OT: UCLA Sets All-Time-Low Attendance Record at Rose Bowl
In their first game since being announced as a future member of the Big Ten, UCLA set an all-time-low attendance record for its game against Bowling Green at the Rose Bowl. Only 27,143 people purchased a ticket, but actual attendance was much lower than that. The photos of the crowd are comical. It looks like a COVID game, or when a high school plays in a college stadium.
Yes, it was hot. Yes, the students hadn't started classes yet. And yes, the stadium is located a damn hour from campus. All those factors have been true in the past, too. I guess I didn't realize just how much this school's football fan base sucks.
September 5th, 2022 at 1:23 PM ^
You're thinking of Major League Sports
September 5th, 2022 at 1:27 PM ^
Agreed on college football declining in cultural relevance. So many other things available to do now now to cannibalize interest. Right Hannibal?
Ooops...wrong Hannibal.
September 5th, 2022 at 1:39 PM ^
Upvoted! My favorite Hannibal! George Peppard's version is a close second though.
September 5th, 2022 at 1:40 PM ^
Nah, it's just too expensive to go to a game when you can watch at home.... and UCLA kinda sucks.
September 5th, 2022 at 11:44 AM ^
‘BIG TEN!’ (said with the Ace Anbender sarcastic enthusiasm)
September 5th, 2022 at 11:51 AM ^
UCLA definitely needs its own stadium, but ... yeesh, this video.
That’s got to include 20,000 season ticket holders who didn’t show up pic.twitter.com/eanX50ji1v
— Ed Espinoza (@EdEspinoza) September 3, 2022
September 5th, 2022 at 12:15 PM ^
The fact that UCLA doesn't have an on-campus stadium says it all.
I don't remember where they played their home games before the Rose Bowl, though I suspect it was the Coliseum on days other than when SC played there.
Attended both of the non-Rose Bowl games Michigan played against UCLA in the Rose Bowl and crowds were decent both times, though there were empty seats both times. In 1989, M snatched victory from jaws of defeat via an on-side kick at the end of the fourth quarter and a field goal by Remy Hamilton. Wonderful game! In 2000, John Navarre played his first road game there in the hottest game I have ever attended, including Saturday's Colorado State game. It was roughly 105 deg when the game started, and over 100 when it ended. I drank three large Coke drinks and never had to exit to the men's room (first and only). My wife never left the confines of the AC in our car for the entire game (thankfully, enough gas to last 3 1/2 hours!). M lost 23-20, but it was close the whole way. It seems like it would have been an incredible achievement just to survive the even hotter heat on the stadium floor.
September 5th, 2022 at 12:48 PM ^
JD Carlson hit that game winning field goal in 1989 and not Remy Hamilton. That was a great game during Bo's last season.
September 5th, 2022 at 1:04 PM ^
That ‘89 game had a miraculous finish, but the game itself was far from great/wonderful!
UCLA was bad that year. They were coming off an escape against San Diego State and a big loss to Tennessee. It looked like the best we could do was tie, but failing on a late 2-point conversion led to the ending (onside kick/recovery/FG).
September 5th, 2022 at 3:25 PM ^
Good catch Boner.
It was a surprise to me that Remy was still eligible to walk-off Notre Dame in 1994 if he was hitting game-winners in 1989.
September 5th, 2022 at 3:42 PM ^
Thanks, Boner. Sometimes I don't remember what happened yesterday, much less 33 years ago. Guess I shouldn't try taxing my memory that much! "Wonderful game" referred to the unlikely outcome before the successful onside kick. It was also the last game my dad attended (1925 alum), so extra special. Glad there weren't heat issues for that one!
September 5th, 2022 at 1:08 PM ^
Was at the 2000 game and it was blazing hot.
