In Reply to: So I guess your logic is to... posted by Bru-n-fan on November 20, 2025 at 21:39:26
I guess we are just going to overlook the fact that attendance over the past several seasons has clearly indicated that fans didn't find nearly enough of the "good stuff" you refer to to actually attend games at the Rose Bowl.
And my attitude is the problem? I attended UCLA hone games when they were still at the Coliseum and many games at the Rose Bowl after that. For several decades now the Rose Bowl has been the "Grand Daddy of the all" in name only, trying to live off it's past while providing little more than nostalgia in the present, and in the regard, maybe you're right, maybe it is the perfect home for UCLA football, a program and its stadium both pretending they are still somehow relevant long after they have become sad relics of their former selves.
The fact is that the venue isn't very good for the sole purpose for which it exists. Most of the sight lines suck, it lacks modern amenities, has schitty food options, is fully exposed to the sun for several hours of each day, is more a museum of what stadiums used to be than truly functional stadium for the times in which it presently exists. And it's far, very far, from campus, and huge, way bigger than UCLA has ever needed but for the occasional games, where the extra capacity has really just served to lessen our homefield advantage by providing enough capacity for the opposing teams fans to get as many tickets as they'd like. And the lease UCLA signed is a shovel which has helped the program to dig itself into a progressively deeper hole every year since it was inked.
I get it, some people have a fetish for old cars, love the inefficient lines, the clunky nostalgia, the freedom of no modern comfort or safety features, because it reminds them of something that was or perhaps they imagine it was, but it surely isn't anymore. For most, they prefer sitting in something that is comfortable, efficient, and connected to the present. For the classic car fanatics, there are little shows all over the place where they can get their fix, but they sure as hell don't need a 92,000 seat stadium for the crowd.
Is Sofi a perfect solution, of course not. Is it even a good solution, who knows, probably not. But what we do know for sure is that the Rose Bowl has for many years no longer been a viable home for UCLA football. There are tradeoffs and compromises with any decision. Some will find things they love about Sofi, some will hate it, some will choose to remain in the past, My prediction is that the Rose Bowl doesn't make it another 20 years, that it is redeveloped. Times change, I don't always love it myself, but it's constant.