UCLA has the most dominant athletic program in the nation, but
it is missing something that can never be achieved purely by its
teams’ continued success.
What UCLA lacks is the atmosphere of support for athletics that
truly defines a sports powerhouse.
The Bruin softball, baseball and men’s golf teams are
currently competing for an NCAA Championship, but few students are
interested in following the teams on a daily basis. Instead, the
majority of the UCLA student body is only concerned with knowing if
one of those teams wins the 100th NCAA title.
Even when a Bruin team wins an NCAA title, as both the
men’s volleyball and women’s water polo teams have done
in the last month, it receives little recognition from the
students.
Despite its 99 NCAA titles, UCLA can hardly be classified as a
“sports school.” Most UCLA students barely know of the
success of their teams, let alone devote their time to supporting
teams that aren’t football or basketball.
While living in a vibrant metropolis creates diversity in the
students who attend UCLA and the opportunities available, it
seriously detracts from the sports atmosphere on a college
campus.
What is routinely found in small college towns across the
country, and missing at UCLA, is an aura of pride in sports
teams.
Even the best UCLA teams are often forced to play in front of
sparse crowds at home games.
Take men’s tennis, for example.
Last year, the Bruins won the NCAA Championship for the first
time in 21 years, and this year the team was again a contender for
the national title before falling in the NCAA Quarterfinals to
Pepperdine.
Their success made little impact in the number of fans who
showed up to the Bruins’ matches, though, as the Los Angeles
Tennis Center was frequently almost empty at home matches.
Thousands of students would walk past the stadium during the
course of each match, but few ventured in to watch the Bruins. The
team resorted to giving away free pizza and prizes to attract
attention, but still the crowd was made up of mostly friends and
family.
Almost all other UCLA sports experience the same lack of large
crowds at their home matches.
The UCLA baseball team, which played an amazing regular season
this year to make it to the NCAA Tournament a year after going
15-41, averaged only 581 fans at home games compared to the 1066
fans they faced when away.
And the UCLA men’s volleyball team won the NCAA
Championship this year, but only managed an average home crowd of
872 while playing in front of an average of 1,874 people.
The situation at UCLA might seem typical until you visit a true
sports powerhouse.
When I traveled to Penn State University to cover the
men’s volleyball NCAA Tournament, it was immediately apparent
that I was at a school that recognizes its sports’
accomplishments.
Penn State is the genuine sports fan’s paradise.
Not only are the athletic facilities impeccable ““ they
recently committed an additional $170 million to even more
improvements ““ but also an atmosphere of support for
athletics encompasses the campus and surrounding city. UCLA just
doesn’t have this love for sports.
UCLA doesn’t have statues of its coaches or name libraries
after sports figures, as Penn State does. Can you imagine Powell
Library being renamed Dorrell Library?
In State College, Pa., where the total population is decreased
by more than half when students leave for the summer, fans loyally
attend athletic events even if the team is having a rough
season.
Meanwhile, at UCLA, athletics go largely unrecognized unless
something like the men’s basketball team making it to the
Final Four happens.
Imagine the atmosphere at UCLA during the basketball
team’s improbable run to the championship game, and
you’ll have an idea of what some colleges experience
throughout the year for all their teams.
After two years of attending countless athletic events
surrounded only by people who personally know members of the team,
it has become clear to me UCLA is far behind many other
universities in terms of having an atmosphere supportive of sports
on campus.
E-mail Wozny at mwozny@media.ucla.edu.