Great athletic performances do not necessarily carry price tags

By J.P. Hoornstra
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
[email protected]

  ED OYAMA/DAILY BRUIN

Jonathan Bryant appreciates the value of getting involved in the
school community. It has cost him on at least one occasion.

Like all incoming UCLA students last fall, Bryant received with
his orientation materials the opportunity to sign up for a Student
Sports Package, season tickets to all UCLA basketball and football
home games ““ for $119, the perfect opportunity to get
acclimated to Bruin culture.

“I wanted to be able to get involved in the whole UCLA
scene, to check out the games ““ that’s where all the
students are going,” he said.

All of them, perhaps, except Bryant. One year later, after
having attended one football game and “two or three”
basketball contests, his hindsight is 20/20.

“Being that I’m not the huge sports fan, I
wasn’t following it; the games kinda snuck up on
me.”

Bryant is one of approximately 4,700 students that bought an SSP
last year, and undoubtedly many of them got more for their money in
terms of games attended than he did. Regardless, one detail is
advertised less aggressively to all of them: football and
basketball are the only UCLA teams students have to pay to watch at
home.

Some of these teams ““ gymnastics (three NCAA titles in the
last six years), softball (eight in the last 20 years), and
men’s volleyball (five in the last 10 years) have established
a tradition as national-contending teams, and are among the
winningest programs in the NCAA.

  EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Stacey
Nuveman hit .529 to lead UCLA softball to the 2002 College
World Series.

But this isn’t the tradition that matters when it comes to
putting students in the seats.

“I’m sure they have tickets for baseball, soccer,
hockey and other sports, but I’m not interested in
them,” said Darryl Young, another student who purchased the
same SSP last fall before his first year at UCLA.

“Football and basketball are what UCLA’s known for
the most,” he added.

The numbers (football has one national title in its 83-year
history, basketball has one since 1976) seem to disagree.

But the popularity of these “revenue sports” is a
foregone conclusion in the sports marketing office, where marketing
director Scott Mitchell oversees a plan for each of UCLA’s 22
NCAA programs.

“For softball,” he said, “you know
you’re going after younger players and their families.”
The same is true, he said, for other non-revenue sports like
gymnastics, soccer and swimming.

The cost of going after fans is what separates the
“revenue” from the “non-revenue” sports.
According to Mitchell, the marketing expenses for men’s
basketball nears $25,000, while football expenditures total
approximately $330,000 alone. The other 19 programs are allotted
$100,000 between them.

That’s not cool with everybody.

“UCLA boasts the number one athletic program in the
world,” women’s gymnastics head coach Valerie
Kondos-Field said. “What’s that based on? The
championships. Who have won those titles? The Olympic
sports.”

“What I’ve enjoyed, being here for 22 years, is that
I can go up to Easton Stadium and see the best softball being
playing in the world. I can go into Pauley Pavilion and see the
best volleyball played in the country. I can go to Pauley and see
some of the best gymnasts in the world. That is what I don’t
feel gets marketed out there … especially to our student
body,” she added.

While more aggressive marketing has brought in fans from around
Los Angeles to watch UCLA softball on weekends, weekday games are
sparsely attended, according to head coach Sue Enquist.

  Daily Bruin File Photo Lena Nilsson is
the NCAA champion in the 1500m (4:12.60) and No. 2 in UCLA
history.

“The one area where I wish I had more (marketing) help is
in our student body,” softball head coach Sue Enquist
said.

“It’s a dollars issue, and the bottom line is …
let’s do a good job of promoting the sports where there is a
product. A lot of times, people just haven’t been lured into
the arena of the sport to enjoy it.”

Cyndi Gallagher has been the women’s swimming head coach
for 14 years. From her vantage point, the home crowds at Sunset
Canyon Recreation Center have consisted mostly of the friends and
families of athletes. The students in the crowd are either friends
of the athletes or passers-by who hear cheers on their way to the
dorms.

Between moms, dads and vagrant students, the seats are usually
full. Still, Gallagher feels that “our marketing people need
to do a better job.”

Mitchell is quick to point out that every poster produced for
the non-revenue teams advertises the free student admission. But
it’s clear that $100,000, distributed among 19 sports, can
only go so far.

According to Sports Information director Marc Dellins, UCLA
football (including radio and television money, but not donations
or corporate sponsorships) is projected to generate $17.6 million
in 2002; men’s basketball is projected for $7.9 million. The
non revenue sports, meanwhile, are projected to garner $202,000
combined.

Last year’s incoming class was told in the orientation
package advertisement that, along with their purchase of an SSP,
they would receive free admission to all other UCLA regular-season
home athletic events.

They didn’t notice. And economically speaking,
that’s fine with UCLA.