Rose Bowl (stadium)

Design and construction

The game now known as the Rose Bowl Game was played at Tournament Park until 1922. The Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association, the game's organizer, realized the temporary stands were inadequate for a crowd of more than 40,000, and sought to build a better, permanent stadium.

The stadium was designed by architect Myron Hunt in 1921. His design was influenced by the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut, which was built in 1913 and opened in 1914. The Arroyo Seco was selected as the location for the stadium. The Rose Bowl was under construction from 1921 to 1922. The nearby Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum also was under construction during this time and would be completed in May 1923 shortly before the Rose Bowl was completed. Originally built as a horseshoe, the stadium was expanded several times. The southern stands were completed in 1928, making the stadium a complete bowl.

The stadium's name was alternatively "Tournament of Roses Stadium" or "Tournament of Roses Bowl", until being settled as "Rose Bowl" before the 1923 Rose Bowl game, in reference to the unusually named (at the time) Yale Bowl.

The stadium is extremely hard to get to due to the traffic caused by single-lane residential street access. The stadium has no dedicated parking lot for visitors and parking issues have routinely caused visitors to spend two to three hours completing the last mile to the stadium on game days. In 2016, Rose Bowl contracted ParkJockey to streamline parking in and around the stadium.

There are also shuttles to help visitors get to the stadium and mobile lights powered by generators to provide visibility for people walking on the golf course at night.

Dedication, October 1922

The first game was a regular season contest on October 28, 1922 when Cal defeated USC 12–0. This was the only loss for USC and California finished the season undefeated. California declined the invitation to the 1923 Rose Bowl game and USC went in their place. The stadium was dedicated officially on January 1, 1923 when USC defeated Penn State 14–3.

Seating

The stadium seating has been reconfigured several times since its construction in 1922. The South end was filled in to complete the bowl and more seats have been added. The original wooden benches were replaced by aluminum benches in 1969. All new grandstand and loge seats had been installed since 1971. New red seat backs had been added on 22,000 seats prior to the 1980 Rose Bowl. A Rose Bowl improvement was conducted because of UCLA's 1982 move and the 1984 Summer Olympics. This resulted in new seat backs for 50,000 seats.

For many years, the Rose Bowl had the largest football stadium capacity in the United States, eventually being surpassed by Michigan Stadium (107,601). The Rose Bowl's maximum stated seating capacity was 104,091 from 1972 to 1997. Some of the seats closest to the field were never used during this time for UCLA regular season games, and were covered by tarps. Official capacity was lowered following the 1998 Rose Bowl. Slightly different figures are given for the current capacity, for the lower level seats behind the team benches are not used for some events since the spectators can not see through the standing players or others on the field. UCLA reports the capacity at 91,136. The Tournament of Roses reports the capacity at 92,542. The 2006 Rose Bowl game, which was also the BCS championship game, had a crowd of 93,986. In the 2011 contest between TCU and Wisconsin, the listed attendance is 94,118. As of 2008, the Rose Bowl is the 11th largest football stadium, and is still the largest stadium that hosts post-season bowl games. For concerts held there, the Rose Bowl holds almost 60,000 people. The stadium's 2014 remodeling will remove the lower "lettered row" seats on each side behind the players' benches and provide access in and out of the stadium for the lower sections of the Rose Bowl, restoring its original design.

Stadium renovations

The press box was updated before the 1962 Rose Bowl with an elevator and two rows. The cost was $356,000. The Press Box was refurbished for UCLA's move in 1982 and the 1984 Summer Olympics. In 2011 and 2012, the press box was undergoing renovation as part of the larger renovation originally budgeted at $152 million in 2010. Costs had increased to $170 million during construction. Work proceeded during the 2011 football season, and was expected to be completed before the UCLA Bruins' first home game in 2012. Some unforeseen problems had been encountered due to the stadium's age and some renovations done in the early 1990s. Most of the planned renovations were completed in 2013. Because of the increased construction cost, items deferred for the future are additional new restrooms, the historic field hedge, new entry gate structures, and additional new concession stands. The stadium has started "The Brick Campaign" to help pay for some of the cost of the renovations. The Brick Campaign, when completed in 2014, will feature a large logo of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses and the donor bricks arranged by universities in front of the south main entrance to the stadium. A large 30 feet tall by 77 feet wide LED video display board was added to the north end of the stadium as a part of the renovation.

