The Rose Bowl has history unlike any stadium in the country, but if former UCLA star quarterback Troy Aikman had his way the Bruins wouldn't be calling it their home anymore. Chip Kelly has his team off to a 3-0 start but it has come with its challenges including needing to squeeze out a one-point win over South Alabama on Saturday.
After the game the Bruins celebrated the victory with plenty of excitement in the locker room, which could be seen on social media. While that was going on, Aikman took to Twitter to voice his opinion about the continuing trend of small crowds at the Rose Bowl.
A photo posted by Sports Illustrated writer Ross Dellenger showing the sparse crowd during Saturday's game — official attendance was listed at 29,344 — was quote tweeted by Aikman along with his opinion on the poor attendance through the first three home games.
"This is an embarrassment but we couldn’t fill the Rose Bowl in 1988 when we were the #1 team in the country," he wrote. "Anyone else at UCLA think it’s time for an on-campus 30,000 seat stadium? Of course, if we can’t play better than we did today, it would be half-empty too."
Blistering heat for the morning kickoff in the season opener against Bowling Green could be partly blamed for a season-low 27,143 fans in attendance, which brought jokes from across social media. However, the following game didn't see a large improvement as only 33,727 fans decided to show up last week against Alabama State in much better weather conditions.
UCLA has a lot to be happy about with how its season has started, but the lack of fans in the stands at the Rose Bowl seems to be a theme that could continue throughout the season with fans seemingly voicing their opinion about the team through their lack of support.