Just 6,000 Tickets Remain for Cal Opener vs. UCLA

A week after USC and Stanford reported uninspiring crowd counts for their season-opening games at home, Cal is expecting to do much better on Saturday against UCLA.

A Cal official said only 6,000 tickets remain for the 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Memorial Stadium. The Bears are projecting a sellout.

Cal has removed tarps over two sections above the stadium’s south tunnel, boosting capacity to 54,283. Depending on demand as the season progresses, the Bears will consider making more seats available.

“This is a really cool opportunity to showcase our program, our university and our rocking’ fan base,” first-year coach Tosh Lupoi said on Tuesday at his weekly news conference.

Lupoi referenced offseason efforts to energize the school’s fraternities and sororities, and said an additional student entrance into the stadium should ease the arrival process.

“At 7:30, we want everybody in their seats, ready to go and to join this fight with us, with a great opponent, a really good Big Ten team and a long-time West Coast foe,” Lupoi said. “So we’re really excited for the challenge, but want to make sure that everybody’s in their seats by kickoff.”

With approximately 48,000 seats already purchased, the Bears are assured of a larger crowd than any they attracted a year ago. Cal averaged just 34,991 for six home games in 2025, topped by the 42,240 fans who came out for the Virginia game.

Lupoi then referenced the small crowd who watched No. 14 USC beat San Jose 42-26.The Trojans announced 51,144 in the 77,500-seat L.A. Coliseum — the smallest home crowd in coach Lincoln Riley’s five seasons.

Yahoo! Sports referred to the LA Coliseum as “a ghost town,” and Stewart Mandel of The Athletic made light of the situation on social media.

Many onlookers were convinced that count was inflated and the USC athletic department actually released a statement acknowledging the disappointing turnout.

“I don’t mean this by any disrespect to anybody, but to turn on the TV after our practice last Saturday to see that environment in Los Angeles,” Lupoi said. “It’s disheartening to see what little amount of individuals came out to support. And I can guarantee you that’s a completely different environment here.”

Things were worse still at Stanford, where a reported crowd of just 23,222 showed up at 50,424-seat Stanford Stadium for the Cardinal’s 37-27 come-from-behind victory over Hawaii in coach Tavita Pritchard’s debut game.

Lupoi reiterated what he has said before, suggesting that with the Raiders and A’s having departed the Bay Area, Cal “is fully capable of being one of the elite, premier college environments.”

Cal also is trying to make its product more available to another significant audience by offering, for the first time, a Spanish livestream of the Bears’ home football games via the Cal football and Cal athletics YouTube pages.

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