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Troy Aikman embarrassed by UCLA football attendance: ‘It may as well be empty’
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- Troy Aikman embarrassed by UCLA football attendance: ‘It may as well be empty’
Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Troy Aikman is happy about the UCLA Bruins football program, he's happy about head coach Bob Chesney, but he's not happy with the fans.
Aikman joined The Musers for his weekly appearance on The Ticket in Dallas Thursday morning. And instead of asking about the turmoil inside ESPN's Monday Night Football booth, Aikman was asked about a topic he's much more bullish on, his alma mater .
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UCLA is off to a surprising 8-0 start this college football season, and while Aikman is excited about the Bruins and their first-year head coach Bob Chesney, he's not sure why other fans don't seem to share his enthusiasm.
"Little embarrassing that we were 7-0 going into last week's game and, they shoot it pretty low (on TV) so you can't really tell when you're watching the game, I'm told there was about 20-25,000 people at the game," Aikman said. "So when you have a stadium at the Rose Bowl that holds over 100,000, 25,000, it may as well be empty as opposed to some other stadiums that maybe hold 40,000.
"We've got to get people going to games, we've got to get them excited about it. And then you say, 'Well, how do you get them excited? If 7-0 doesn't get them excited, what will?' I don't know the answer to that."
The announced attendance for UCLA's eighth win of the season over Nevada last weekend was 24,611. Aikman was not one of the 24,611 fans at the game against Nevada, but the Monday Night Football analyst said he's trying to figure out a way to be there for UCLA's game against USC on Nov. 28.
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UCLA averaged around 37,000 fans at the Rose Bowl last season, which was a record low. But they were 3-9 last season. This season, UCLA is 8-0 and they're still on pace to break that record, averaging just over 33,000 fans per game at the Rose Bowl. UCLA has proven capable of drawing big crowds. There were seasons in the mid 2000s and 2010s where they averaged more than 70,000 fans per game.
But being 8-0 and struggling to fill more than a quarter of the Rose Bowl's full capacity is not a great look for UCLA in 2026. And it's a look Aikman fears might drive Chesney to a bigger program.
"I'm hopeful he stays," Aikman said of Chesney. "Hopeful that UCLA takes care of him."
The post Troy Aikman embarrassed by UCLA football attendance: 'It may as well be empty' appeared first on Awful Announcing .
