For CSUN Athletics, There’s No Emotion Without Promotion

A recent Cal State Northridge volleyball match at UC Santa Barbara failed to draw a single spectator.

It never gets quite that bad at home for the Matadors. But then, it never gets too good, either.

A couple of hundred may show up for a volleyball match if the team is lucky. A couple of thousand for a football game. North Campus Stadium holds 6,000 for football. It is never required to do so.

That’s pretty pitiful when you consider CSUN has over 28,000 students and plays in an area with a base population of about 1.3 million. The school is drawing fewer than 10% of the student body for football.

Simply put, nobody cares.

Some of the reasons:

Ineptitude on the field. Northridge had a 31-42-1 record over the last seven years, producing just two winning teams over that span.

Apathy on campus. Too many CSUN students come over the hill from Los Angeles to go to class, then disappear right back over the hill as soon as their academic day is done.

Lack of involvement by the administration. Even when you’re the only game in town, you have to do more than just open the doors and collect the tickets. And Northridge football, never strong on promotion, is hardly the only game in town.

Sports fans here have a choice of two professional football teams, two professional basketball teams, two professional baseball teams, a professional hockey club, two major universities, boxing and a smorgasbord of lesser sports all within driving distance of the Valley. Moreover, the level of CSUN opposition is not exactly such to cause a run at the ticket windows. You don’t get a lot of fans camping out overnight to be first in line to see Sacramento State.

Other sports at the school have different problems. The CSUN baseball team, the Division II national champion two years ago, is ranked second in the nation. But without the benefit of lights, it is forced to play afternoon games, losing many potential spectators who either have to work or attend classes. The school has excelled in sports like swimming and volleyball, which don’t draw very well anywhere.

It has never seemed to matter in the past. Administration officials stressed the importance of having a well-balanced athletic program and shrugged their collective shoulders when the subject of fan involvement came up.

But no more.

For the first time, the school has a director of athletic promotions. His name is Ran Railey. His task, as he is the first to admit, is awesome.

“The school has not had a big-time attitude,” Railey says. “In the past, it didn’t matter if 100 people were there or 15,000. The program would still be there tomorrow.

“But now the school is looking to be prominent. What we have to do is to get out and sell it because it is a good program. The problem is, nobody has ever been out there beating the bushes for it.”

Don’t expect immediate dramatic results. We are not going to be suddenly flooded with Ball Night, Bat Day and Swim Fins Night. Even if Railey believed that was the way to go, the funds for such extravagances are not there.

“There is no promotion budget and that is a hindrance,” Railey says. “It takes money to make money.”

Still, Railey has begun. He has instituted a contest at halftime of home basketball games. The names of four students are drawn and they are asked to attempt a layup, a free throw and a basket from midcourt. If they are successful, the student wins tuition for a semester, worth over $300. Those making just the free throw and layup can win a dinner for two at a local restaurant.

There are other plans. Backs are being put on some of the bleacher seats at North Campus Stadium. Railey hopes to make pregame tailgate parties in the North Campus parking lot the place to be in football season. Also, season ticket holders and booster club members will be invited to meet and eat at a gathering before basketball games, and spirit awards will be given to campus clubs that prove to be the best cheerleaders at athletic events. An effort will be made to tie in weekend campus visits by various groups to CSUN games, and a Junior Matador Club may be formed to interest youngsters in the school’s sports.

“The ideas are easy,” Railey says. “It’s getting over the barricades to implement them that is hard.”

A new referendum passed by Northridge students will help. It will increase the money available for scholarships, which will increasing the quality of athletes recruited, while also allowing students to attend events for free.

But cost has never really been the issue. It wasn’t the lack of a few dollars for a ticket that kept students away. It was the lack of interest.

“The school has no tradition,” Railey says. “I don’t know exactly where or how you start it. It doesn’t come overnight. I’ve talked to people at USC and UCLA, and they told me they had problems when they first started. We are undergoing growing pains. We have to get out in the community and get some exposure. One of our biggest problems is how to communicate all this information. Our budget is just not big enough for us to buy ads.”

In the dim and distant future, Jeff Weiner, president of the Associated Students at Northridge, sees really big things.

“It is a major hope on campus,” he says, “for a major stadium and that the football program will move to Division I.”

But that is a long way off, in terms of both time and money.

“At this stage, going to an athletic event at Northridge is not the thing to do,” Railey says. “We’ve got to find some way to get the word out.”

And then he’s got to hope somebody is listening.