ASUCLA hopes for Halloween profits

When the football team “scores big,” so do BearWear
sales, as a result of a discount taken at the UCLA Store the
following Monday.

But the Associated Students of UCLA is relying on today’s
Halloween sale to rescue it from low BearWear revenue, resulting
from the football team’s failure to score touchdowns.

However, this does not mean store officials are implying a
direct cause-and-effect relationship.

“We’re not blaming the performance of the football
team,” said UCLA retail store director Keith Schoen, blaming
instead the design of the Score Big program.

Schoen pointed out that Saturday’s victory against
Stanford did not drive BearWear sales up on Monday since the Bruins
only scored two touchdowns ““ only a 10 percent discount.

ASUCLA gives a 5 percent discount for every touchdown scored on
the Monday after a football game, with a maximum discount of 25
percent.

The ASUCLA store would financially benefit from more touchdowns
scored, but it would rather just have the team win.

“We would rather see teams win all their games than score
a lot of touchdowns and lose,” said UCLA Store General
Merchandise Manager Patrick Healey.

And though the football team is plagued by injuries, Schoen and
Healey are not worried about store profits being threatened, using
Saturday’s 28-18 victory over Stanford as an example.

But there is still light at the end of the tunnel: though Score
Big sales may be down, Sports Marketing Director Scott Mitchell
said the games are generating crowds of over 61,000 on average,
adding there have only been eight years since 1940 in which the
Rose Bowl averaged over 60,000.

“We’ve had great crowds,” Mitchell said.
“Matched against history, we’re doing really
well.”

After three home games last year, when the Bruins were 6-0,
BearWear generated sales of $265,000. Compared with the same period
this year, there is a negative difference of nearly $200,000.

Healey said the high sales last year also reflect the victories
facing highly-ranked opponents, generating a lot of excitement on
campus, and prompting fans to purchase UCLA fan gear.

“This year the teams we’ve played are non-Pac-10
teams. Without those big powerhouse games, it’s a different
feeling from the fans’ perspective,” Healey said.

Fans say just the fact the football team has a 5-3 record
discourages them from buying UCLA gear.

“They’re not winning that much this year, and it
makes me less motivated to show that I’m from UCLA,”
said second-year psychology student Rodolfo Yabut.

Other students make sure to support their school, regardless of
their football team’s success.

“I always want to represent UCLA,” said second-year
sociology student Sam Barkin. “Even if our football
team’s lousy, I’ll still buy BearWear.”

Student union officials are hoping that the annual Halloween
sale ““ where discounts can reach up to 50 percent off ““
can set the store on track again.

Schoen said last year’s Halloween sales dropped $53,000
from their projected revenue because of the success of Score Big
just two days before.

“People just didn’t want to buy more merchandise
after they just stocked up a few days before,” Schoen
said.

But because this past weekend’s Score Big discount was
only 10 percent, ASUCLA is hoping to do better than its projected
$651,000.

The Association has also implemented a Fan Friday program before
the November USC-UCLA game ““ which is anticipated to sell out
in attendance ““ where a 20 percent discount is taken off
merchandise in the BearWear department for customers wearing blue
and gold.

Though Association officials say it is difficult to predict
revenue from the Fan Friday program, they implemented this in order
to help plummeting BearWear sales.

“We’re hoping people will take advantage of this and
buy a baseball cap or something,” Schoen said.

Healey added that ASUCLA was not caught off guard from the low
BearWear revenue from Score Big, because it did not plan the budget
with large Monday sales in mind.