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The Rose Bowl is an outdoor athletic
stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
located in
Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...
. Opened in October 1922, the stadium is recognized as a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...
and a California Historic Civil Engineering landmark. At a modern capacity of an all-seated configuration at 92,542, the Rose Bowl is the 16th-largest stadium in the world, the 11th-largest stadium in the United States, and the 10th-largest NCAA stadium. The stadium is 10 miles northeast of downtown
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
. One of the most famous venues in sporting history, the Rose Bowl is best known as a
college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...
venue, specifically as the host of the annual
Rose Bowl Game The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Ro ...
for which it is named. Since
1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...
, it has served as the home stadium of the UCLA Bruins football team. Five
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...
games, third most of any venue, have been played in the stadium. The Rose Bowl is a noted
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
venue, having hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup Final, 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Final, and the 1984 Olympic Soccer Gold Medal Match, as well as numerous
CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; types ...
and
United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...
matches. The stadium and adjacent Brookside Golf and Country Club are owned by the city of Pasadena and 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 Chief Executive Officer and General Manager was Darryl Dunn from 1999 until he retired in June 2022.


History


Design and construction

Through January
1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...
, the bowl now known as the Rose Bowl Game was played at Tournament Park, about southeast, adjacent to the campus of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). 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 The Yale Bowl Stadium is a college football stadium in the northeast United States, located in New Haven, Connecticut, on the border of West Haven, about 1½ miles (2½ km) west of the main campus of Yale University. The home of the American f ...
in
New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...
, which opened in 1914. The Arroyo Seco was selected as the location for the stadium. The Rose Bowl was under construction from Feb. 27, 1922 to October 1922. The nearby
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a me ...
also was under construction during this time and would be completed in May 1923, shortly after the Rose Bowl was completed. Originally built as a horseshoe, the stadium was expanded several times. The southern stands were completed in 1928, enclosing the stadium into a complete bowl. The field's alignment is nearly north–south, offset slightly northwest, and the
elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...
at street level is approximately above
sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...
. 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 The 1923 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1923, was an American Football bowl game. It was the 9th Rose Bowl Game. The USC Trojans defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions 14-3. Leo Calland, a USC guard, was named the Rose Bowl Player of the Game when ...
game, in reference to the unusually named (at the time) Yale Bowl. The stadium can be very difficult to access due to the traffic caused by single-lane residential street access. It has little dedicated parking 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. When constructed, the majority of visitors arrived to the bowl via the
Pacific Electric The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned Public transport, mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electr ...
interurban streetcar system; however, this service ended in 1958. Weather permitting the 36 holes of Brookside Golf Course are used for parking. In 2016, Rose Bowl contracted ParkJockey to streamline parking in and around the stadium. There is improved signage, shuttle service to help visitors get to the stadium and mobile lighting powered by generators to provide visibility for people walking on the golf course at night.


Dedication

The first game was a regular season contest in 1922, when
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
defeated
USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses ** South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...
on October 28. This was the only loss for USC and Cal finished the season undefeated. California declined the invitation to the
1923 Rose Bowl The 1923 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1923, was an American Football bowl game. It was the 9th Rose Bowl Game. The USC Trojans defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions 14-3. Leo Calland, a USC guard, was named the Rose Bowl Player of the Game when ...
game and USC went instead. The stadium was dedicated officially on January 1, 1923, when USC defeated Penn State


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 The 1980 Rose Bowl was It was the 66th edition of the college football bowl game, played on Tuesday, January 1, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The USC Trojans, champions of the Pacific-10 Conference, defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes, ...
. A Rose Bowl improvement was conducted because of UCLA's 1982 move and the
1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...
. 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 Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile tha ...
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.''UCLA Football – 2007 UCLA Football (Media Guide)''. UCLA Athletic Department (2007), page 165 (PDF copy available at www.uclabruins.com) The Tournament of Roses reports the capacity at 92,542.Rose Bowl Stadium
– History of the Rose Bowl Stadium
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 removed the lower "lettered row" seats on each side behind the players' benches and provided access in and out of the stadium for the lower sections of the Rose Bowl, restoring its original design. For the 2021 season, UCLA began using a tarp to decrease capacity and cover the north upper end zone, the tarp spells out U-C-L-A with advertisements on the side. This brought official capacity down to 69,747 seats.


