News of the Arroyo
Title: | Broker says NFL may be smelling the roses |
Subtitle: | |
Date: | 2003-03-27 |
Summary: | March 27, 2003 -- Rose Bowl consultant John Moag expressed his optimism about the prospects of luring an NFL franchise to the Arroyo Arena in a meeting yesterday at the Pasadena Senior Center. |
Author: | Gary Scott, Staff Writer |
Publication: | Pasadena Star News |
Content: | PASADENA -- Sports broker John Moag said Wednesday that he believes the National Football League will bring professional football to a redesigned Rose Bowl. Having come from a league meeting held in Phoenix earlier in the day, Moag said he thought the NFL was committed to putting a team in Pasadena, provided the City Council approves an acceptable plan for rebuilding the stadium to meet pro-football standards. \"They are very close to coming if you all decide you want them,\' Moag told a group of about 60 people at the Pasadena Senior Center. League officials could not be reached late Wednesday for comment. Moag was hired by the city last summer to pursue a deal with the NFL as a way of securing the Rose Bowl\'s future. He has hired a team of consultants, including architectural and financial experts, to design a plan for the 81-year-old stadium. He presented several tantalizing details about the plan, saying it will meet NFL criteria while both respecting the nature of the Arroyo Seco and meeting calls from local preservationists to maintain the Rose Bowl\'s historic landmark status. Architectural renderings will be made public in about 10 days, he added. All parking for the Rose Bowl would be underground, he said. The parking lots and all of the asphalt around the stadium would be removed and covered with grass or other vegetation. The square-footage inside the stadium would more than double to 1 million square feet, he said. This would require building below ground, although the field would stay at its current level. The extra space would be needed for larger locker rooms, training facilities, kitchens and infrastructure, he said. The seats, risers and treads would be expanded to make more room for fans and to reduce the seating capacity. Moag said one out of every five rows would be removed, leaving about 63,000 seats about the number found in most modern stadiums. There is also a plan to significantly expand the seating for Rose Bowl and Super Bowl games. Moag said the NFL has consented to keeping the interior bowl design and the stadium\'s current height. The project would cost an estimated $450 million, he said. Construction would take 23 months and would be scheduled to start immediately after the annual Rose Bowl Game so that only one Rose Bowl game would have to be played outside Pasadena, said Bill Thomson, chairman of the Rose Bowl Operating Company\'s tenant search committee. Traffic issues are also being studied by Parsons Corp., a Pasadena engineering firm. Moag said fewer seats, more season ticket holders and a connection to the Gold Line light rail are keys to solving traffic concerns. The design should win over local preservationists, Moag added, including Pasadena Heritage, which came out against an earlier design. The group said it would ruin the Rose Bowl\'s historic landmark status. \"If (the design) doesn\'t blow the mind of the preservation community, I will be shocked,\' said Moag. Susan Mossman, executive director of Pasadena Heritage, said she will reserve judgment until she reviews the design. Moag said the plan requires no city financing. A ticket tax would raise about $60 million; permanent seat licenses, luxury box rentals, naming rights to the stadium and league loans would pay the balance. He also said the stadium would continue to be owned by the city. Moag is chairman and chief executive officer of Baltimore- based Moag & Company. Once chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority, he is credited with bringing the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore in 1996. He was hired by Pasadena last summer on a $2.5 million contingency that he get a 15-year commitment for an NFL franchise to locate in the Rose Bowl. The fee doubles if Moag\'s company invests more than 1,000 hours or incurs financial commitments of $1 million in its efforts. Over the next month or so, Moag and the Rose Bowl Operating Company hope to build community support for the plan. It eventually will be submitted to the city for environmental review, but no firm date has been set. Moag and city officials are planning to meet with NFL representatives in May. -- Gary Scott can be reached at (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4458, or by e- mail at gary.scott@sgvn.com. |
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