Winning breeds success.
That mantra applies not only on the football field, but in the
case of UCLA football this season, in the ticket office as
well.
Coming off a 10-2 season in which the Bruins won a bowl game for
the first time in three years, season ticket sales as well as
sponsorships are up, with the Bruins having sold 39,000 season
tickets, compared to the 32,000 sold last season.
“In this town, people love winners,” Athletic
Director Dan Guerrero said earlier this month at UCLA Media Day.
“And our winning has certainly helped bring those fans
in.”
With the absence of a pro football team in Los Angeles,
UCLA’s crosstown rival USC has taken over the football
landscape on autumn weekends.
UCLA, after its first season of success following two mediocre
seasons under coach Karl Dorrell, is merely trying to catch up and
follow USC’s model.
“In order to have a consistent fan base, you need to win
year after year,” Guerrero said. “And that’s why
we have brought in coach Dorrell ““ to provide us with that
form of consistency and build the Bruin program.”
But UCLA is not just relying on the football team’s
success and the basketball team’s run to the Final Four to
bring in new revenue.
The university has hired young Ross Bjork as its new senior
associate athletic director, to head its athletic fundraising
activities and change the passive approach UCLA has taken over the
years.
“We have realized that you can’t just sit and expect
the money to come,” Guerrero said. “We have a huge
alumni base in Southern California, and we have to take advantage
of that.
“That is why we hired Ross. We wanted to take an active
role and really meet with the sponsors and donors.”
UCLA’s attendance will benefit this football season from
having USC, a consistent draw, on its home schedule, as well as
marquee non-conference opponent Utah.
Student attendance, however, will suffer from having two games
scheduled before UCLA begins its fall quarter.
“It’s something that we always have to work
with,” Guerrero said. “We would love to have all the
students at our games, but with a 12-game schedule, and being on
the quarter system, it is just something we can’t
control.”
With a 2005 average attendance of 64,218 ““the highest
since 2002 ““ the Bruins already have a lot to live up to this
season.
Regardless of whether or not UCLA meets those numbers this year,
things are looking up beyond 2006.
Bruin football recently extended its contract to play at the
Rose Bowl for the foreseeable future, and the athletic department
re-signed head coach Karl Dorrell and basketball head coach Ben
Howland to multi-year contract extensions, each totaling more than
a million dollars.
“We wouldn’t have made those long-term commitments
if we didn’t think both coaches were going to be here
long-term,” Guerrero said. “They have both programs in
great shape, and they can only improve in the future.”
TICKET NOTE: According to its website, as of
Aug. 1 Utah had already sold 3,500 tickets for the season opener
this Saturday, and expects to sell a few thousand more.