Renovations

The press box was updated before the
1962 Rose Bowl The 1962 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1962, was the 48th Rose Bowl Game. The Minnesota Golden Gophers defeated the UCLA Bruins, 21–3. Big Ten Conference champion Ohio State declined the invitation to play in the Rose Bowl. Days after the co ...
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.Piasecki, Joe �
Renovation Costs at Rose Bowl now estimated at $170 million
''Los Angeles Times'', September 23, 2012
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, ribbon boards & 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, completed in 2014, features 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 tall by wide LED video display board was added to the north end of the stadium as a part of the renovation.


Court of Champions and Rose Plaza

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. The statue of
Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...
, who played football with
Pasadena City College Pasadena City College (PCC) is a public community college in Pasadena, California. History Pasadena City College was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. From 1928 to 1953, it operated as a four-year junior college, combining the l ...
, was dedicated in 2017. In 2019,
Brandi Chastain Brandi Denise Chastain (born July 21, 1968) is an American retired soccer player, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion, two-time Olympic gold-medalist, coach, and sports broadcaster. She played for the United States national team from 1988 ...
's statue was added outside of the south gate. The statue portrays Brandi in her celebration of her winning penalty kick in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup final, where she exposed her sports bra after removing her jersey. The image of her celebration was described in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' as "most iconic photograph ever taken of a female athlete", and it has been considered one of the more famous photographs of a woman celebrating an athletic victory. A statue to honor
Keith Jackson Keith Max Jackson (October 18, 1928 – January 12, 2018) was an American sports commentator, journalist, author, and radio personality, known for his career with ABC Sports (1966–2006). While he covered a variety of sports over his caree ...
, the longtime ABC broadcaster who had called many games from the Rose Bowl, was unveiled on December 14, 2019, at the stadium's Rose Plaza. The commemorative bricks are located in front of Gate A. There are sections reserved for the City of Pasadena, Tournament of Roses, Rose Bowl, and each school of the Pac-12 and Big Ten conferences.


Terry Donahue Pavilion

The seven-story Terry Donahue Pavilion is named for the former UCLA football head coach, who was the most successful coach in UCLA and Pac-12 history. It houses the press boxes, broadcast booths, premium seating, boxes and suites. There are 54 luxury suites, 48 loge boxes, 1,200 club seats, state-of-the-art press boxes and a new broadcast center. The previous press box was replaced by a new self-contained media area capable of accommodating 318 credentialed working press facility along with a separate level dedicated to game day operations, including TV and radio broadcasting, instant replay booths, coaching staffs and an emergency command center.Smith, Kevin
Rose Bowl is finally nearing completion on its $183 million Renovation
Pasadena Star News, August 28, 2017
The radio and TV booths were renamed "The
Keith Jackson Keith Max Jackson (October 18, 1928 – January 12, 2018) was an American sports commentator, journalist, author, and radio personality, known for his career with ABC Sports (1966–2006). While he covered a variety of sports over his caree ...
Broadcast Center" in December 2015. Jackson, the former ABC-TV sportscaster, coined the phrase "The Granddaddy of Them All" for the
Rose Bowl game The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Ro ...
.


1922 Locker Room Museum

The old 1922 Rose Bowl locker room was restored in 2017 and converted into a little museum. Sections are dedicated to the construction of the Rose Bowl, the Rose Bowl games, UCLA football, and the NFL
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...
games played at the Rose Bowl.


Venue rankings

In 1999, ''
Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...
'' 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.


