News of the Arroyo


Title:

Field's open for Rose Bowl

Subtitle:

Date:

2006-12-22

Summary:

December 22, 2006 - Get ready to discuss the future of the Rose Bowl, now that the NFL fantasy has been dismissed.

Author:

Editorial

Publication:

Pasadena Star-News

Content:

VOTERS firmly rejected one option for ringing some changes at the hallowed Rose Bowl last month. A measure on the Pasadena ballot that would have essentially handed the stadium over to the National Football League, which would have rebuilt it beyond recognition, was given the thumbs-down by 72 percent of the voters.

Now that the dust has cleared, the situation in a sense gives a refreshing clean slate of possibilities to the Rose Bowl Operating Co., the autonomous and entrepreneurial board that oversees the venue and the surrounding, park-like 36 holes that make up the Brookside Golf Courses.

With the unwarrranted, overblown plan A out of the way, plan B can mean any number of options.

Very much to its credit, the RBOC and its supporters in the community are proceeding in a non-defensive, all-ideas-considered mode when it comes to the future of the Rose Bowl, which does need some work in order to continue its tradition of excellence.

You might liken the situation to an Arnold Schwarzenegger moment: When the citizenry rejects one direction, take their advice very much to heart about your next move.

Details will be forthcoming - and we have a Rose Bowl Game in the great Pac 10-Big 10 tradition to get out of the way first when USC faces Michigan Jan. 1 - but the RBOC is planning a community-wide open house for the stadium on Jan. 20. Everyone will be invited into the bowl to get a first-hand look at the site, at its problems and its opportunities, and will be asked for ideas.

Considering the millions of people from around the world who have attended sporting events in the stadium for over 80 years, a surprising number of local residents have never been inside it. And doing so when there are just a few hundred interested parties rather than 93,000 fans jamming every seat, tunnel and hot-dog line is a very different experience.

We\'re very glad that Pasadena Heritage, the preservationist watchdog of the city, is participating in the process and will be part of the open house.

With some of that group\'s leaders, and certainly with many of the city\'s taxpayers, we share worries about some of the bigger numbers that are being already discussed. Just because the NFL wanted to spend more than $500 million there, does that mean the city needs to consider spending over $250 million on both preventive maintenance and improvements?

Not necessarily.

So far, we very much like the idea of adding more aisles to the seating so that there is some hope of not literally stepping on hundreds of toes in order to get in and out of your seat.

Talking of which, those red rubbery prototypes that look like the bucket seats in a Ferrari show promise for adding some comfort when in a crowd. Skybox improvements would be a very good investment, with the promise of bringing in new revenue instead of just a nicer environment.

Other new ideas we especially like involve making the Rose Bowl a place for day-to-day fun rather than just occasional. Right now, it\'s literally fenced-off to vistors the vast majority of the time. Ideas for opening it up include a museum like Wimbledon\'s, a place to buy memorabilia and a quality restaurant such as one Pasadenan with enormous expertise in that area is investigating. These ideas offer revenue and branding enhancements as well.

The shoring-up work that will prevent the stadium from turning into a white elephant along the lines of Florida\'s Orange Bowl is the most important work of all, and needs to be the first add to a zero-sum budget.

After that, we think all the parties of interest here, including citizens, neighbors, City Hall, UCLA and the Tournament of Roses, just need to keep an open mind at this point. The goal for plan B is to create a better Rose Bowl for the future for all to enjoy, one that is in so many ways more attractive and one the city can afford.

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