Jerry Yu and Nick Corpuz had it all planned out.
Yu, a recent UCLA graduate, was going to catch a flight from New
York to Los Angeles on Thursday night. He’d then meet up with
Corpuz, a fifth-year, and the two friends would hit the road north
for Saturday’s football game against Stanford.
But Yu discovered he had a CPR class he couldn’t get out
of, and Corpuz decided it wasn’t worth his while to make
other arrangements.
“One, it’s too much of a hassle,” Corpuz said.
“And two, how many UCLA students have friends up at
Stanford?”
Corpuz’s question is in part the answer to why turnout
among UCLA students isn’t expected to be particularly high
this weekend in Palo Alto. Despite the fact that the Bruins are
undefeated, only 22 had purchased tickets as of Monday afternoon,
and even though Friday sales are usually the biggest sales days,
history suggests that number won’t climb above 600.
“We used to have many more kids travel,” UCLA
Central Ticket Office Director David Lowenstein said. “But
that was before they could just watch the games on TV, and the
school became so difficult academically.”
Midterms. Halloween parties. Budget constraints. Lack of
accommodations. And of course, conflicting obligations such as a
CPR class.
For as much as road trips are supposedly synonymous with the
college experience, there’s a laundry list of reasons
students have opted not to make the trek to the Bay Area this
weekend.
“I think a six-hour drive and the sheer cost of gas alone
makes the trip suck,” said third-year Nick Degoede, who is
nevertheless still considering going to Saturday’s game.
“We freaking make a mini-road trip every game for football.
Getting there early enough to tailgate and the amount of planning
it takes is quite a bit of work. Traveling only makes it
harder.”
Success has long been considered the key variable for luring in
fans, but for road games, it’s not such a simple equation.
Lowenstein said that many of the UCLA fans who purchase tickets to
UCLA games are season-ticket holders who don’t necessarily
make travel decisions based on how the Bruins have been playing for
the past few weeks.
“That takes continued success,” Lowenstein said.
“If the Bruins have continued success, you will see the
numbers rise.”
In 2001, when the Bruins had built a reputation as a national
powerhouse, the CTO sold a total of 4,760 tickets to the game at
Stanford. A relatively impressive 64,495 fans overall turned out
for that contest. By 2003, UCLA’s stock had fallen and only
47,432 showed up at Stanford stadium for that October match-up.
This year, although the Bruins are undefeated, attendance
figures may parallel those of 2003 more closely than 2001.
“The crowd we expect this weekend is in excess of
45,000,” Stanford Media Relations Director Gary Migdol
said.
In contrast, when an undefeated USC team marched into Palo Alto
last year, over 55,000 filed into the stadium. Stanford’s
disparity between last year’s attendance for the USC game and
this year’s expected attendance for the UCLA game seems to
confirm Lowenstein’s contention regarding sustained
success.
It also seems to confirm the assertion that only a small number
of UCLA students are making this weekend’s road trip.
With reports from Sagar Parikh, Bruin Sports senior staff.