a sold out Rose Bowl for all home games. Obviously USC is probably up to something and requesting additional seats for their alumni. There’s no other logical explanation. How dare UCLA sell single game tickets to USC when there’s a demand for them by their own season ticket holders. That is unacceptable and just an example of how UCLA views (respects?)what should be their most important, valued and loyal customers. They really don’t care, nor do they get it.

Say what you may about the tail-gaiting and extra curricular activities at the Rose Bowl. I don’t think there’s a better venue in terms of beauty and setting. And I too agree that it can be and was a fun environment. But it’s not what it used to be, and quite frankly, as the price goes up and continues to increase, the product on the field does not justify the means. Hopefully that changes, but I live for today and not for what could happen in the future. That’s not a great investment, although someday things will change. When" Who knows.

And as far as Fresno State people sitting in my seats? Well, that’s not going to happen because we had a prime location on the press box side. I’m sure our seats were very easy to sell to current or new season seat holders. It doesn’t matter anyway. Whether it’s our seats or the seats five rows above, there’s going to be so many Fresno people at the game that it will be hard to believe that a school can be so supportive. They’re going to be all around you, and probably a lot louder… The four of us were not going to keep out the thousands of Fresno people who want to go to the game. There will still be empty seats on Saturday that more Fresno people could buy if they were local…

And yes, we were there when the metal benches were in place, without backs, I believe. Yes, a folding seat is better than the metal. But when you got overweight drunks sitting next to you who could care less whether or not their legs extended into my space, well, I hope you enjoy rubbing body parts with those types of undesirables. I did not. And therefore I get to enjoy the experience in a much more comfortable environment. The seats are small. The leg space between you and the seat in front of you is minimal, and the Rose Bowl was never built with the intent of that kind of seat. It was a forced initiative and therefore you got what you have. There’s nothing comfortable about the seats at the Rose Bowl. But as you said, in comparison to what it was, well… And that’s not something to brag about. (The Cal stadium is there problem. Obviously somethings odd because they still have those seats and fans still attend…)

The team sure looks great in HD on my BIG screen. So does every other sporting event and TV program. What a great decision …

And as far as supporting Athletics? If they would have shown or cared about me as a supporter, well, maybe we may not have cancelled, but probably not. In fact, we never heard one peep from UCLA after we cancelled our account. I called and talked to a development person in Athletics, told them we wanted to cancel, and she said, "OK." And this was after we originally submitted our application for this years seats. Never did they ask why, can we upgrade you to a better location, what can we do to keep you since you’ve been such a long time supporter. If they don’t care, why should I care? And that’s the sad truth about UCLA Athletics. It’s sad. I’ve worked there. I know some of the people. But like I said before. There’s time for some good things to come to an end. A time when it’s time. Where the value is no longer the value it once was. The only thing I regret is that we gave the seats up so easily. I should have sold them on ebay, stub hub, razor gator, etc. But that’s ok too. There’s no regret. And we’re just fine.

ps: we are not hurting the team by not buying tickets. What hurts the team is when bone head moves are made such as hiring a guy like Dorrell to be in charge. And not supporting the team in bad times? We we were season tickets holder since the year prior to moving to the Rose Bowl. We’ve were there for EVERY game. You may or may not remember the good and the bad the past 30 years…

by retiredSTH on Sep 25, 2008 12:10 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

This on the heels of

the marketing department sending out an email blast promoting tickets on sale at the Rose Bowl for most remaining home games for $10. TEN FREAKIN’ DOLLARS!!!

This smells of a desperate program.

What next, 2 for 1 tickets or a free slurpy at 7-11 with every ticket purchased? Maybe a Free Fatburger or Double-Double with Cheese if the Bruins score an offensive touchdown!!

Wow, we are sinking to new lows. Very unfortunate!!

by Bald Eagle on Sep 24, 2008 3:03 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Wow... show how much you know...

Double Doubles come with cheese…. :-P

haha

by impaulv on Sep 24, 2008 6:35 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ow, that hurts...

I call or email In-n-Out customer service every month, begging them to expand to Colorado. 12 years and still nothing.

greg in denver

by gbruin on Sep 25, 2008 12:46 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Real World

As pointed out above by ReineSeite, football is a revenue sport. Running an athletic department at a major university costs a lot of money and, like basketball, football is expected to carry far more than its fair weight. We have a bad product on the field this year and we reside in LA. Those two factors do not mix well when trying to get paying customers into those Rose Bowl seats. I for one would much rather see the athletic department resort to these kind of tactics to draw in more away fans than see them fall short of their budget and have to take money away from the general fund to pay for its salaries, scholarships, other overhead, etc… Direct your anger at the fair-weather fans that jump ship the moment things get bumpy rather than the athletic department that is having to make ends meet.

by BruinJD on Sep 24, 2008 4:13 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Actually poor marketing

Unfortunately, this is not about the Real World. Yes running an athletic department at a major university costs a lot of money, and nobody is disagreeing with that. The reason that Marketing has to resort to these pathetic moves is because quite frankly they are not good at what they do. The Marketing department knows less about (good) marketing than the majority of students at this school (who are interested in mktg).

