Rose Bowl, Pasadena Officials Explore Ways To Pay For Renovation

Officials May Sell Corporate Sponsorship Rights To Help Pay For Rose Bowl Renovations

Rose Bowl stadium and Pasadena officials are "seeking ways to pay for the largest renovation in the history of the Rose Bowl," according to a cover story by Charles Proctor of the L.A. BUSINESS JOURNAL. Options include "selling corporate sponsorship rights to stadium gates and scoreboards, and opening up the venue to events such as weddings." Officials also "may pursue federally subsidized bonds or simply ask for donations." Increasing advertising at the stadium "would represent the most significant change for the Rose Bowl." The stadium "hasn't been plastered with ads," and Rose Bowl CEO & GM Darryl Dunn said that he "wanted to preserve its clean look." While the Rose Bowl "sells advertising space over the stadium's gates, officials may consider selling naming rights to the gates themselves." The stadium also could "sell naming rights to the luxury suites and scoreboards," but Dunn said that selling naming rights to the stadium is "out of the question." The renovations, which are "expected to cost between" $160-170M, are "still in the planning stages." Officials "hope to break ground on the improvements in 2011 and wrap them up by Jan. 1, 2014 -- just in time for the 100th Rose Bowl game." Renovations could "inject new vigor into a stadium that in past years has lost money." As recently as '05, the stadium "lost around" $2M. Dunn said that figures for the current FY "haven't been tallied yet, but he expected the Rose Bowl will be profitable." Proctor notes the Rose Bowl "may also renegotiate its leases with its two biggest tenants, UCLA, for football games, and the Tournament of Roses, which oversees the annual New Year's Day college bowl game." Stadium officials "point to what happened at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas and the Orange Bowl in Miami as cautionary tales" for why they need to renovate. Both the Cotton and Orange Bowl "housed storied college football bowl games for decades, only to lose them to more modern stadiums." Under its permit from Pasadena, the city-owned Rose Bowl "can host 12 major events" each year. The venue typically "books 10 such events, and officials hope that modernizing the stadium will help it book the maximum" (L.A. BUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/1 issue).