• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Photo

Guerrero Athletic director

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.

Comments

Post a comment