In Reply to: This is L.A. If you don't win, you don't draw. * posted by BluBlood on August 17, 2025 at 21:47:07
One of my long standing issues with Ucla is the lack of legacies that Ucla lets happen. When you go around the country, generations grow up going to the same university so you see the alumni support just continue to build. I had season tickets to Ucla during the Dorrell years going into early Neuheisal years. For the record, going to home games involves air travel and I was finally in a financial position that it was really easy though. I intentionally got season tickets on the sunny side in the alumni section because of the energy levels. The thing that really stood out though was how few of those older alumni that didn't have kids at Ucla and how many of the kids where qualified to go to Ucla, but didn't get accepted.
I get the argument of having a winning program brings people, but if you keep in mind that back then LA didn't have NFL teams, the Angels were the better of the So Cal teams in baseball, and pro sports (and sports in general) were no where near as expensive, I could see the writing on the wall that if you aren't replacing your older alumni in ticket sales, you'd see issues down the road.
I still think there is a double edge sword to having a winning program in that if you have a passionate fan base, it's easier to win. If you have to win to build the fanbase, I think that gets harder in CFB. And now you have to compete with two NFL teams and the cost of sports is really high.
When I grew up in LA, you really did see two shirts on a regular basis worn by kids. Ucla and $c. Now if I visit, I barely see Ucla anywhere. I just think that you really have to put a concentrated effort into kids growing up wearing those letters also.