Possible Line-Ups and Depth Charts For UCLA Basketball In 2015-16 by Mike Regalado

UCLA Students are trying to get a viewing party going at Pauley Pavilion for the UCLA Football game at Stanford. Unfortunately, due to costs, these students need your help!

What a great idea! UCLA Football vs Stanford on the big screens of the jumbotron inside Pauley Pavilion! Why has this not been done before?

With the Bruins set to play up at Stanford on the evening of Thursday, October 15, thanks to the awkward scheduling of Thursday night college football games (in which UCLA Football has two in a row), many students will not be able to travel up to the Farm to see the game.

Even with a set 7:30 p.m. kick-off, it will be nearly impossible for the vast majority of grads and undergrads to make it up there with classes on Thursday and Friday… so why not have a Viewing Party? Inside Pauley Pavilion!

This is something that is done in professional and collegiate sports around the country, the gathering of fans at home base to cheer on their teaming playing away. So why not at UCLA?

If this can happen for the students of UCLA, it will be great promotion for the school, football program and Athletic Department, especially with the game being televised on ESPN.

With attendance up at Stanford in question for a Thursday night game, how fantastic would it be to have ESPN broadcast live shots of a packed Pauley full of loud screaming Bruin fans supporting the UCLA Football team?

Nov 28, 2014; Pasadena, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal running back Christian McCaffrey (27) is stopped by the UCLA Bruins defense after a 1 yard gain in the first half of the game at the Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

BOOM! That sounds like a slam dunk event right? Though this would be a great PR move for UCLA Athletics to just make this happen, it is not as easy to pull off as it sounds.

You see, Danny Siegel, a General Representative for the Undergraduate Students Association Council at UCLA has been trying to put this on since the spring. As the Daily Bruin writes, Siegel “began planning the on-campus tailgate project in May to get more student support for UCLA Athletics.” Part of that plan is to make it free for students.

The Daily Bruin adds that they are gathering support from UCLA organizations such as UCLA Recreation, UCLA Athletics and The Den to help pull off the event. The only trouble is that it coasts approximately $8,000 to make it happen.

Yup. The students are being charged $8K to rent out Pauley Pavilion for an event that promotes UCLA Athletics and UCLA Football to their students and Siegel does not have those funds. Therein lies the problem.

From my perspective, two things can happen:

1. UCLA Athletics can pony up a mere $8K to support their students supporting them. Trust us, they will make up that money in nacho sales when Kentucky Basketball comes to Pauley in December.

Or…

2. YOU can help out Siegel now.

We got in touch with Siegel to find out what is needed for this event and how you can help with this momentous occasion.

Go Joe Bruin: What is the current state of renting out Pauley Pavilion?

Danny Siegel: We already have Pauley rented out and all of the logistics are planned. We made our reservation several months ago to make sure it wouldn’t conflict with something like basketball practice or some other large scale event. The issue is just receiving the funding necessary to put on the event.

GJB: How much more needs to be done?

DS: Everything is basically done except for the funding. Our main issue and why we turned to the internet and social media is that athletics and our advisor just got back to us about our budget on Friday after having it for 3 weeks. At that meeting they told us out of nowhere that we were grossly short on funding and that athletics could not support us despite the issue. The Pauley staff then gave us a hard deadline of Wednesday to pony up the funding, which forced our hand in reaching out to the fan base out of desperation.

GJB: How can a Bruin fans help out?

DS: The average Bruin fan can help us out by circulating this story and supporting the event on social media!

GJB: Is there any additional information you would like to add?

DS: I would just like to add how appreciative my office is of the support of the Bruin community. This is really when you find out what it means to be a Bruin. My team really had our backs against the wall and the Bruin community has been so incredibly generous and helpful.

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Go Joe Bruin would like to thank Mr. Siegel for talking with us so that we can get the word out about getting this event up and running.

The UCLA student body and Go Joe Bruin thank you in advance!

Go Bruins! Beat Stanford! (But first beat Arizona State!)