UCLA to give all students free tickets to

In a bid to pack the Rose Bowl and Pauley Pavilion, tickets to all UCLA home soccer and males’s and ladies’s basketball video games will likely be free for undergraduate, graduate and extension students going ahead, UCLA athletics announced Wednesday.

Previously, the Bruins had to buy a Den Pass for $199 to gain access to home soccer and males’s basketball video games. Students who have already bought the Den Pass for the 2026-2027 educational yr will likely be reimbursed.

“We have an exciting team led by [head football coach] Bob Chesney and a lot of momentum surrounding UCLA Athletics,” new UCLA chief government and athletic director Tim Harris said in a news release. “Now it’s time for our students to help set the standard. Arrive early. Be loud. Be relentless. We can’t wait to see a sea of Bruin Blue at the Rose Bowl this Saturday.”

The free pupil tickets are one of many adjustments Harris has made in an effort to convey new power to the college’s signature sports activities that had struggled under earlier athletic director Martin Jarmond.

While UCLA’s athletic division has gathered a $222.27-million deficit since the 2020 fiscal yr — the first motive for Jarmond’s dismissal — Wednesday’s adjustments are meant to increase attendance and entice others to pay to be a part of students in the stands.

In 2025, the Bruins recorded their worst home attendance at the Rose Bowl since the workforce moved there in 1982, averaging 37,282 spectators per recreation — far below the stadium’s capability of 92,542. The Rose Bowl has not averaged more than 60,000 spectators in a single season since 2016 and has failed to appeal to more than 50,000 since 2018.

Harris was eager on bettering the fan presence at Chesney’s first Rose Bowl recreation, donating 300 tickets to followers for last week’s recreation against San Diego. Ken Graiwer, chief government of Champion of Westwood, responded by matching Harris’ donation, freely giving 600 tickets.

UCLA announced the scan depend for Saturday’s recreation quite than a tickets-distributed determine generally used by groups, offering an correct tally of people inside the Rose Bowl, according to the California Post.

On Sept. 9, Harris and the athletic division announced the “Fours Up, Fans First” initiative, designed to strengthen the connection between supporters and all of the Bruin sports activities applications while also bettering the soccer game-day expertise at the Rose Bowl.

The marketing campaign is centered around the BruWin Rewards program — a new fan loyalty initiative constructed to reward spectators throughout the yr, giving followers the chance to earn factors that will be redeemed for exclusive rewards, experiences and prizes. Other elements of the initiative embrace fan-friendly ticket pricing, pregame concert events for tailgaters and Bruin legends calling the workforce to the sector before every home recreation.

While UCLA’s home soccer attendance was an apparent sore level, the average turnout at Pauley Pavilion for males’s basketball video games was not a lot better.

The Bruins averaged 7,036 spectators for their home contests, among the bottom in the Big Ten.

With Pauley Pavilion’s location on campus and its proximity to students, males’s basketball might be the most important benefactor of the change, giving the Bruins a aggressive home ambiance for more than just the most important video games of the season — although the athletic division can have to decide how tickets will likely be allotted for UCLA versus USC, which historically attracts a sold-out crowd.

Harris, a former Lakers government and UCLA alum, was initially introduced in to seek the advice of on the division’s price range. After Jarmond was fired, Harris was appointed on a professional bono foundation forward of a search to fill the position.

However, before UCLA’s Week 1 victory over California, UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenck posted a photograph figuring out Harris as the “permanent” chief government and athletic director of the division.