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gbruin's avatar

The Rose Bowl may be a recruiting tool for us, but it's a detriment to home field advantage, it's an inspirational target for opponents, the distance from campus weakens the game day atmosphere, and if you don't put 70K plus in there there are so many empty seats that it's a bad look. Hey, I loved game day at the Rose Bowl but there are better options for improving the environment around U.C.L.A. football.

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Stan Gomez's avatar

If we have a competitive program we will put 70K plus in the stands. Even more. I was at LSU games when they were losing & got free tickets and plenty of leg room. If you have the kind of program we had had lately, poor attendance is common. Building a 55K stadium to improve the program , is putting the cart before the horse. It’s a hassle getting to campus for a basketball game that seats 13k & we rarely sell out for that because of the inconvenience.

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Evan's avatar

very good point about basketball. bigger pain in the ass to get to Pauley in rush hour than dodger stadium

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gbruin's avatar

And I'd argue that 70K fans (oh, if only) in a 95K capacity stadium looks bad on TV and gives a bad impression of the program.

And getting to an on campus stadium wouldn't be any harder than getting to Pasadena on a Saturday in the fall. Traffic in Los Angeles will be an inconvenience anywhere - unless you are among the 20K students who live within a couple miles of campus. For them, it becomes incredibly convenient.

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Stan Gomez's avatar

Where would an on campus stadium be built? There isn’t a square ft left not to mention parking ! Ain’t gonna happen. Playing in a new stadium never makes you a good football team. The Rose Bowl has never been an issue until the program became below average. If we win, The Rosebowl will be full again .

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May 30, 2022
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gbruin's avatar

Geez, so many negative nancies here. Name some of your exaggerated "1000" factors and come up with solutions. You mentioned tailgating? Probably the least of the issues but...Scuplture garden. Royce Plaza. Wilson Plaza. Parking lots. Around Pauley. Anywhere on campus or around the periphery of the stadium (there would be room on the current IM field). Also, what percent of fans at the Rose Bowl tailgate? It isn't 100%, plus the students already rule The Hill and the apartments. There's way more than enough room for tailgating.

Electricity, IT, water, sewage...these are bigger issues, but all these things have solutions - as long as anyone wants to grow a pair big enough to take it on.

If UCLA can drop a state of the art hotel/conference center in the middle of campus, they can certainly build a football field with fancy bleachers.

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gbruin's avatar

It would fit in place of Drake. Need to dig down to protect some sightlines a bit but there is certainly room for it. I'd actually turn it 90 degrees and leave the east end relatively open to get the view toward Royce quad. And I just explained that parking exists - it just wouldn't be in a centralized area but there is sufficient parking on campus and at outer lots in Westwood already.

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May 30, 2022
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W412's avatar

We could hold events at the soccer stadium.

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Evan's avatar

was Pauley a detriment to us during the Alford years when it was half full? No. it was half full BECAUSE we had bad teams. Rose Bowl is half empty because we suck. A really good year for UCLA football is by October we have an outside shot of winning the South if we beat USC.

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