Football


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 College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...
game. The game is played after the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year's Day, or, if January 1 is a Sunday, on Monday, January 2. The stadium's name has given rise to the term "
bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...
" 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. The visual of the afternoon sun setting on the
San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains ( es, Sierra de San Gabriel) are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Transverse Ranges and lies betw ...
on New Year's Day is recognized as an important part of the tradition of the game. Since 1945, the Rose Bowl has been the highest attended college football bowl game.NCAA Division 1 football records book. NCAA, 2007 Edition, pages 296-302 Major Bowl Game Attendance Since its opening, the Rose Bowl stadium has hosted the bowl game every year except in 1942 and 2021. The
1942 Rose Bowl The 1942 Rose Bowl was the 28th edition of the college football bowl game, played on Thursday, January 1, 1942. Originally scheduled for the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, it was moved to Durham, North Carolina, due to fears about an attac ...
was moved to
Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County and Wake County. With a population of 283,506 in the 2020 Census, Durham is the 4th- ...
, at the campus of
Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jam ...
. 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 The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...
. The
2021 Rose Bowl The 2021 Rose Bowl (branded as the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One for sponsorship reasons) was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2021, with kickoff at 3:00 p.m. CST at AT&T ...
was played at
AT&T Stadium AT&T Stadium, formerly Cowboys Stadium, is a retractable-roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. It is also the ho ...
in
Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region ...
due to capacity restrictions in place in California due to the
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...
Pandemic.


BCS National Championship

Starting with the 1998 season, the Rose Bowl became part of the
Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, includin ...
(BCS). The
2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
and
2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...
games also were the BCS Championship games, matching the #1 and #2 BCS teams in the nation. The 2010 BCS National Championship Game was played six days after the Rose Bowl game as a completely separate event from the Tournament of Roses, though it 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 The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...
, when it celebrated its 100th anniversary of the Rose Bowl game. ''Note: *USC later vacated all wins during the season.''


College Football Playoff semifinals

The Rose Bowl Game is one of the six primary bowls of the
College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...
(CFP), which replaced the BCS effective with the
2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...
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 national championship game. The first CFP semifinal game at the Rose Bowl was the
2015 Rose Bowl The 2015 Rose Bowl (officially known as the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual) was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2015, at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California. T ...
, whose winner advanced to the championship game on January 12 at
AT&T Stadium AT&T Stadium, formerly Cowboys Stadium, is a retractable-roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. It is also the ho ...
in
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
. AT&T Stadium later hosted the
2021 Rose Bowl The 2021 Rose Bowl (branded as the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One for sponsorship reasons) was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2021, with kickoff at 3:00 p.m. CST at AT&T ...
, also a CFP semifinal, with limited attendance due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. Though the Rose Bowl is eligible to bid on hosting the
College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...
Championship Game in years it is not hosting a semifinal, it has no plans to do so.


UCLA Bruins football

The Rose Bowl stadium has been the home football field for
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
since
1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...
. The UCLA Bruins had played their home games at the
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a me ...
since
1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhano ...
. 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 some politicians.Crowe, Jerry �
"There goes the neighborhood: How UCLA stadium bid was scuttled."
''Los Angeles Times'', November 16, 2009
At the start of the 1982 NFL season, with the
Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...
scheduled to move into the Coliseum, 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 The UCLA–USC rivalry is the American collegiate athletics rivalry between the UCLA Bruins sports teams of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and USC Trojans teams of the University of Southern California (USC). Both univer ...
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

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
, 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 The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
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 The Army–Navy Game is an American college football rivalry game between the Army Black Knights of the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, and the Navy Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy (USNA) at Annapol ...
( 1983). The city of Pasadena paid for the traveling expenses of all the students and supporters of both the
U.S. Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is ...
and U.S. Military Academy.Clark, N. Brooks �
This Week 12.05.83.
Sports Illustrated, December 5, 1983
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. The game has been held in multiple locations, but outside the 1926 game in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
and this 1983 game, it has been played in the
Northeast megalopolis The Northeast megalopolis, also known as the Northeast Corridor, Acela Corridor, Boston–Washington corridor, or BosWash, is the world's largest megalopolis in terms of economic output and the second most populous megalopolis in the United Sta ...
, most frequently in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
, followed by the
New York area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan area ...
and the Baltimore–Washington area.


