In 1966 UCLA almost saw itself building a brand new football stadium on the location where Drake Stadium now is. It could have become a legitimate powerhouse, riding the success of a Rose Bowl win the same year, as well as follow closely behind the building of Pauley Pavilion the year before. No longer would UCLA be one of only a few major programs in the country required to go off campus for football games. However, the political clout of only a few very wealthy and powerful people completely blocked the entire project (Crowe 2009).
The project was in fact quite possible. Stanford recently built a stadium very comparable to the one that would be built on the UCLA campus. Their stadium was built for a capacity of 50,000 people, while the UCLA stadium would be about 45,000 people. Based on projected square footage of the Stanford stadium I was able to make a similar projection over Drake Stadium that takes up comparable space. It would easily fit, and would only require slight modifications to attributes already in place on the campus (Stanford Stadium). Bruin Walk would most likely need to be modified, but only slightly. Most of the area is already available, and the only real modification would be a reduction in size of the intramural field, a sacrifice that I believe almost every student at UCLA would be willing to make.
The other issue that would come up would be cost. Stanford was able to build its facility at a cost of $90 million in 2006 (Stanford Stadium). That is recent enough that it does not really have to be adjusted for inflation. That money could easily be raised, as the renovation of Pauley is projected to cost $135 million (Dolan 2010). The building of our stadium could cost more than Stanford’s but even so, when used as a model, cost would not be an issue.
This also comes in light of the fact that we already have to pay $1.5 million a year to use the Rose Bowl (Rose Bowl). That is a considerable amount of money that we could get back every year, on top of the fact that the facility could be used for far more than just football, which is all that Rose Bowl is used for. Soccer and Track and Field would also benefit from a new stadium, and it could be used as the venue for many other events that occur on campus, increasing revenue across the board.
The entire operation was shot down in 1966, however, as residents of Bel Air and Beverly Hills were able to prevent the building of the stadium with help from Governor Edmund Brown and University of California regent Dorothy Chandler. Because Brown feared that he would lose endorsements from the wealthy residents of West Los Angeles, and Chandler felt indebted to the residents, the three interest groups were able to combine forces to put a hold on the stadium because of concerns of traffic and sound levels in the area (Crowe 2009).
These issues may have been over exaggerated however. The sound issue could easily be overcome, and is actually not nearly the issue it was originally presented as. In my third map I have produced projections showing two layers of those affected by the sound that would be created during football games. In the city of Los Angeles, sound ordinances state that noise levels shall not exceed 95Db for any public entertainment without proper certification (NPC Law Library). Based on calculations for the dampening of sound levels across space, on a normal game day the distance removed to reach 95Db would be about 300m. At its highest levels it would not exceed 500m. (sengpielaudio.com) Based on the projection, this would affect almost exclusively the Bel Air golf course and only a few other buildings. The complaint can hardly be sustained by most of the surrounding community.
Other modifications could be taken as well. Seeing as there are only 6 home games a year, it would be incredibly simple to obtain the necessary documentation. If it was truly a horrendous issue, the facility could be outfitted with sound dampening technology as used by South Africa during the 2010 World Cup (Albertson 2011). This added structure is incredibly effective, and would reduce the distance away from the stadium that exceeds 95Db to less than 100m. This technology was not available in 1966 and would increase the chances that the building of a stadium would be approved.
The other major point that killed the original proposition was the traffic that would be created during games (Crowes 2009). Again, seeing as it would be only six times a year, this is not a major issue. But even so, I have taken steps to dramatically decrease traffic, while simultaneously increasing parking to facilitate the large amount of cars that would come to games. I originally set up buffers around present parking structures to find an acceptable location away from already in place parking structures to reduce congestion in certain areas. The minimum distance acceptable I decided was 50m, with a more preferable distance of 100 m. I created both buffers, but neither one resulted in acceptable locations because UCLA is already such a dense campus there is little space that would be acceptable for a new parking structure, especially not one of the scale required to meet the needs of football games.
Because of the space limitations I moved on to find already built parking structures that could be upgraded to facilitate large influxes of fans on game days. The criteria needed were ones that are above ground, fairly well spaced from each other but still close to the stadium, and easily accessible. The four that I chose are well spread out to also reduce the traffic congestion and minimize the complaints those living in the surrounding areas. They are also close to major roads and not in the heart of the campus where congestion would become even worse. They are right off of Veteran Avenue, Gayley and Strathmore Avenue, and Hilgard Avenue, the four major streets leading into UCLA that could handle an increase in traffic should one occur. Finally, they are all above ground, with three of them already being multi-level structures. Because of the cramped nature of the UCLA campus these could easily meet the needs of football games if there were to be increased in size.
I realize there are multiple other factors that go into the building of a stadium, and a lot of politics involved. The school and the student body might even decide that they simply do not want a stadium on campus, making this all a moot point. I simply wanted to display the fact should the school choose to take up the initiative; a stadium on the UCLA campus is more than possible. It could easily fit in the size allotted, the sound would not be as large of a problem as originally assumed, especially with modern technology, and the issue of parking and traffic could be mitigated through intelligent use of space.
Works Cited
Albertson, Patrick. "South Africa's Soundproof Stadium For the World Cup | Popular Science." Popular Science | New Technology, Science News, The Future Now. Web. 12 Mar. 2011. <http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-05/south-africas-soundproof-stadium>.
Crowe, Jerry. "Ucla On Campus Stadium - MORNING BRIEFING : CROWE'S NEST : UCLA Stadium Plan Quickly Became a Political Football - Los Angeles Times." Featured Articles From The Los Angeles Times. 16 Nov. 2009. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. <http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/16/sports/sp-crowe16>.
"Damping of Sound Level with Distance - Decibel DB Damping Calculation Calculator Distance versus Sound Reduction Free Field - Decrease Drop Fall in Sound over Distance versus DB Sound at Different Distances Microphone Calculator Distance Drop Ratio - Sengpielaudio Sengpiel Berlin." Forum Zur Mikrofonaufnahme Und Tonstudiotechnik ♪♫♪ Tontechnik Eberhard Sengpiel - Sengpielaudio = Sengspielaudio Und Sengpiel Ist Sengspiel Sengpielaudio.de Ebs Elektro-Akustik Audio Ausbildung Lehre Studio Tips Tipps Mikrofone Tonaufnahme Berlin. Web. 9 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-distance.htm>.
Dolan, Jack. "Pauley Pavilion Renovation - UCLA Diverts Student Fees from Pauley Pavilion Renovation - Los Angeles Times." Featured Articles From The Los Angeles Times. 07 Apr. 2010. Web. 12 Mar. 2011. <http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/07/local/la-me-student-funds8-2010apr08>.
"NPC Law Library: Los Angeles Noise Ordinance." Noise Pollution Clearinghouse, Quieting Noise Pollution. Web. 11 Mar. 2011. <http://www.nonoise.org/lawlib/cities/losangel.htm>.
"Rose Bowl (stadium)." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Bowl_(stadium)#UCLA_Bruins_Football_home_stadium>.
"Stanford Stadium." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 9 Mar. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_Stadium>.