Court of Champions

The Court of Champions is at the stadium's south end. Rose Bowl game records along with the names of the coaches and the MVP players, are shown on the plaques attached to the exterior wall. The Hall of Fame statue is also at the Court of Champions. The 2014 renovation allows more plaques to be placed on the wall and floor for future games.

Terry Donahue Pavilion

The seven-story Terry Donahue Pavilion is named for former UCLA football head coach, who is the most successful coach in UCLA and Pac-12 history. It houses the press boxes, broadcast booths, premium seating, boxes and suites. The radio and TV booths will be renamed "The Keith Jackson Broadcast Center" in December 2015. Jackson, the former ABC-TV sportscaster, coined the phrase "The Granddaddy of Them All" for the Rose Bowl game."

Sports Illustrated venue rankings

In 1999, Sports Illustrated listed the Rose Bowl at number 20 in the Top 20 Venues of the 20th Century. In 2007, Sports Illustrated named the Rose Bowl the number one venue in college sports.

Rose Bowl Game

The Rose Bowl stadium is best known in the U.S. for its hosting of the Rose Bowl, a postseason college football game. The game is played after the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year's Day, or, if January 1 is a Sunday, on the following Monday January 2. The stadium's name has given rise to the term "bowl game" for postseason football games, regardless of whether they are played in a bowl-shaped or "Bowl"-named stadium. The Rose Bowl Game is commonly referred to as "The Granddaddy of Them All" because of its stature as the oldest of all the bowl games. Since its opening, the Rose Bowl stadium has hosted the bowl game every year except the 1942 Rose Bowl, when the game was moved to Durham, North Carolina, at the campus of Duke University. Duke, which played in the game on January 1, volunteered to host the contest because of security concerns on the West Coast in the weeks following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Since 1945, the Rose Bowl has been the highest attended college football bowl game.

BCS National Championship

In 1998, the Rose Bowl Game became part of the Bowl Championship Series. The 2002 Rose Bowl and the 2006 Rose Bowl games also were the BCS Championship games, matching the #1 and #2 Bowl Championship Series teams in the nation. The 2010 BCS National Championship Game was played 6 days after the 2010 Rose Bowl Game as a completely separate event from the Tournament of Roses. The Tournament of Roses managed the event. The stadium hosted the 2014 BCS National Championship Game, the final game before the BCS was replaced by the current College Football Playoff, when it celebrated its 100th anniversary of the Rose Bowl game.

Note: *USC later vacated all wins during the season.

Though the Rose Bowl is eligible to bid on hosting the College Football Playoff Championship Game in years it is not hosting a semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game, it has no plans to do so.

College Football Playoff semifinals

The Rose Bowl Game is one of the six primary bowls of the College Football Playoff (CFP), which replaced the BCS effective with the 2014 season. Every three years, the Rose Bowl will match two of the top four teams selected by the system's selection committee to compete for a spot at the College Football Playoff National Championship game. The first CFP semifinal game at the Rose Bowl was the 2015 Rose Bowl, whose winner advanced to the 2015 championship game on January 12, 2015 at AT&T Stadium.

UCLA Bruins football home stadium

The Rose Bowl stadium has been the home football field for UCLA since 1982. The UCLA Bruins had played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum since 1928. There was an attempt to build a 44,000 seat stadium on campus, at the site where Drake Stadium eventually was built. However, the proposal was blocked by influential area residents, as well as other politicians.

At the start of the 1982 NFL season, with the Oakland Raiders scheduled to move in, UCLA decided to relocate its home games to the Rose Bowl Stadium. The Bruins went on to play two straight Rose Bowl games in their new home stadium, the 1983 Rose Bowl and the 1984 Rose Bowl. UCLA has participated in five Rose Bowl games since moving to the stadium. The stadium is the host of the UCLA–USC rivalry football game on even numbered years, alternating with the Coliseum. In the first rivalry game at the stadium between UCLA and USC in 1982, USC fans sat on the west side of the stadium and UCLA fans sat on the east side of the stadium, mirroring an arrangement that existed when the teams shared the Coliseum. Both teams also wore their home uniforms. In 1984, USC fans were moved to the end zone seats, which ended the tradition of shared stadium. Because of the shared arrangement, and the participation of USC in a number of Rose Bowl games, both schools have winning records in each other's home stadium. The Bruins travel 26 miles from campus to Pasadena to play home games, but only 14 miles to their biggest road game at USC every other year.