Trust me, I have to deal with the Marketing Department a lot. I know they could cut overhead by cutting back on many wasteful purchases. And, they can’t get people to sporting events because they can’t make a decent advertisement.

As a result, UCLA is forced to give into these flat-out embarrassing methods of advertising. Heck, if I was a top recruit and I heard about this, my respect for UCLA just dropped. This IS business, but this is ALSO sports. UCLA is one of the most heralded and respected sports programs in the WORLD and we should NEVER have to resort to these methods.

The fact of the matter is, the UCLA marketing department is the problem. If there were more competent people in that office, UCLA would be making more money and spending less money. Alas, this is not the case, and as long as we have the people running the Marketing Department, we are going to see more and more of this type of advertising.

Go BRUINS!

by etaymor on Sep 24, 2008 5:20 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I suspect this won't continue

When Coach Neuheisel has a year or two under his belt, it might not be quite so easy to get a ticket on game day.

by Fox 71 on Sep 24, 2008 5:27 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hi Fox..

(been away for a while)

I think you’re right.

When I was in high school in the Bay Area, we used to head across the Bay to Frank Youell Field to watch the Raiders play; cheap seat tickets cost a buck and we got to watch the likes of Jack Kemp and “Jet Stream” Smith and the Broncos with their awful vertical striped socks.

Then Al Davis came along..

..and stayed..and moved to L.A. ..and came back..and stayed..and fired coaches..and stayed..

..and, my guess is you can probably get a Raider ticket for a buck again some time soon.

But seriously, we’re just going to have to take our lumps for now. But there’s a zen in this and I suspect we’ll all fondly remember these days on our way to a BCS bowl or two.

Well, maybe not all that fondly.

God, it's great to be a Bruin!

by WHP '68 on Sep 24, 2008 11:48 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Welcome back

Any time a geezer is away for any length of time …., well, you know. You think those things.

by Fox 71 on Sep 25, 2008 10:07 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Welcome back, whp

We’ve missed your pearls. Hope all is well.

by Bruinut on Sep 25, 2008 11:32 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Will this even bring more people to the game?

I doubt they’re going to get money people to drive down from Fresno because they saw an ad in the paper the week of the game. Even if you ignore how embarrassing this is, it’s a waste of money.

by SuperBruinMan on Sep 24, 2008 6:33 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Marketing Department

I do agree with you about the supposed incompetence of the marketing team within the Athletic Dept. That being said, I do believe that bills have to be paid (especially in these scary economic times), and if for one, perhaps two lousy years we have to resort to advertising to opposing fans of a top-25 team right up the I-5 then so be it. Recruits pay much more attention to more important things like coaching staff offensive/defensive sets. Look at Cal and how many 4-Star kids they get. Forgetting for just a moment their penchant for lowering academic standards for big-time recruits, their athletic facilities are HORRIBLE . It blows my mind how Cal is able to continually obtain 4-star recruits with a weight room that I wouldn’t even consider paying a gym membership for (http://wap.latimes.mlogic3g.com/detail.jsp?key=180336&rc=env&full=1). Do alot of recruits take peripheral things like marketing into consideration? I’m sure some of them do, but it shouldn’t really be that big a factor. If something like how well a marketing dept performs is an issue with a recruit (cough OJ Mayo*cough cough*) do we even want the kid?
I also agree with retireedSTH about the quality (or lack thereof) of the Rose Bowl seating. I sat comfortably this past Saturday due to the low attendance. What is great about big games is the large number of people that attend the games. What stinks about big games is the LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE THAT ATTEND THE GAMES. Hopefully, they can start to think about how they can upgrade the seating with the money all of the Fresno State fans bring in (cuz you know, they are going to bring in aLOT). Perhaps we could hire better people to run the marketing department?

by bruin8uclap on Sep 24, 2008 7:37 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Petros today

on Jim Rome’s show said that he thought UCLA’s marketing department was some third-party organization “located somewhere in the south, I think.”

Is this so, etaymor? Not only are they not part of the university, but they’re not on campus either?