Super Bowl

The stadium has hosted the
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...
five times. The first was Super Bowl XI in January 1977, when the
Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...
beat the
Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...
32–14. The game was also played there in 1980 ( XIV), 1983 (
XVII 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number. Seventeen is the sum of the first four prime numbers. In mathematics 17 is the seventh prime number, which makes seventeen the fourth super-prime, as s ...
), 1987 ( XXI) and 1993 ( XXVII). The Rose Bowl is one of two venues (with Stanford Stadium) 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 The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's Nationa ...
game after the
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of t ...
). 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 Raider(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Paul Revere & the Raiders, an American rock band * "Raider", a track from the 1969 album ''Farewell Aldebaran'', by Judy Henske and Jerry Yester * "Raiders", a track from the 1987 album ''Young and ...
departed the Los Angeles area in . The most recent Super Bowl held in Southern California was Super Bowl ( LVI) in February 2022 at the Rams' and Chargers' SoFi Stadium in
Inglewood Inglewood may refer to: Places Australia *Inglewood, Queensland * Shire of Inglewood, Queensland, a former local government area *Inglewood, South Australia *Inglewood, Victoria *Inglewood, Western Australia Canada * Inglewood, Ontario *Inglewoo ...
(the Rams returned to Los Angeles in 2016, the Chargers the following year). Although proposed, no NFL team has called the Rose Bowl a regular season home. After losing both its local teams in the Los Angeles market in 1995, the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...
began looking to either start or relocate a franchise to the Los Angeles area. The closest the Rose Bowl came to being the home of an NFL team was in 1996 when the
Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...
announced a relocation to Los Angeles with the Rose Bowl as their planned stadium but the move was blocked by the NFL. 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 have allowed an NFL team to temporarily play in the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl, however, never ended up acting as a home field for an NFL team. When the
Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC Wes ...
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 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a me ...
, the Rams' home from 1946 to 1979. The Los Angeles Chargers went to Dignity Health Sports Park as their temporary venue in 2017.


Soccer

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 prestigious 1994 FIFA World Cup Final (an event watched by over 700 million people worldwide), the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Final (at the time the most attended women's soccer match in history), and the 1984 Olympic Gold Medal Match, making it the only venue in the world to host all three of international soccer's major championship matches. The
United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. The U.S. team h ...
has played 17 games in the Rose Bowl, the fourth most of any venue. It has hosted 5 U.S. women's national team matches. It has also hosted
MLS Cup 1998 MLS Cup 1998 was the third edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States. It took place on October 25, 1998, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, with an attendance of 51,350 people. The ...
and the
2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
and 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Finals.
Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
has played a number of friendlies in the stadium against nations other than the United States. In the past, it was also the home ground of two
North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league ba ...
clubs, the
Los Angeles Wolves The Los Angeles Wolves were an American professional soccer team that played for two seasons. In 1967 they played in the United Soccer Association, finishing as champions, and in 1968 they were founding members of the North American Soccer Leagu ...
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 Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...
club
Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...
. The stadium will once again play host to the Galaxy on February 25, 2023 in a one-off game with city rivals
LAFC Los Angeles Football Club, commonly referred to as LAFC, is an American professional Association football team based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference (MLS), Wes ...
to kick off the MLS season.


Major soccer tournaments

The Rose Bowl is one of two stadiums to have hosted the
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...
finals for both men and women. The Rose Bowl hosted the men's final in
1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...
and the women's final in
1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
. (The only other stadium with this honor is the
Råsunda Stadium Råsunda Stadium (; also known as Råsunda Fotbollsstadion, Råsundastadion, Råsunda Football Stadium or just Råsunda) was the Swedish national football stadium. It was located in Solna Municipality in Stockholm and named after the district i ...
near
Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...
, Sweden, which hosted the men's final in
1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...
and the women's final in 1995.) Both Rose Bowl finals were scoreless after double
extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...
and decided on penalty shootouts;
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
beating
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
in the 1994 FIFA World Cup Final 3–2, and the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
beating
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
in the 1999 women's final 5–4. The Rose Bowl also hosted group stage matches of the Copa América 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 Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
. Chelsea won the match 1–0. The Rose Bowl also hosted a 2018 International Champions Cup match between
F.C. Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...
and
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
where Barcelona won 5–3 in penalty kicks after a 2–2 draw. It has also regularly featured CONCACAF Gold Cup matches including two finals. The Rose Bowl was a candidate to host matches during the
2026 FIFA World Cup The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international men's soccer championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament will be jointly hosted by 16 cities in three ...
, but
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
selected SoFi Stadium instead. The Rose Bowl will be a venue during the 2028 Summer Olympics.