Caltech Beavers football home stadium

Caltech, a university located in Pasadena, played most home games in the Rose Bowl from the time of its construction until the school dropped football in 1993. Caltech jovially claimed to play before the greatest number of empty seats in the nation.

Junior Rose Bowl

The stadium hosted the Junior Rose Bowl from 1946 to 1971 and 1976 to 1977. Between 1946 and 1966 and 1976 and 1977, the game pitted the California Junior College football champions against the NJCAA football champions for the National Championship. It was organized by the Pasadena Junior Chamber of Commerce. The Junior Rose Bowl became the Pasadena Bowl from 1967 to 1971; it was billed as the Junior Rose Bowl the first two years, but instead two teams from the NCAA College Division competed (then later the University Division, usually featuring teams that were not invited to other major bowls).

1983 Army-Navy game

The Rose Bowl stadium is the only site west of the Mississippi River to host an Army-Navy game (1983). The city of Pasadena paid for the traveling expenses of the all students and supporters of both the U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Military Academy. The attendance was 81,000. The game was brought to the Rose Bowl as there are a large number of military installations and servicemen and women, along with many retired military personnel, on the West Coast.

Super Bowls

The stadium has hosted the Super Bowl five times. The first being in 1977, Super Bowl XI when the Oakland Raiders beat the Minnesota Vikings 32–14. The game was also played there in 1980 (Super Bowl XIV), 1983 (Super Bowl XVII), 1987 (Super Bowl XXI) and 1993 (Super Bowl XXVII). The Rose Bowl is one of two venues (Stanford Stadium being the other) to host a Super Bowl though having never served as the full-time home stadium for an NFL or AFL team (Stanford Stadium hosted one San Francisco 49ers game after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake).

Because the NFL has a policy limiting the hosting of a Super Bowl to metropolitan areas with NFL teams, the Super Bowl has not been played at the Rose Bowl since the Rams and Raiders departed the Los Angeles area in 1995. The next Los Angeles-based Super Bowl, Super Bowl LV, will be played at the Rams and Chargers' new City of Champions Stadium in 2021.

Soccer at the Rose Bowl

Though best known as an American football stadium, the Rose Bowl is also one of the most decorated soccer (association football) venues in the world. The stadium hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup Final, the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Final, and the 1984 Olympic Gold Medal Match, making it the only venue in the world to host all 3 of international soccer's major championship matches. The United States men's national soccer team has played 17 games in the Rose Bowl, the fourth most of any venue. It has also hosted the 2002 and 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final, and the 1998 MLS Cup.

In the past it was also the home ground of two North American Soccer League clubs, the Los Angeles Wolves in 1968 and the Los Angeles Aztecs in 1978 and 1979. From 1996 through 2002, the stadium was the home ground of Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy, who still host occasional matches there.

Major global soccer tournaments

The Rose Bowl is one of two stadiums to have hosted the FIFA World Cup finals for both men and women. The Rose Bowl hosted the men's final in the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the women's final in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. (The only other stadium with this honor is the Råsunda Stadium near Stockholm, Sweden, which hosted the men's final in 1958 and the women's final in 1995.) Both Rose Bowl finals were scoreless after extra time and decided on penalty shootouts; Brazil defeating Italy in the 1994 men's final, and the United States defeating China in the 1999 women's final.

The Rose Bowl also hosted group stage matches of the Copa America Centenario in 2016. It also hosted several matches including the final of the 1984 Olympics men's soccer tournament. On July 27, 2016, the Rose Bowl hosted a 2016 International Champions Cup match between Chelsea and Liverpool. Chelsea won the match 1-0. It has also regularly featured CONCACAF Gold Cup matches including two finals.

