Los Angeles Times (05/19/25) Bolch, Ben

Former Walt Disney Co. executive Daniel Cruz was brought in last fall to solve UCLA’s deepening athletic department financial crisis as deputy athletics director and chief revenue officer. After six straight years of running in the red, resulting in a $219.5 million deficit, Cruz spearheaded efforts to overhaul the university's ticket operations, build a courtside lounge inside Pauley Pavilion and maximize revenue from a planned field-level club at the Rose Bowl. He remarks, "Essentially, what I’m trying to do is just trying to set us up for success and do things differently. The old way of how college athletics normally conducts business, it’s not working." As part of a newly announced partnership, UCLA is switching from its longstanding in-house ticketing agency to Elevate, which will modernize operations and build a customer database that will allow for more targeted marketing. Elevate will be tasked with handling both primary and secondary ticket sales and preventing unaffiliated brokers from undermining sales and devaluing tickets. Additionally, there will be dynamic pricing that will allow lower prices for less desirable games, something that was not possible under the university's previous system.

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