1994 FIFA World Cup


1999 FIFA Women's World Cup


Other events and usage


Pasadena events

The Rose Bowl has hosted the Pasadena "Americafest"
Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Many ...
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 A flea market (or swap meet) is a type of street market that provides space for vendors to sell previously-owned (second-hand) goods. This type of market is often seasonal. However, in recent years there has been the development of 'formal ...
on the West Coast. The stadium hosts the annual "Turkey Tussle" homecoming football game between
John Muir High School John Muir High School is a four-year comprehensive secondary school in Pasadena, California, United States and is a part of the Pasadena Unified School District. The school is named after preservationist John Muir. History In 1926 the Pasadena ...
and Pasadena High School, in late October. 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 Secondary School hold their graduation ceremonies at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in early June until 2019. On June 4, 2021, the Pasadena Unified School District used the Rose Bowl to hold their high school graduation ceremonies for all four high schools, along with Rose City High School and Center for Independent Studies.


1932 Summer Olympics

The Rose Bowl was the
track cycling Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it ...
venue for the
1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...
.


Concerts


Other events

The stadium was used for
midget car racing Midget cars, also speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on mos ...
in the 1940s. The stadium held its first country music festival in June 1981, named A Day in the Country. The event was produced by Richard Flanzer of AtlanticPacific Music. The stadium hosted the 2007 Drum Corps International World Championships August 7 through August 11, 2007. The Rose Bowl was the final stadium to host the championship before DCI moved their corporate offices to
Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
with the championships being held at
Lucas Oil Stadium Lucas Oil Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It replaced the RCA Dome as the home field of the National Football League (NFL)'s Indianapolis Colts and opened on August 16, 2008. The stadium wa ...
until at least 2028. This was the first (and only) time the DCI championships had ever been held west of
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
in the 45-year history of DCI. It hosted auditions for the top American television show, ''
American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to ...
'', 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 seventeenth season of the CBS reality TV show ''
The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in fore ...
'' where teams had to help decorate three sections of the theme float for the 2011 New Year's Day
Rose Parade The Rose Parade, also known as the Tournament of Roses Parade (or simply the Tournament of Roses), is an annual parade held mostly along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, United States, on New Year's Day (or on Monday, January 2 if N ...
. In November 1997, the International Churches of Christ (Los Angeles) gathered at the Rose Bowl for their Worship Service, with an attendance of 17,000. The Brookside Golf Course hosted the Los Angeles Open on the
PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...
in
1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...
, won by Billy Casper in late January. The Rose Bowl was used for high school graduation ceremonies for the
Alhambra Unified School District The Alhambra Unified School District is a school district based in Alhambra, California. AUSD serves the City of Alhambra, most of the City of Monterey Park, and parts of the Cities of San Gabriel and Rosemead. District headquarters is locat ...
's Alhambra High School, Mark Keppel High School and San Gabriel High School on May 27, 2021, La Cañada Unified School District's La Cañada High School on June 3, 2021, and
Glendale Unified School District The Glendale Unified School District is a school district based in Glendale, California, United States. The school district serves the city of Glendale, portions of the city of La Cañada Flintridge and the unincorporated communities of Montro ...
's Glendale High School and Herbert Hoover High School on June 10, 2021, and Crescenta Valley High School on June 11, 2021, instead of holding at their respective campuses due to the COVID-19 restrictions.