September 5th, 2022 at 1:42 PM ^
I was at the UCLA-Bama game in 2000, two weeks before they played UM there. We got roasted in the afternoon sun, it was brutal. Deshaun Foster had like 200 yards rushing, which was cool
September 5th, 2022 at 1:33 PM ^
Yikes, the game might have had a larger crowd if it were played at Bowling Green
September 5th, 2022 at 2:26 PM ^
1. Middle of a heat dome this weekend where it’s 102 at the beach, going to rose bowl in a box canyon not happening.
2. Outside of the bowl game, it almost always looks that way, unless opponent is SC.
3. It’s a huge stadium, for a middling program, and a gnarly commute from west side, awful traffic to exit the stadium, and it’s old (and showing it’s age). Sort of a Miami situation - same reasons for low attendance.
I could google it if I cared but they must have a long term lease they can’t break with good economics. Maybe a non-zero chance when BIg $ starts to flow they use the pro stadiums on the west side? But don’t know if the stadiums can turn around/prepare fast enough for pro games on Sunday?
September 5th, 2022 at 11:53 AM ^
Underwhelming Opponent
Hot Day(supposed to be damn near 110', that's a different level of heat)
Enthusiasm for Kelly's program is at all time lows and has been killed off year by year.
Not a surprise, at all. LA fans suck, but will continue to defend themselves by saying that we benighted Midwesterners and Southerners just have nothing better to do on Saturday, rather than admit we have better fan cultures.
September 5th, 2022 at 12:38 PM ^
Thanks for mentioning that last part. The constantly propagated notion that LA and NYC are the only cities where people have stuff to do is so bizarre. For celebrities who demand $1,000 meals and 'impossible to get into as a normal pleb' night clubs, sure. For the vast majority of humans, you can do anything in any semi-big city as you could in LA. Certainly in metro Detroit.
September 5th, 2022 at 12:44 PM ^
Yah, there is lots to do in most big cities.
But nobody in Detroit's saying, "Wanna take a quick drive to the mountains?" or "Get your board, dude, surf's up!"
September 5th, 2022 at 12:52 PM ^
Yeah, but there are 52 Saturdays in a year. The beach/mountains are always going to be there. College football is only there in person 6-8 times.
The fact that the Dodgers have high attendance for a sport that has 81 home games and is played in the summer would seem to counter this argument.
September 5th, 2022 at 1:13 PM ^
Good point, Snarling.
But those two examples were the first that popped in my mind. LA & NYC do have lots more on average than Detroit.
To take one example from one wise soul, "the Dodgers have high attendance for a sport that has 81 home games," but the Tigers don't.
September 5th, 2022 at 1:28 PM ^
I think that goes to show that it's not really about the city or weather, but just the fan culture. The Dodgers have a fan culture that is willing to deal with the LA traffic to go to the games. UCLA, not so much.
Not having their own stadium definitely doesn't help. Part of the allure of Michigan games is being able to hang out around campus after. They can't do that so easily when the games are in Pasadena.
September 5th, 2022 at 4:36 PM ^
Yeah, the average attention span might be shorter on the West Coast than nationally, but I don't think the problem is a lack of interest in sports per se. Or among students, either, though UCLA students might be more ambitious than those at some schools. LA loves its Dodgers, the Lakers when they're good, and USC, as well.
September 5th, 2022 at 5:31 PM ^
I'm going to speculate on racial stereotypes here...There are a lot of Hispanics here in LA and from what I've witnessed they love the Dodgers and the Lakers and don't give a shit about american football, especially college. Maybe that's it. On top of it being a pain in the ass for students, many of whom are commuters anyway, to go to the Rose Bowl.
September 5th, 2022 at 5:39 PM ^
They love football but Cowboys are typically the favorite team among Socal Latinos.
September 5th, 2022 at 8:15 PM ^
They do love American football (I would say more than basketball) and most are USC fans, but with the Rams back, their support for USC overall has probably waned a bit (tough to dedicate all Sunday and Saturday to football). Also USC hasn't been that good so another reason to be less interested.
September 5th, 2022 at 8:12 PM ^
LA is, like NY and most (all?) coastal cities, much more of a pro sports town than a college sports town. I have...theories about why that is.
But even still, the pro sports teams here in LA draw a huge number of transplants to games. For any pro sports game, there are (sometimes tens of) thousands of fans from the other city living here that then go to the games and it props up attendance. It's like Northwestern football games.
