"These seats suck!"

Monday, September 28, 1998

"These seats suck!"

STUDENTS: Seating rearrangements at the Rose Bowl spur questions - and complaints - about ticketing

By Greg Lewis

Daily Bruin Staff

Getting a ticket to a UCLA sporting event is a pretty simple procedure: You go to the Central Ticket Office (CTO), give them your money and take your ticket.

However, a lot more goes on behind the scenes, and many important decisions go into the process of deciding which seat you get.

The UCLA Athletic Department makes the ticket arrangements by committee. The committee discusses the seating plan before every athletic event and is composed of various interested parties - including associate athletic director Ken Weiner, representatives from the CTO, the marketing department, game management and the athletic department.

In most cases, seating arrangements are simple. Students can get in free to any regular season event with their Bruin Card, and all others pay a general admission fee, usually close to five dollars. In most cases seating is first-come, first-serve.

However, for the "marquee" sports of football and basketball, things get a little more complicated.

This summer's decision to remodel the Rose Bowl to become a more tenant-friendly venue presented a unique problem for the committee. The Rose Bowl renovation added restrooms, concession stands and 650 handicapped seats, but it also lowered the stadium's capacity by about 8,000 seats. The seat loss is due mainly to the new type of seats that have been installed everywhere except the two end zones.

Instead of traditional benches, there are now individual seats complete with backs and armrests. But this kind of seat takes up more room per person than the benches.

Associate athletic director Weiner saw to it that UCLA took an active role in deciding which changes took place.

"We were not a silent tenant, we made sure we got what we wanted," Weiner said.

Normally the seating plan from the previous year is used with a few minor changes. This year, however, every single season ticket had to be relocated. There are over 7,000 more season ticket orders than there were last year, upping the total to 35,000, with the addition of 650 seats to the handicapped section.

Despite the hard work by the ticketing committee, not everybody was happy with the results. Chants of "These seats suck" spontaneously broke out on at least two occasions before kickoff.

"I ordered my season tickets last April, arrived here at 10 a.m. for a 12:30 game, waited by the gate, was the third student let in, and I still got a bad seat," said third-year student Anoush Hakimi.

Hakimi was referring to the new student section, which was moved over an entire section from last season.

Scott Mitchell, UCLA's director of marketing, said that everything was done to make sure that the students got the best seats possible, but that it was just not feasible to make everybody happy.

The people who pay more money and buy season tickets year after year are entitled not to be moved too much either. Mitchell stresses that every single season seat was moved, not just the students.

Part of the problem is that student attendance is completely unpredictable.

UCLA has played 86 games at the Rose Bowl, but three of the nine worst attended games occurred last year, despite the on-field success of the team. The Oregon State game on Oct. 18 was played on a clear, sunny day but drew only 916 students, the single worst student turnout in Rose Bowl history.

"We try everything to get the students to come, but we still come up short. There are 7,000 student tickets available, and only 3,300 have been sold. Last year only 2,800 students bought tickets," Mitchell said.

In an effort to boost attendance the UCLA Marketing Department has planned several incentives for the students to attend games. A "Rooter Bus" now takes students free of charge from the campus to the Rose Bowl. "12th Bruin" towels are sold right inside the Rose Bowl entrance for only one dollar.

The towels allow students to take something home from the game, to have a connection to the afternoon after they get home. The towels also encourage students to become more involved in the game, and therefore have a better time.

This year, starting at the Washington State game on Oct. 3, there will be a tailgate party outside of the Rose Bowl exclusively for students.

"We want to make this a social event, not just a football game. We want the football games to be the thing to do on Saturday afternoon" said marketing director Mitchell.

The marketing department also works hard at keeping up interest in sports other then football and basketball. All students can always go to any regular season UCLA home game, free of charge.

And the marketing department utilizes a variety of promotional events. Free pizza giveaways are common at volleyball games (average student attendance for men's and women's matches is 189), and soccer players (whose games' average attendance is 80) have been known to throw T-shirts and towels into the stands right before kickoff.

"Last year I went to a men's soccer game at Spaulding Field, and I actually made a profit," said fourth-year student Robin Lewis. "I wrote down the answer to a trivia question and won a $25 gift certificate to Big 5 Sporting Goods."

Prizes at women's basketball games (average attendance is 110) can even be as valuable as a year- long campus parking permit.

Despite negative response from the students about the new seating situation at the Rose Bowl, the marketing department has made it clear that they are trying to increase student accessibility to UCLA home games. With promotions, giveaways and attempts to unify the students, Bruin teams should benefit from the increased fan support that is sure to follow.

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