Bowl bid could spark sales boom

Wednesday, December 2, 1998

Bowl bid could spark sales boom

ASUCLA: Football squad may help student union overcome budget
deficit

By Neal Narahara

Daily Bruin Contributor

The continuing good fortunes of the UCLA football team could
mean a small fortune for the Associated Students of UCLA
(ASUCLA).

A chance at the national championship with a berth in the Fiesta
Bowl could mean more than an $800,000 boost in total sales of UCLA
merchandise. These profits would be especially sweet for ASUCLA,
because they were not planned for in the association’s budget.

"We specifically don’t include (those profits) because we know
we can’t count on them," said Patricia Eastman, ASUCLA executive
director.

The $300,000 profit that would result from these increased sales
would take the student store from a budgeted $156,000 loss to a
$150,000 profit, according to Rich Delia, ASUCLA’s chief financial
officer. The windfall profit would also be a significant
contribution to the students’ association as a whole, which
otherwise was targeted to lose $800,000 this year.

ASUCLA is in the process of recovering from financial problems
which resulted in taking a $20 million loan from the university in
1996. It has since been working its way back toward making a
profit.

UCLA’s football team is currently ranked number two in the Bowl
Championship Series rankings, the system that determines which two
teams play for the national championship, leaving the Bruins in a
good position to play in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 4 if they beat the
University of Miami on Saturday.

UCLA holds a sizable, but surmountable lead over third-ranked
Kansas State in the rankings. If Kansas State passes them in the
rankings, the Bruins will still go to the Rose Bowl as the Pac-10
conference champions.

ASUCLA’s projected figures for a bowl berth are based on past
performances by the football team. Because this is the first year
in which there is a designated national championship bowl, the
students’ association has no history on which to base its
projections.

Officials have consequently projected sales to be comparable to
a Rose Bowl berth in years past, since an appearance in the Rose
Bowl tends to bring tourists to Southern California.

"We’d be very happy with any bowl," Eastman said. "Our goal is
to make the most out of wherever we go."

ASUCLA has already started to capitalize on the football team’s
success in its BearWear section of the student store. Displays in
the store tout the football team’s eight straight wins over USC and
Heisman hopeful quarterback Cade McNown.

"There has been a lot of interest in the displays," said Carol
Anne Smart, director of retail operations for ASUCLA. "The fans are
crazy about the team."

According to Smart, there has been a 15 percent increase in
sales in the student store from last year, mostly due to the
football team’s winning record and national championship hopes.

In addition to better sales in the store, ASUCLA concession
sales at the Rose Bowl have doubled, and BearWear orders through
their web site – which constitutes a small portion of the store’s
revenue – have increased dramatically.

ASUCLA plans to produce new football merchandise as soon as the
bowl assignments are announced this Sunday.

The projected windfall in sales is based mostly on sales in the
weeks leading up to the bowl. The outcome of the game can either
greatly increase sales or kill them. Sales will likely improve if
the Bruins win their bowl game – especially if it is the Fiesta
Bowl, Smart said.

"Having the title of national champion would clearly increase
after-bowl sales," Smart said.

Although students’ association officials said they could not
speculate on the effects of different bowl berths on sales, in the
past, a less prestigious bowl game meant fewer sales.

"The Fiesta Bowl is on January 4 – come see me on the fifth and
we’ll talk about (the effect)," Smart said.DAVE HILL

Leonard Cohen, an alumnus who attended UCLA 55 years ago, shops
for a T-shirt at the UCLA Store.

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