May 21, 2012 | 02:08
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Feb 10, 2012
UCLA partners with Zócalo to share campus expertise citywide
It’s been 17 years since National Football League teams battled it out on Los Angeles soil. But fans are hoping the dry spell may end soon as momentum builds over two proposals to give an NFL team a berth here.
Still, the question of an NFL renaissance in L.A. is fraught with uncertainty, and the skeptics are having a field day over questions about whether much-touted financial benefits to the region will materialize, how an NFL franchise would impact UCLA’s and USC’s football programs, where a new stadium should be built and whether there will be enough of a fan base to generate revenue.
Still, the question of an NFL renaissance in L.A. is fraught with uncertainty, and the skeptics are having a field day over questions about whether much-touted financial benefits to the region will materialize, how an NFL franchise would impact UCLA’s and USC’s football programs, where a new stadium should be built and whether there will be enough of a fan base to generate revenue.
The issue will get a full airing during a panel discussion featuring three sports heavyweights with UCLA connections: new head football coach Jim Mora, Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame and former UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman and Economics Professor Lee Ohanian, who knows the business of sports inside and out. Also taking part in the discussion will be Los Angeles Times sports writer Sam Farmer and KNBC’s Conan Nolan, who will moderate.
The Feb. 17 public discussion, to be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s South Grand Avenue venue, is one of a series of events UCLA is hosting in partnership with Zócalo Public Square, a nonprofit "living magazine" that promotes public, nonpartisan discourse through live events and online.
Whether the topic is politics, governance, humanities, health, economics, education, technology, foreign policy, arts or science, Zócalo works through partnerships with civic, cultural, health and academic institutions across Los Angeles to connect people to ideas and to each other in an open, accessible, non-partisan and broad-minded spirit.
With the intent of sharing UCLA’s resources and expertise more broadly across Los Angeles, UCLA Media Relations and Public Outreach is partnering with Zócalo to offer more public events featuring faculty and campus leaders to downtown audiences and people living and working in other parts of the city.
Chancellor Gene Block appeared last month on a Zócalo panel with three other university presidents to discuss whether universities can save cities.
Although the Feb. 17 event kicks off the partnership, Zócalo has held events before with other UCLA entities, including the Burkle Center for International Relations, the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and the Fowler and Hammer museums, and continues to hold events on campus featuring UCLA speakers.
For example, in 2009, the Fowler and Burkle Center brought Zócalo audiences to campus to hear from 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmental activist Wangari Maathai and in 2010, the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation presented a talk on climate change with UCLA environmental economist Matthew Kahn at the Actor’s Gang Theater in Culver City.
Among other Bruins who have appeared in the Zócalo Public Square are Chancellor Gene Block; Ann Philbin, director of the Hammer; Kal Raustiala, director of the Burkle Center; and Patrick Polk, curator of Latin American and Caribbean popular arts at the Fowler Museum. Michael Ross, a professor of political science, will be appearing at a Zócalo event in March.