And the Dodgers are uniquely good right now and it's still a bit novel so attendance has been good the last couple years but probably wouldn't sustain many more years even if they stayed good. Definitely would not sustain if they were bad.
September 5th, 2022 at 12:53 PM ^
I guess those two activities are a bit different. When discussed, night life is generally the topic that people bring up as to why people aren't at LA sporting events. People try to make lots of excuses for what boils down to a school not giving a crap about sports if they're not winning titles. You can add stadium location, heat, students, etc., but even their basketball team (a blue blood, no less!) struggles immensely to draw people in despite being on campus. Even if you go back to their last pre-COVID good team, 2017, they ranked 32nd with an average of 11,000 per game on a team with 31-5 with Lonzo Ball. Michigan was one spot behind and we all know how much our basketball program struggles with attendance. They just don't care.
Re-Mountains and hiking and whatnot, I'm in Oregon and the immense number of cool mountain related activities doesn't impact their fandom much. I can't speak to surfing. I'm skeptical on how many people are actually spurning UCLA football games to go surfing or mountain driving and would totally be going if those weren't available. Especially since traffic is apparently another one of the reasons people won't go. You're going to have traffic on the way to the beach or mountains too.
September 5th, 2022 at 1:29 PM ^
By the way, saying there's more going on in LA and NYC, which seems to me pretty factual, doesn't mean I think they're better than Detroit.
I love Detroit, for what it does have, including its resilience. I've marched there, gone to games there, seen shows there, studied there—and partied, in a group and in a pair, to Motown music.
Remember that cheesy McConaughey car commercial in Detroit? I'm so fond of the place, and so pissed that it became a joke to much of the country, that the commercial made me teary.
September 5th, 2022 at 8:20 PM ^
Night life is not a substitute for football which happens during the day, especially on the West Coast when football starts earlier. In LA, it's hard to want to sit in front of the TV or bake on bleachers for four hours when there are amazing outdoor activities (key root word active) to do.
To the point about traffic, Westwood is about 10-15 min drive to the beach and mountains, 30 min bike ride so in the context of UCLA, traffic to games in way worse from the west side of LA where many UCLA fans reside. Not to mention going that direction means you're leaving perfect 80 degree weather to bake in a 95 degree valley just 20 miles away. UCLA attendance would be 3x better with an on campus stadium.
September 5th, 2022 at 2:52 PM ^
I live in Atlanta and can go to the mountains or beach (Atlantic or gulf) any weekend I want. We have all the same junk any major city has. People would still rather watch cfb because football is part of our culture. You base those other activities around being able to watch the game that weekend.
September 5th, 2022 at 3:02 PM ^
Can you do all those in a single day?
September 5th, 2022 at 3:16 PM ^
Mountains and Atlanta activities, yes. Shoot the hooch or go boating on Lanier too . Beach trips are better for whole weekends.
September 5th, 2022 at 8:28 PM ^
Except for UCLA fans, the beach and mountains are literally in their backyards and hence that's their culture. It takes a long, painful drive and effort to get to the game so that's not the culture.
ATL is the reverse in terms of accessibility. And the population of ATL is mostly southern transplants that are also cfb crazy, similar to Chicago. The populations of LA and NY are mostly not cfb crazy people.
September 5th, 2022 at 10:05 PM ^
I don't doubt your hillbilly credentials. I assume you wouldn't use MgoHillbilly if you weren't the get-yoo-ine article.
But living in the big city? Talking about going to the beach? I hope you still prefer moonshine to wine.
September 6th, 2022 at 9:24 AM ^
Whisky.
For background, my family were among the first white settlers in the Cherokee area of North Carolina Appalachia. Family reunions there every year. Have a family home in Dahlonega. Used to run around barefoot picking huckleberries as a kid for pies that my great ma-maw would bake.
September 5th, 2022 at 2:59 PM ^
Especially because that’s more typically, “surfs up, dude” followed by a 15 min commute to an epic golf course “tee it up, dude” having lunch while waiting for the midday traffic to clear and deciding to “hit up Big Bear for some fresh mountain air” before sunset (at least during summer days).