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. In 2007 it was reported that Rose Bowl stadium itself runs on a yearly operational loss.Greg Johnson
$300-million fixer-upper
''Los Angeles Times'', January 1, 2007.
While it generated 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 A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...
($2 million). The stadium at the time was unable to finance many of the capital improvements it needed 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 A scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score in a game. Most levels of sport from high school and above use at least one scoreboard for keeping score, measuring time, and displaying statistics. Scoreboards in the past used ...
, new field lighting, ribbon boards, extra suites and a club. The estimated cost for such improvements ranges from $250 million and $300 million. The stadium had 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 benefited 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. The USC Athletic department attempted to negotiate with the Rose Bowl to play games there in 2007, out of concerns that the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission would not negotiate, in a decade-long rent impasse between the commission and the university. 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 were held on January 25, 2011. The newly constructed video board was used for the June 25, 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final. The costs increased as the project went on, and by December 2012 were estimated at $194 Million and the project to be completed by 2015.Wang, Jack
The improvements Rose Bowl renovation expenses soar $42 million as UCLA waits patiently – Daily News
Los Angeles Daily News, December 22, 2012
The Rose Bowl and UCLA leases were extended to 2043 and 2044 respectively. The renovations were completed in 2016. In 2019, the Rose Bowl reported a profit of $335,000Bermont, Bradley
a downturn, Rose Bowl ekes out a $335,000 profit
Pasadena Star News, February 3, 2020
However, golf course usage has declined year after year, and UCLA football attendance has waned. The stadium had reported $211.8 million in outstanding debt at the beginning of 2020. The Rose Bowl is limited by law to 15 events per year with more than 20,000 in attendance. But it can host an unlimited number of small events, such as weddings, for which it made $1.5 million in 2019.


Notable dates


Seating and attendance records

* Rose Bowl Game records: 1973 Rose Bowl, January 1, 1973, Attendance: 106,869. Number 1 ranked and undefeated USC vs. number 3 Ohio State. This is the stadium record, as well as the NCAA bowl game record. The smallest Rose Bowl game crowd in the stadium was the 1934 Rose Bowl with 35,000 in attendance to see Columbia defeat Stanford. Three days of rain had turned the stadium into a small lake, and it rained on New Year's Day in 1934, one of the few times in the history of the tournament.Palladino, Lisa �
"OBITUARIES: Cliff Montgomery ’34, Rose Bowl Quarterback"
. ''Columbia College Today'', July 2005
The largest crowd to watch a Rose Bowl Game after the 1998 Rose Bowl and seating reconfiguration, was 95,173 in the
2014 Rose Bowl The 2014 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game that was played on January 1, 2014, at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California. This 100th Rose Bowl Game matched Big Ten Conference Champions Michigan State Spartans against Pac-12 Conf ...
. *NFL Super Bowl record:
Super Bowl XIV Super Bowl XIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Los Angeles Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champi ...
, Pittsburgh Steelers – Los Angeles Rams, January 20, 1980, Attendance: 103,985. This is an NFL post-season record. This also stood as an overall NFL record until broken by a 1994 Pre-season game played at Estadio Azteca (Aztec Stadium) in Mexico City. *
1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...
(Games of the XXIII Olympiad) Football (Soccer) Tournament – France defeated Brazil 2–0 in the final to win the gold medal on August 11. The attendance was 101,799 setting a record for the largest crowd for a soccer game held in the United States (since broken by a 2014 Manchester United-Real Madrid exhibition at the Michigan Stadium in
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all ...
which drew 109,318). The attendance was also the Olympic football record until the Final of the 2000 Olympic Football Tournament at the Stadium Australia in
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
which drew 104,098. *College football regular season record: UCLA–USC, November 19, 1988, Attendance: 100,741.''UCLA Football – 2007 UCLA Football (Media Guide)''. UCLA Athletic Department (2007), page 149 (PDF copy available at www.uclabruins.com). Note that the UCLA Bruins have played in six Rose Bowl games with larger crowds: 1956, 1976, 1983, 1984, 1986 and 1994. Undefeated second-ranked USC (9–0) and quarterback
Rodney Peete Rodney Peete (born March 16, 1966) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, Oakland Raiders, and Carolina Panthers. He played ...
met sixth-ranked UCLA (9–1) and quarterback
Troy Aikman Troy Kenneth Aikman (born November 21, 1966) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. After transferring from Oklahoma, he played college football at UCLA, ...
with a berth in the Rose Bowl Game on the line. Since the 1998 renovations, the largest regular season crowd was for the 2002 UCLA-USC game, with an attendance of 91,084. The largest attendance for a UCLA game, with an opponent other than USC, is 88,804, for the 2000 game against the
Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...
. The lowest attendance with fans in seats for a UCLA regular season game was 27,143, against
Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...
on September 3, 2022. Lower then the former record, which saw 32,513 attend against Oregon State on November 7, 1992. This is still the Bruins' lowest attendance record for a conference opponent. The first game played at the Rose Bowl, on October 28, 1922, between USC and Cal had an attendance of 35,000. All four UCLA home games during the 2020 football season, including the USC game, had an official attendance of zero, due to restrictions from the Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports. *Professional soccer record: June 16, 1996: In an historic doubleheader witnessed by 92,216 fans, the U.S. men's national team played Mexico for the championship of 1996 U.S. Cup, followed by the MLS conference leaders
Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...
vs. Tampa Bay Mutiny. The crowd was the largest ever to see a U.S. professional soccer league match. *
1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...
:
The final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
, held on July 17 saw
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
defeat
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
3–2 after a penalty shootout. Attendance was 94,194. * 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup:
The final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
on July 10, 1999, was the most attended women's sports event in history with an official attendance of 90,185. The USA defeated
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
5–4 in a penalty shootout. * 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup: 93,420 fans saw Mexico defeating the United States 4–2 in the 2011 Gold Cup Championship match on June 25, 2011. *Soccer, exhibition match: On August 1, 2009, an attendance of 93,137 showed up when
FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...
defeated the
Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...
2–1 in an exhibition match, making it the largest soccer attendance in the United States since the 1994 World Cup. The Tour 2014 game between
Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
vs. Los Angeles Galaxy had a crowd of 86,432 on July 23, 2014, after recent renovation of the stadium. *Concert: British-Irish boy band
One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, are an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group are composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik until his departure from the g ...
played 3 sold out nights at the Rose Bowl in September 2014 on the same tour, making them the first act ever to accomplish this.


