Josh Rebholz noticed something in the sky.
A couple hours before UCLA held its first football game at the Rose Bowl in September, a plane was flying around the stadium, carrying a message.
It was about the new team in town.
The NFL was back, it made clear to everyone in its path. The recently relocated Los Angeles Rams would open their season two days later, officially ending professional football’s 21-year absence in the region.
Fall promised to be different.
With the Rams’ return, the nation’s second-largest market would be a little more crowded.
They represented more competition, presenting local football fans with another viewing option for weekends and another potential investment for loyalty.
“They’re the challenger,” said Rebholz, a senior associate director for external relations at UCLA. “They’re the one that’s trying to claw up to our status and USC’s status and they’re trying to get some of our fans to transition over to theirs.”
The Rams, though, are now not alone.
Last month, the Chargers became the second NFL team in the past year to relocate to Los Angeles, moving up Interstate 5 from San Diego.
It puts UCLA and USC in a new position. For the past two decades, the area’s two major college football programs operated as de facto professional teams, playing in iconic 90,000-seat stadiums, draping freeway billboards with their players and commanding most of the spotlight.
But as the NFL entrenches itself in Los Angeles, how much of that status quo will be overhauled?
People in the seats
Despite a thrilling Rose Bowl win over Penn State to end the season, USC played most of its home games in front of a half-full Coliseum crowd.
The Trojans drew an average of 68,459 fans, the lowest for a season since 2002. It was a 9 percent decrease from the previous year and could have been attributed to several factors. There were awkward start times, lackluster home matchups against Utah State and a slumping Oregon team, and most notably a 1-3 start.
The Rams playing their first season in L.A. is not among those reasons, according to interviews with a half-dozen sport business experts.
No matter the changes in the professional sports landscape, the college teams retain a built-in fan base starting with their alumni.
“I graduated from USC, I didn’t graduate from the Rams,” said David Carter, executive director of the USC Marshall Sports Business Institute and founder of the Sports Business Group consulting firm.
UCLA drew an average of 67,459 at the Rose Bowl last season, a 1 percent increase, despite its 4-8 record. Crowds are still in sharp decline since the program set an all-time attendance record in 2014 (76,650).
Past figures do not suggest a correlation between the NFL’s presence and interest in college football.
When the NFL bolted from L.A. prior to the 1995 season, the impact was minimal on USC and UCLA home games. Neither school saw a boon in attendance from the 1994 season when there were two NFL teams in town with the Rams and Raiders. USC’s home attendance went up by 2 percent. UCLA’s fell by 4 percent.
NFL fans seeking a football fix didn’t turn to the college teams once the Rams and Raiders left, said Dean Baim, professor of economics and finance at Pepperdine and a UCLA season-ticket holder. The products between the NFL and college football are inherently different.
“The whole pageantry that comes along with college football is much different than an NFL game,” said Steve Lopes, USC’s chief operating officer and a longtime senior associate athletic director. “So if people want the connection to this brand, which includes things like Traveler, the band, the song girls, all those things, that’s what we’re selling.”
While the schools don’t expect a significant change in the number of fans attending due to the presence of NFL teams, fans who do make the game-day trek can expect changes at two of the most storied venues in Southern California.
In 2019, the Rams will unveil a $2.6 billion stadium in Inglewood where the Chargers will join them. The 80,000-seat venue will have more than 200 luxury suites and almost 20,000 club seats. Meanwhile, the Rose Bowl and the Coliseum are playing catch-up, hoping old-school tradition can compete with top-of-the-line modern amenities.
Improving the game day experience, from the ease of parking to restrooms to public Wi-Fi, is critical for UCLA and USC to keep their venues on pace with Inglewood’s looming sports cathedral.
“If you don’t re-double to make sure your customers are content, you run the risk of losing them,” Carter said.
Because UCLA plays at the Rose Bowl under a lease agreement, the university must work with the Rose Bowl Operating Committee (ROBC) on any changes to the stadium. Improving game day operations is of utmost importance to the ROBC as the state-of-the-art, multi-use NFL stadium threatens the iconic stadium’s ability to host concerts and soccer matches.
“The traditional, 100,000 seats in a bowl is becoming obsolete,” Rebholz said.
The Coliseum is in line for a $270 million facelift starting in 2018. The renovation will add new seats, video boards and concessions while upgrading the concourses and Wi-Fi. USC started its fundraising campaign for the project this year, looking for capital gifts and revenue from corporate sponsorship.
The new-and-improved Coliseum is slated to open in 2019, the same time the Rams and Chargers break in their stadium. The two projects could compete for sponsorship funds in the crowded market.
“There are only so many sports marketing dollars in any one market,” Carter said.
‘Hollywood football’
It was a who’s who in Los Angeles.
When USC hosted Ohio State for a nonconference football game in early September during the 2008 season, the school reportedly issued more than 150 sideline passes for the game.
The star-studded home sideline at the Coliseum included Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington and then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
One player posed to take a photo with Schwarzenegger during the game.
“I want it as hyped and as big time as possible,” former USC coach Pete Carroll said during a segment on “60 Minutes” later that month..
Without a professional football team, the highly successful college football team emerged as the preeminent show on fall weekends.
“It was Hollywood football,” said Ben Malcolmson, a personal assistant for Carroll, in “Cardinal and Gold,” an oral history of USC football published last year.
Celebrities crowded the field for games. Rapper Snoop Dogg joined the team at practices. The seats became packed.
As USC won seven consecutive Pac-10 championships from 2002-08, including consecutive national championships in 2003 and 2004, it averaged more than 80,000 for home games.
With the NFL’s arrival adding more teams to the local sports scene, would it be possible for a college program to again carry that level of cultural significance?
“I don’t think there’s any doubt,” Carter said. “We tend to rally around winning teams. We tend to rally around victories that come with a lot of energy and captivate the city. So, whether that’s USC football or the resurgence of the Lakers, Southern Californians are ready for that. They’ll embrace that.”
Jeff Fellenzer, a USC professor who teaches a course in sports, business and media, agreed.
Fellenzer pointed to the recent renaissance of UCLA men’s basketball, which has been ranked as high as No. 3 this season and boasts one of the most proficient offenses of the past decade.
With two NBA teams in town, plus USC, the Bruins have packed their home building.
Four of their 12 games at Pauley Pavilion have sold out, including three of the four Pac-12 games. Celebrities like Magic Johnson, Jessica Alba and Vince Vaughn have lined the courtside seats.
Look at three factors, the professor said: Winning, winning in a thrilling fashion and a star player in Lonzo Ball, who could be a top pick in the NBA draft in June.
“All of a sudden now you got regular sellouts,” Fellenzer said
The Trojans’ teams of last decade carried similar high-profile talent, especially on offense with quarterback Matt Leinart and running back Reggie Bush, who each won the Heisman Trophy following the 2004 and 2005 regular seasons. Bush later vacated the award for accepting impermissible benefits.
Along with success, how you do it matters.
“In L.A., you have to do it with some flair,” Carter said. “Would we still be talking about ‘Showtime’ if the Lakers ran a half-court offense?”
By 2009, USC was named the “program of the decade,” according to Sports Illustrated. Its success on the field translated to their domination of a Los Angeles market that is singularly interested in winning.
The Rams, meanwhile, have not reached the playoffs since 2004. And the Chargers? Only one playoff appearance in the past seven years.
“Particularly until the Chargers or the Rams begin to build a competitive program,” Baim said, “I don’t think ‘SC or UCLA have much to worry about.”
