David Hookstead
Videos by OutKick
UCLA’s crowd for the opener against Bowling Green was embarrassingly low.
The Bruins blew out the Falcons 45-17 to get the season rolling, but they didn’t do it with a ton of people in the stands of the Rose Bowl.
Los Angeles Times reporter Ben Bolch reported the crowd of 27,143 fans was an all-time attendance low.
To make matters even worse, the visuals of the Rose Bowl sitting practically empty for the start of the season are downright humiliating.
If you’re a fan of the Bruins and it doesn’t make you upset, something is wrong with you. There are big high school games in parts of the country that draw more fans.
UCLA is bound for the Big Ten starting in 2024, and the program better figure out a way to get people interested in football again because this is unacceptable.
Yes, it’s Los Angeles and there are plenty of things to do outside of college football, but there’s never a reason for the Rose Bowl to sit empty for a game, especially the home opener.
It’s an embarrassing look for the Bruins and it should be concerning for the Big Ten as well. The B1G wants programs with fired up fan bases.
Judging from the video above, do the Bruins look energized to you? The answer is obvious and the answer is no.
It won’t be an easy fix, but someone at UCLA needs to figure out a way to pack the stands once again.
I’m guessing everyone in LA is still so afraid of COVID they have been scared off. Sad to see what’s happened to west coast football. Oregon looked great didn’t they? Lol. If USC makes a glorious comeback with Lincoln then maybe they have something, but I can’t say I want that. I’m an ex-Californian living in Texas (yes, I vote red) who played in the PAC-10, and I want the PAC to fall apart. The west coast used to be the best, but sadly now I cheer for its demise. I don’t want them to “fall in the ocean” or anything, I just want them to start paying the price for their incompetence. Something that doesn’t seem to happen quick enough. Is this empty Rose bowl a sign of collapse? I don’t know, but at least it’s something.
This comment is riddled with ridiculous falsehoods that read like Lachlan Murdoch’s production meeting notes. No one in. LA is avoiding crowds because of Covid – this is just bigoted nonsense. Dodger stadium is packed , Universal too -and the SM pier , Hollywood bowl , beaches etc and USC had 50000 show up.
Further, California has a 100 billion dollar budget surplus and an economy larger than all but five nations. Hollywood is booming, biotech is booming , regular tech is booming , Lithium valley is about to boom – and liberal Washington state is regularly deemed the best place to live in the USA. No rational person thinks this is west coast incompetence.
Meanwhile in conservative Mississippi the capital has no water, conservative Louisiana is a failed state, people in conservative Oklahoma die 6 years before Californians – 7 before Hawaiians. Florida is forcing raped 10 year olds to give birth, Houston was voted the worst city in the USA, Conservative Alaska has the highest crime rate , Texas the most pregnant teens… Iowa would fail with out yearly bailouts from blue states. . so in fact compared to the flyover hellscape California is doing rather well. I’d urge your to stop investing far Right propaganda.
UCLA attendance was so low because school hasn’t started, it was over 100 degrees, UCLA is not a football school , the Rose bowls is far from Westwood and Chip Kelly is overrated. The end .
That LA market is not as attractive as the Big 10,12,14 thinks it is…. 😂😂😂😂😂
In their defense, it was over 100 degrees that day and they’re playing Bowling Green.
Nice try lol