Bruins Disappoint on Field, at Gate

UCLA’s forgettable football season will be felt in the athletic department’s pocketbook.

The Bruins, whose only game at the Rose Bowl in the last three weeks of the season will be against Oregon on Nov. 11, will probably wind up about $200,000 short of what they budgeted for home-game revenues, said Steve Salm, associate athletic director in charge of business and finance.

UCLA could lose another $150,000 if the USC-UCLA game is not nationally televised, as UCLA expected it to be, Salm said.

“It would have been fine if the team had been more successful,” Salm said. “If we would have beaten Tennessee, we would have sold more tickets for Michigan, and if we had beaten Michigan, we would have sold a lot more tickets for Arizona State.

“It either builds and builds, in terms of walk-up sales, or it deteriorates, depending on how the team is doing.”

Salm, though, said that UCLA’s worst season in 10 years doesn’t necessarily mean that season-ticket sales will be down next year, when the Bruins play Oklahoma, Stanford and USC at the Rose Bowl.

“We have a great home schedule next year,” he said. “We’re hopeful that we can hold on or maybe even move forward in season-ticket sales.”