The signing of a new employment contract last week for UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero marks an opportunity to increase his visibility on campus and improve the marketing of UCLA sports.
Guerrero, whose new contract runs through Dec. 31, 2019, must also invest time and energy into improving the student fan experience, which is currently lacking vibrancy at men’s basketball and football games and is almost nonexistent for other sports.
In an interview with the Daily Bruin this week, Guerrero acknowledged that he wants to address all of these issues in his next term. However, he did not provide a clear plan for how to accomplish his goals, and his examples of improvements seemed out of touch with what students really want.
The first problem that the athletic director must solve is the ineffective marketing of many of UCLA’s sports. While there have been several effective commercial campaigns, the actual advertising of important games and events is nearly invisible.
An example of this problem is last season’s John R. Wooden Classic in Anaheim, where there was barely a UCLA student presence, and San Diego State University fans easily overwhelmed the arena.
UCLA Athletics should have worked harder in that situation to advertise the game and to plan rooter buses for students to attend the game. This is a strategy often used by other schools and results in high student turnout at away games.
In his interview, Guerrero said that it is sometimes difficult to invest in marketing, because that requires taking money from another sector of athletics. While this board acknowledges this concern, we still believe UCLA can implement cost-efficient marketing strategies.
Another problem is Guerrero’s general lack of communication with students who are not athletes – though he spends ample time with athletes, he is out of touch with what the average student wants out of the fan experience.
By contrast, USC’s athletic director, Pat Haden, effectively connects with student fans using social media and has maintained a visible presence in the university’s athletic program. This type of visibility and interaction with the fan community would be beneficial to Guerrero’s understanding of students who want to support our athletic teams.
As Guerrero begins a new six-year term at UCLA, there should be a shift in focus from donors and alumni to students and their experience.
Athletics should work harder to improve the fan experience by working with student groups to increase excitement about UCLA sports. For example, athletics could meet with student group representatives to garner feedback about The Den and the Yell Crew.
It is particularly important for the athletic director to capture the attention of students as a means of investing in the future of UCLA Athletics. The students we have at school today are tomorrow’s donors and season ticket holders. For that reason, it is vital for students to develop connections with UCLA sports, and that connection starts with the athletic director’s guidance.
It’s not just the in-game experience. The the school needs to move the camera well at Pauley to the other side of the stadium. Why are we looking at old fart alums during home games instead of the student section? If you don’t want to move the fat cat donors, I get it. Force the TV cameras to set up on the opposite side. Most of the alums look like they’re half asleep during games. I know the students are passionate because we can hear them during broadcasts. It hardly looks like the kind of place where I would want to go watch a game, let alone want to play. This is an easily correctable thing. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way.
I believe the NCAA has regulation so that the cameras have to face the team’s benches so in that case, they would need to reconfigure the floor to put the benches on the other side (if they even have camera platforms on the other side) or swap the students with the alums. But it may be tough if they built it with the camera platforms on one side only to change the floor configuration. Plus the configuration for seats for alums may be different with the seats for students which could make swapping them impossible as well. I like how UDUB has their’s configured with the student section behind the first 2-3 rows for VIP to protect the benches from overly aggressive students. Of course the best would be like Duke and put all the students on the lower areas and put the alums upstairs but that would never happen.
But I agree with you that Administration has screwed this up, but especially with all the empty seats on the alum side. They need to learn from the Oscars and have volunteer seat fillers ready to take those seats. Heck, I would volunteer as a seat filler anyday if they had such a program, and I would be going crazy and forcing the alums to getup and cheer every change I get. A simple and cost effective solution, in my opinion. Imagine…all the seats filled when CBS or ESPN shows the crowd at the beginning of the game! And seat fillers on standby to fill those that leave early too! That alone will boost our recruiting and Alford should know about that from being at The Pit, the loudest arena in the country.
Simple marketing 101.
If this is the case then how is Duke able to have their tv cameras facing the student section during their games as is suggested here?
I see. I guess it is the official scorers table that needs to be facing the camera and not the bench. But still does not work if camera platforms require extensive construction work and Admin is not willing to spend the money. It is still bad planning from the start.
This is what it looks like if you have the cameras facing the students instead of the alumni in Pauley:
http://youtu.be/WA3VVlNeCzA
Here’s what it should look like in a real game. This is our game at UDUB this year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-UiuJYrjDA
Guerrero claims he cannot afford to market to students but he can use the athletic department’s money to give him a major pay raise. Where is Chancellor Block at?
He can market for practically free using social media. Afterall, UCLA invented the Internet so it’s a shame that we are not the leaders in Internet marketing. Put together a committee of Bruin Den members who are savvy with social media and let them go at it.
Also, have Computer Science interns put together a back office for season ticket holders so when they are not going to a specific game, they can donate their tickets to inner city kids and their families (good for future recruiting as well) OR go with the solution of volunteer seat fillers I described above. Both are practically NO COST solutions.
Chancellor Block rarely (if ever) attends UCLA sporting events. Although the governor of New Mexico regularly attends their basketball games, our chancellor cannot attend our major sports press conferences (hiring of new coaches for major sports) or playoff/tournament games.
Guerrero’s efforts to banish The Den from the sidelines at basketball games 2 years ago tells you all you need to know about his interest in the student experience. He doesn’t care about students, and he doesn’t care about UCLA’s tradition and excellence. Sadly, that apathy has just been rewarded to the tune of 6+ more years at 3/4 of a million dollars a year.
Unless the student body, the alumni, and donors unanimously turn up the pressure on both Guerrero and Block, don’t expect anything to change. The Daily Bruin could, and should, help unify and lead that pressure.
The comment that money for marketing would take away from other sports shows how clueless he is – hire a marketer in house, have a student advisory board, talk to alumni. The editorial hit the nail on the head, students are your present and future consumers, in addition, studies show that homes teams WIN more, one of the factors – home crowd support! I am concerned that he voiced a commitment to work on these things, yet had no clear path. This needs to be a priority.
Whew, proud to be an Arizona Wildcat, that’s all that needs to be said.
With the signing of a new 6 year deal cements the fact I will no longer give a penny to the school. It is shameful Block has ignored the Alumni and fans and renewed this subpar AD. Embarrassing to the school and in fact to the country who sees our wonderful school so lacking in Athletics. Save money. Give elswhere!
Current students/Daily Bruin should get ahold of Alford and Mora so they can pressure Guerrero to make some changes on behalf of the students. Mora seems to be pretty active via social media, maybe Alford will start too.
you can also send him this paper: http://erinesmith.com/DoFansMatter.pdf. It’s about baseball, but it should translate to other sports. Maybe he’ll need someone to explain it for him.
you can also send him this paper: http://erinesmith.com/DoFansMatter.pdf. It’s about baseball, but it should translate to other sports. Maybe he’ll need someone to explain it for him.