In Reply to: Individually yes these are legitimate reasons. posted by ej on November 12, 2026 at 15:07:01
I've often expressed the same opinion, although most of my frustration is directed toward the athletic department and the students themselves. I actually have a freshman nephew on campus, and I gave him a pretty good talking-to a few days ago. He's a sports kid who played soccer in high school, so I told him there's really no excuse not to attend a basketball game and gave him my pitch on getting involved with the Den and embracing the college experience. He promised he'd make it to a game, but the fact that he needed that much convincing, IMO, speaks to the lack of vision and promotion from those responsible for creating that kind of campus culture. To be fair, I've seen quite a bit more outreach since the new AD took over, and I think we're headed in the right direction.
That said, some of the excuses have merit. I'll be at tonight's football game, but let's be honest, would I have made the trip on a rainy Friday night last year? Probably not. Winning is step one, and both our football and basketball teams look good this year and project to be just as good, if not better, next season. I expect Pauley to be jumping once conference play gets going, and the USC football game will be close to a sellout. We have over 25 people going ourselves, and I'm sure plenty of others are making similar plans. Don't be surprised if attendance looks considerably different next year.
At the end of the day, we're not a small college town where games are the be-all and end-all. Our fans have plenty of other options. But we also have enormous advantages: when our teams are good, our TV ratings are comparable to the top programs in the country. We have one of the largest alumni bases in the nation, tremendous student enrollment, and we're in the second-largest media market in the country. We are the number 1 state university in the country! There are simply too many built-in advantages for us not to have both competitive teams and strong attendance.
Maybe I'm the eternal optimist, but I love what I'm seeing from the new AD and Chesney. I especially like Chesney's messaging. It's a privilege to play at UCLA. No excuses, no woe-is-me attitude, just an understanding of what it means to represent this university. That mindset matters, and I think we're starting to see what it can lead to. I'm genuinely encouraged.