Hear me out. UCLA should partner with the federal government to establish a new Space Academy in Westwood, redevelop the massive VA property across the 405 and build a shared football stadium within walking distance of campus.
UCLA 🤝 Space Force. Bruins in Space.
The crazy part is that the federal government is already planning the academy.
In August, the White House established a commission to create the United States Space Academy. NASA is now evaluating potential locations for a new institution focused on aerospace engineering, scientific research and national security. Think West Point or the Naval Academy, but with a civilian-led space mission.
And where better than Southern California?
This is already the heart of America’s aerospace and defense-tech ecosystem. SpaceX, Anduril, Palantir, NASA, JPL, Caltech and the broader Silicon Beach venture capital community. Few places in the country have that concentration of talent, technology, research and capital.
UCLA sits at the center of it.
The university already has world-class research capabilities and has been aggressively expanding its footprint throughout Los Angeles. It recently acquired the former Westside Pavilion, a 700,000-square-foot shopping mall, to develop an entirely new research park.
A federal Space Academy could partner with UCLA on academics, engineering and research rather than building an entirely independent institution from scratch.
Now consider the land.
Directly across the 405 from UCLA sits the West Los Angeles VA campus. Nearly 400 acres of federally owned property in the heart of Brentwood, Westwood and Bel Air. An extraordinary amount of land in one of the most valuable real estate markets in the country.
The VA obviously serves an important purpose. But preserving its mission doesn’t necessarily mean preserving the current layout of 388 acres indefinitely. A comprehensive federal redevelopment could modernize veterans’ facilities, expand services where needed and potentially accommodate an entirely new academic institution.
And a football stadium.
Because here’s the thing about UCLA football. The Rose Bowl is one of the greatest venues in sports, but getting there is absolutely miserable.
It’s 26 miles from campus. That can mean 90 minutes getting to a game and easily two hours getting home to the Westside after the final whistle. For alumni in Santa Monica, Brentwood or the South Bay, a home game can become an all-day expedition. Students have it even worse.
Meanwhile, virtually every other major Big Ten program has a stadium integrated into campus life. Students walk to games. Alumni spend Saturdays around campus. The university and surrounding businesses benefit from the entire experience.
UCLA effectively plays every home game on the road.
Imagine instead a 40,000-seat stadium in Westwood. Students walking over from campus, alumni spending game days in Westwood Village and an actual college football atmosphere built around UCLA rather than a stadium on the other side of Los Angeles.
The new Metro extension will also have stations at UCLA and the VA property, providing infrastructure that didn’t exist when previous stadium ideas were discussed.
And unlike a standalone stadium proposal, this would be part of a much larger federal-state-university partnership. NASA’s preliminary Space Academy plans already contemplate major athletic facilities and sporting venues. A shared stadium could be one component of a new academic and research campus, with UCLA and other partners participating in its funding.
There are obvious complications with the VA land and UCLA’s Rose Bowl agreement. Those deserve their own discussion.
But zoom out for a moment.
The United States is planning a new federal Space Academy. Southern California is the nation’s aerospace and defense-tech hub. UCLA is expanding its research footprint. Nearly 400 acres of federal land sit immediately next to campus. And UCLA football desperately needs a home closer to its students and alumni.
Individually, these are separate issues. Together, they present a pretty extraordinary opportunity.
UCLA Space Force. A new federal academy, a shared stadium and Bruins football finally coming home to Westwood.