Other notable dates

* November 17, 2012: The Rose Bowl press box became known as the Terry Donahue Pavilion in the fall, 2013. Donahue is the winningest coach in the history of the
Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Divisi ...
(known as the Pacific-10 during his coaching career). * June 8, 2013: Ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of the new pavilion with Congresswoman Judy Chu and Mayor Bill Bogaard * July 7, 2013: A record 566
mariachi Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music that dates back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, t ...
s performed at the half-time of the first round 2013 Gold Cup game between
Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
and
Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...
.David Zahniser
"Mariachi Guinness World Record broken at Rose Bowl"
''Los Angeles Times'', July 7, 2013
* June 30, 2022: Long time Chief Executive Officer & General Manager Darryl Dunn retired


See also

* List of NCAA Division I FBS football stadiums


Notes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rose Bowl (Stadium) * Sports venues in Los Angeles County, California Buildings and structures in Pasadena, California Sports in Pasadena, California Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County) American football venues in California College football venues National Football League venues in Los Angeles High school football venues in California NCAA bowl game venues Soccer venues in California National Register of Historic Places in Pasadena, California History of Pasadena, California Landmarks in Los Angeles County, California National Historic Landmarks in California Myron Hunt buildings Sports venues completed in 1922 1922 establishments in California Venues of the 1932 Summer Olympics Venues of the 1984 Summer Olympics Venues of the 2028 Summer Olympics Olympic cycling venues Olympic football venues Former Major League Soccer stadiums 1994 FIFA World Cup stadiums 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup stadiums CONCACAF Gold Cup stadiums r r North American Soccer League (1968–1984) stadiums Cal State Los Angeles Diablos football Caltech Beavers football Loyola Lions football UCLA Bruins football venues University of California, Los Angeles buildings and structures San Gabriel Valley Tourist attractions in Pasadena, California Sports venues on the National Register of Historic Places in California Velodromes in California