Pasadena events

The Rose Bowl has hosted the Pasadena "Americafest" Independence Day celebration annually since 1927. The annual fireworks show is considered one of the top fireworks shows in the nation. Another local event is the Rose Bowl Flea Market held the second Sunday of each month, on the stadium parking lots. Hosted by promoter R.G. Canning, it claims to be the largest Flea market on the West Coast. The stadium host the annual "Turkey Tussle" homecoming football game between John Muir High School and Pasadena High School, in early November. The Rose Bowl hosted its annual graduation ceremonies for Blair High School, John Muir High School and Pasadena High School until 1984, before staging it at the individual schools until 1998. Currently all three high schools along with John Marshall Fundamental School held their graduation ceremonies at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in early June.

1932 Summer Olympics

The Rose Bowl was the track cycling venue for the 1932 Summer Olympics.

Other events

The stadium was used for midget car racing in the 1940s.

The stadium hosted the 2007 Drum Corps International World Championships August 7 through August 11, 2007. The Rose Bowl is the final stadium to host the championship before DCI moved their corporate offices to Indianapolis with the championships being held at Lucas Oil Stadium until at least 2018. This was the first time the DCI championships have ever been held west of Denver, Colorado in the 45-year history of DCI.

It hosted auditions for the top American television show, American Idol, on August 8, 2006. The stadium has also been used as part of the music video shoot for the song "The Last Song", the second single released by the American rock band The All-American Rejects, which features the band performing the song in the middle of the stadium to an empty crowd.

The stadium's Court of Champions was the site of a "Roadblock" from season 17 of the CBS reality TV show The Amazing Race where teams had to help decorate three sections of the theme float for the 2011 New Year's Day Rose Parade.

In November 1997. the International Churches of Christ (Los Angeles) gathered at the Rose Bowl for their Worship Service, they had an attendance of 17,000.

Present status

The Rose Bowl and adjacent golf course are managed by the Rose Bowl Operating Company, a non-profit organization whose board is selected by council members of the City of Pasadena. UCLA and the Pasadena Tournament of Roses also have one member on the company board. The Rose Bowl stadium itself runs on a yearly operational loss. While it generates funds with the annual lease with UCLA ($1.5 million), the Tournament of Roses ($900,000), and a regularly hosted flea market ($900,000), it makes up the loss by relying on funds generated by the adjacent city-owned golf course ($2 million). While the stadium is able to keep operating in this financial set-up, it is unable to finance many of the capital improvements it needs to be considered a modern facility, including new seats, wider aisles, additional exits, a wider concourse, a renovated press box, a state-of-the-art video scoreboard, new field lighting, additional suites and a club. The estimated cost for such improvements ranges from $250 million and $300 million.

The stadium currently has long-term leases with its two major tenants, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses (2019) and UCLA (2023). In 2006, the Rose Bowl and the City of Pasadena launched a $16.3 million capital improvement program that will benefit both UCLA and the Tournament of Roses. New locker rooms for both UCLA and visiting teams, as well as a new media interview area were constructed.

In April 2009, The Rose Bowl Operating Company unveiled a Rose Bowl Strategic Plan, which addressed the objectives to improve public safety; enhance fan experience; maintain national historic landmark status; develop revenue sources to fund long-term improvements; and enhance facility operations. On October 11, 2010, the Pasadena City Council approved a $152 million financing plan for the major renovation of the stadium. Groundbreaking ceremonies for the first of three phases of the project was held on January 25, 2011. The newly constructed video board was used for the June 25, 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final.

NFL

Since losing both its local teams in the Los Angeles market in 1995, the National Football League had been looking to either start or relocate a franchise to the Los Angeles area. One of the strong candidates was a renovated Rose Bowl. However, after many years of varying offers, no deal could be struck between the NFL owners, the stadium's owner, and the City of Pasadena, following a vote of disapproval by its residents in November 2006.

On November 19, 2012, Pasadena officials approved a proposal which could allow an NFL team to temporarily play in the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl however, has not acted as a home field for an NFL team. When the Los Angeles Rams moved from St. Louis prior to the 2016 NFL season, the Rose Bowl was considered as a temporary home before the Rams ultimately settled on playing in USC's Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Rams' home from 1946 - 1979.

Seating and attendance records