UCLA Football: Will we have a sold-out Rose Bowl? Maybe not quite yet

Chip Kelly might be able to change the UCLA football team – but don’t expect him to singlehandedly fill the Rose Bowl – at least not at the very beginning of football season.

Yes, Kelly is a big name hire who led Oregon to the kind of national prominence UCLA football fans can only dream of after going 10-15 the past two years. But he’s fighting an uphill battle – one the ticketing and marketing department probably cares about more – to fill seats.

There are the suspects, some usual and some new, that will stop UCLA fans from traveling to Pasadena. The biggest is a fellow named LeBron James who’ll be headlining at the Staples Center this fall with former UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball.

Lakers seats are now championship contenders and the hottest thing in town thanks to LeBron with the cheapest season tickets going up from $3,499 to $5,800.

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The Dodgers (who are positioned to make another World Series Run), the Clippers and crosstown rival USC could also lure fans away from the Rose Bowl as well.

Combine that with the beach, movie premieres, concerts, festivals, restaurants and other iconic places that are scattered throughout Los Angeles and there’s plenty of options for fans who don’t want to navigate the hour-plus traffic just to get to the stadium.

The biggest roadblock, however, is UCLA’s own reputation.

What Chip Kelly did in Eugene doesn’t guarantee wins – the most seat-filling marketing campaign a sports team can have – in Pasadena.

And the Bruins will struggle initially.

Kelly hasn’t coached a football game in two years and a college game in six years, but inherits a Bruin squad that had the worst rushing defense in the country last year, and will have a young team with freshman Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Michigan transfer Wilton Speight likely battling it out for the starting spot at quarterback.

Add in a relentless schedule including games against Oklahoma, Fresno State, Stanford, USC, and Washington, it might take a while for Kelly and his team to get their bearings in the Pac-12.

There’s a chance they’ll get those big wins that eluded former coach Jim Mora for the last three years. If Kelly and UCLA prove they deserve to be part of the national conversation, attendance should climb.

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But if they don’t prove themselves, UCLA fans will be heading to Santa Monica’s beaches, hitting up Lakers games and maybe catching the football game at their local sports bar- anything but wasting their time in traffic to watch their team lose in the Rose Bowl yet again.