Ticket prices increase when UCLA football hosts top-ranked schools
By Matt Joye
July 28, 2014 12:00 a.m.
Last November, the UCLA Central Ticket Office began offering season ticket opportunities for the 2014 UCLA football season, featuring six Bruin home games at the Rose Bowl. Similar to past seasons, the ticket prices changed again, but the price changed by a greater degree than usual this year.
Even though the UCLA football team finished with just one more win in 2013 than it did in 2012, the average season ticket price increased by over 40 percent for the upcoming football season. Entering the 2013 season, the average season ticket price dropped 26 percent from the year before, even though the Bruins had improved their record from 6-8 in 2011 to 9-5 in 2012.
So, why such a steep increase in 2014? And what caused the decrease in 2013?
The answer has less to do with the UCLA football team’s improved records and recent Rose Bowl renovations and more to do with the increased competition in the Bruins’ home schedule this season, said UCLA Associate Athletic Director Scott Mitchell.
“Prices change based on opponents,” Mitchell said. “That plays into it probably more than most other things.”
In 2013, UCLA football did not host one opponent ranked in the preseason AP top 25 poll, including USC. Overall, UCLA’s home opponents in 2013 finished with a combined record of 30-45, although UCLA did host Arizona State, which was ranked in the top 25 later in the season.
The Bruins’ home schedule this year is drastically different, with three games against teams that finished in the AP top 20 at the end of last season. USC finished No. 19, Stanford – the defending Pac-12 champion – finished No. 11, and Oregon finished No. 9. The combined overall record of UCLA’s six 2013 home opponents was 48-30 last year.
Mitchell said that although Oregon and Stanford are perennial powerhouses, the home game against USC plays the biggest role in ticket price increases.
“The big thing is, you know, every other year (UCLA has a home game against) USC,” Mitchell said. “That is a premium game with more interest and really a higher price point. When you compare (prices) year to year, a lot of times in the past we either go up or down (in price) depending on whether we’re playing ‘SC at home or not.”
Mitchell’s words are validated by the year-to-year season ticket price charts. Since 2008, the average season ticket price for UCLA football has decreased by approximately 12 percent from the previous year during the years when UCLA doesn’t play USC at home, while it has increased by an average of approximately 28 percent from the previous year for seasons when USC is included in UCLA’s home football schedule.
With UCLA playing USC at home every other year, the trend has become a slight increase for ticket prices in even-numbered years, or when UCLA plays USC at home, while it decreases slightly in odd-numbered years, or when UCLA plays USC on the road.
This year, however, marks a special case. In what could be considered a perfect storm for tight-budgeted UCLA football fans, the six-game UCLA football home schedule not only features crosstown-rival USC, but also includes Stanford and Oregon teams, which are projected to be ranked even higher than they were at the end of last season. According to the ESPN.com 2014 Preseason Football Power Index, Oregon is the No. 2 team in the nation, while UCLA is No. 5, Stanford is No. 8 and USC is No. 13.
As a result of this high level of competition at the Rose Bowl, the average ticket price this season is as high as it has been in the past eight years.
“This year, we’re playing Oregon at home for the first time in five years, so there’s another premium game, and Stanford has turned into a premium game because they have performed better than any other Pac-12 team the past three years,” Mitchell said.
Despite the increase in opponent prestige and various ticket prices, some prices remain constant. For example, the price for the student-specific Den Sports Pass, which allows access to each of UCLA’s six home games and each home basketball game, has remained stable at a pre-order price of $99 for the past four years.
Also, the price of general admission tickets for youths under age 12 has remained at $5 for the past seven years, although there are certain exceptions, such as when UCLA hosts Oregon and USC this year.
“If you’re under 12, you can get into a majority of our games for five dollars,” Mitchell said. “And so that’s something I feel really, really great about, and something that is important to us.”
With the recent trend of year-to-year oscillation in ticket prices, fans can expect the average ticket prices in 2015 to be significantly lower than they are this year, especially considering UCLA’s two confirmed non-conference home opponents in 2015 – Virginia and BYU – have a 22-28 combined record since the start of the 2012 season.
Compiled by Matthew Joye, Bruin Sports senior staff