September 5th, 2022 at 2:45 PM ^
I grew up around Detroit. I’m a member the DAC and I visit a lot. I love Detroit. I have friends and family all over Michigan. I’ve lived in a number of large cities. I presently live in LA. You could not be more wrong that you can do anything in any semi-big city as you can in LA (and especially not Detroit).
September 5th, 2022 at 6:10 PM ^
Well, enlighten us. What all can you do in L.A. (tourist stuff doesn't count as people who live there aren't doing that all the time) that you can't do in any other city? I've heard surfing so far but pretty sure that doesn't account for all of the empty seats.
September 5th, 2022 at 5:26 PM ^
As someone who has lived in LA his whole life besides four years in ann arbor, I don't think it's about having other stuff to do getting in the way of going to football but rather having other stuff to do filling a giant city making it a pain in the ass to go to a football game. I went to every Rose Bowl Michigan went to when I was a kid and good lord the traffic/parking/departing situation was awful. If you live in ann arbor its just a fun, exciting walk. I can't imagine 100k people all heading to a NY stadium along the same subway lines.
Nowadays, maybe im just old, maybe the product is shit comparatively, but I have no interest in going to a game in person even with the best weather let alone in the middle of a heat wave.
September 5th, 2022 at 7:59 PM ^
I am from Michigan and love it, and now live in LA and this is just not true. In Detroit, you can't do half the outdoor things in the fall that you can do in LA. Many things you can never do in Detroit like rocking climbing, mountain biking, hiking, surfing, etc. And then in the fall you can go to the beach, boating, etc etc. when you can't in Detroit.
I love watching football (obviously) but in October in Michigan, all the fun summer stuff is over and none of the fun winter stuff has started and weather is bleak and gray and being inside or at a football stadium watching football is truly one of the best and only things to do.
September 5th, 2022 at 1:08 PM ^
to be fair....
September 5th, 2022 at 1:48 PM ^
Upvote for this little gem, Rabbit21
Me to wife: "I love college football. I'm a benighted Midwesterner."
Wife: "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Me: "I just told you."
September 5th, 2022 at 7:22 PM ^
LA resident here. Midwesterners absolutely have better fan cultures because they care deeply about what teenage strangers do in a game with a funny shaped ball on Saturdays and people in LA don't care.
I'm not sure LA fans need to "defend" themselves about not caring, but for the most part, yeah, they don't care.
But also, you can seek out the niche culture here (which kind of goes for any interest in LA) by going to a sports bar and being amongst plenty of people that care about college football. You just don't see flags on cars and t-shirts while walking around, which is fine. It's not pervasive and all-encompassing like in the midwest (and south, I assume).
Another interesting thing about the culture here is that I assumed it was a class thing in LA and SF (ie rich wealthy people with more important things to care about), but my wife is from rural, working class central valley of California.
Very few people here care about sports and despite there being nothing else too do there (it's basically Oklahoma in CA - way less to do than Michigan). It is incredibly boring. My inlaws just sit around and talk about the shed they're building or the best way to get to Visalia and I don't even think they knew football was on Thanksgiving Day until I came along and turned it on (they think I'm peculiar).
So yeah, there's just no sports culture for some reason in large parts of the state.
September 5th, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
They need a better conference and bigger payout. Then it'll all be better.
September 5th, 2022 at 11:57 AM ^
Should be plenty of good seats for Michigan fans when we eventually play them in LA in 2030 or whatever.
September 5th, 2022 at 11:57 AM ^
I bet it'll be full the 1st time Michigan goes there.
September 5th, 2022 at 11:59 AM ^
When we played there in 2000, they had their largest non-USC crowd in ages.
September 5th, 2022 at 12:02 PM ^
It was over 100 hot in the valley. No one left the house but to the beach Saturday…
September 5th, 2022 at 1:25 PM ^
Rational move to stay at home in that hot weather. Sunstroke can happen.
September 5th, 2022 at 2:36 PM ^
Agreed. Crazy, dangerously hot all weekend. In my opinion, the difference between 90-degrees and 107 is like the difference between 32-degrees and 0. Not mathematically, but in bearability. I would go to a football game in 32 degree weather, but not 0. Same with extreme heat.