BTW, Rome skewered UCLA but good for this shameless reach-out to an opponent’s fans.

by Bruinut on Sep 25, 2008 11:41 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Speechless

I am not ok with this. I know it’s about money but we need to create a major home advantage which helps us to win games. It just looks really bad in my opinion and it’s embarassing…

by uclafan11 on Sep 24, 2008 7:43 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm sorry, but the key here is "marketing"...

…and what is the product that we are marketing? A football team that has been outscored 90-10 in the last two games. There are individuals out there who are not level-headed and obviously, jump off the bandwagon and trash the team…there are a lot out there and there’s also a number of them who are season ticket holders. Add the stereotype of the “lazy” LA fan (reinforced when fans quite frankly don’t show up to the games) and you have a product that can’t be marketed to its fullest capacity. I’m sorry, but trashing the marketing department doesn’t help. Let’s face it…a lot of people come out to the games not to see a team get blown out or struggle, they want wins and excitement. This year will be rough and attendance will probably take a hit; seats have to be sold and if it isn’t a good year, then you have to look at other alternatives. This team under Neuheisel gave us a taste of what could happen back on the first, but it will take time to expect consistent winning. Basically, people will come out when we win and not lose 59-0.
What annoys me the most is that this is somewhat taken out of perspective. Imagine trying to market single game or season tickets for a team struggling on the offensive end and perceived by the mass media as losing two embarrassing games (and quite possibly a third one, with the way ESPN has us as pushovers). The hype behind a new coach and great coordinators can only go so far. The product itself has to show that it’s a marketable product. Just look at Men’s Basketball tickets…Pauley is essentially sold out with seats available only in the upper level along the baselines. Football will get there with wins and I’m sure that will be the case in the upcoming years.
Sorry about the rant, but all I’m saying is think this over before getting emotional. A final note: our fans need to look at themselves and get over to the Rose Bowl, support the team, and come out to every game even with bumps in the road if you don’t want opposing fans sitting in Bruin seats. I understand that it’s hard to watch a losing (even boring) effort, but True Bruins will stick it out…the reward comes further down the line.

GO BRUINS!

by jlegs on Sep 24, 2008 8:33 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

jlegs

Given your perspective, I think you should take your comment, polish it up and provide the perspective on why marketing department made that decision. I think this kind of give and take is very healthy for our broader athletic community.

by Nestor on Sep 24, 2008 8:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I understand your point

I guess I am emotional about it because I am one of those fans who will be in her seat every game no matter what. I know there are lots of fair weather people and UCLA needs to make money, it just shocked me because I haven’t heard of us doing this before. I know the reward is coming and for those of us who stick with the team, it will really be worth it.

GO BRUINS!!!

by uclafan11 on Sep 24, 2008 11:44 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

It sucks...

but LA fans only follow winners. The true UCLA fans will be there on Saturday, but the Rose Bowl is huge and no amount of marketing to LA is going to get more Bruin “fans” (I call them this loosely, as they are the bandwagoners) to fill those seats. It makes perfect sense that if you want 70-80K fans in the seats on Saturday, we’re going to be much more successful marketing to the fans from the school that has a ranked team and are very excited about their season. Not to fans from the school in the midst of a rebuilding year, coming off back-to-back embarrassing losses. It just doesn’t work.

GO BRUINS!

by rgalloucla on Sep 25, 2008 12:23 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

How many students don't make the trek?

Has anyone made an attempt to determine how many students who would go to a game at an on-campus stadium elect not to go because of the hassle of shlepping to Pasadena? I haven’t been a student for a long time, but it seems to me that any student who wants to go to the game should be allowed (and encouraged) to do so, then if there are any left over tickets they can be sold to the public. I missed a game or two as a student for various reasons, and at least one game because of the distance to the Crapaseum.

In other words, I’m still lobbying for an on-campus stadium. The upper-crust of Westwood and Brentwood can suffer through 5 or 6 Saturdays a year to give every Bruin who wants to a chance to walk to the game. Sure, I know it will never happen, but I can dream, can’t I?

by Fox 71 on Sep 25, 2008 10:12 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

That would make a HUGE difference...

at least based on my experiences. With student tickets being so cheap, the distance to the Rose Bowl is by far the biggest deterrent in student attendance (although some may argue that the Bruins recent record under Dorrell is a close second).

by cabz on Sep 25, 2008 2:17 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

This game is actually free...

for incoming students (freshman, transfers, and grad students), so the Den should be more robust than the last two games. Granted, there’s a $5 fee to take a roundtrip bus, but that’s pretty cheap, if you ask me.

GO BRUINS!

by jlegs on Sep 25, 2008 8:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs