News of the Arroyo

Title:	$500 million plan to redesign Rose Bowl unveiled
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Date:	2003-04-23
Summary:	April 23, 2003 -- Rose Bowl officials yesterday unveiled their new plans for a renovated Rose Bowl intended to host a National Football franchise. Reactions from neighborhood leaders and LA officials were mixed.
Author:	Gary Scott, Staff Writer
Publication:	Pasadena Star News
Content:	Proposal part of attempt to lure NFL franchise to 81-year-old stadium PASADENA -- Hopes the National Football League will return to the Los Angeles area got a boost Tuesday when a high-powered investment group showed off a $500 million plan to redesign the 81-year-old Rose Bowl. It was the long-awaited first step that could lead to the area getting a pro football team after the Raiders and Rams abandoned the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. But many obstacles remain: financing, NFL owners, competitors and local residents. The proposal put forward by the Rose Bowl Operating Co. calls for the NFL to provide a team and pay for construction, which would cut the Rose Bowl\'s capacity by almost one- third to 64,000 seats, add corporate suites and possibly build underground parking. Rose Bowl officials say the design is an effort to marry modern demands and historic preservation, and immediately launched a public outreach campaign to gain support for the plan in preparation for negotiations with the NFL owners in May. \"If I was an NFL fan, this was a pretty good day,\' said John Moag, the Baltimore investment banker hired to broker a deal. \"The NFL is very interested in getting back into the market. We wouldn\'t be going through this exercise if they weren\'t. \"(NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue) has seen the design. He is committed to making this a preservation project.\' Moag, who helped bring the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore, brought aboard the Kansas City firm Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum as architects. HOK, as the firm is known, has designed numerous NFL stadiums. Renderings were unveiled first at a morning news conference and later at an evening town- hall meeting that drew more than 200 people. Residents at the meeting raised questions about financing, traffic, noise and lights. There was also a general concern about how the plan would effect the Arroyo Seco, but no direct criticism of the design. \"I\'m surprised it is as good as it is,\' said Pasadena resident Mike Salazar. \"I\'m glad they are really trying to keep the preservation issue at the forefront because it would be a mistake not to.\' Norman Parker, resident of the adjacent Linda Vista neighborhood, said he wanted Rose Bowl officials to keep neighborhood concerns in mind as the plan moves forward. \"We do believe any stadium that gets professionalized is definitely going to change the character of the arroyo,\' Parker said. Preservationists want the Rose Bowl to remain a historic landmark. Pasadena Heritage officials met with the architects and Rose Bowl Operating Co. officials last week to view the designs. \"We were encouraged by the presentation and see the new stadium proposal as a significant step in the right direction,\' the group\'s advocacy committee said in a statement. \"No real design work has yet been undertaken and many specific details have yet to be developed.\' Residents who live in the expensive neighborhoods above the stadium are worried about noise and losing the parklike atmosphere of the Arroyo Seco that attracts walkers, golfers, joggers and soccer players. \"We are going to wait until the NFL and the RBOC put a deal on the table and then we\'ll evaluate it, including all the environmental impacts,\' said Vince Farhat, president of the West Pasadena Residents\' Association. \"The NFL could pull the plug on all of this and the whole design concept is moot.\' The most visible change to the Rose Bowl would be the addition of 140 luxury suites along the east and west sides of the stadium, each rising between 15 and 17 feet above its rim. This is the same height as the press boxes on the western edge, which would be removed. The plan calls for significant expansion below grade, doubling the stadium\'s interior space to 1 million square feet. An underground concourse around the stadium would be added for access to club seating. The concession stands and restrooms around the stadium would be demolished and landscaping added. The arroyo stone walls and earthen berms would remain, but would be reinforced. A major concession was to retain the stadium\'s traditional bowl shape. Most modern football stadiums have rectangular, stacked-seating. HOK architect Dennis Wellner said he is confident the design will be accepted if it can be shown to provide the revenue and space demanded by the league. \"Not a penny of taxpayer money is going to go into this,\' Moag said. \"The deal is very simple. We basically turn over the opportunity to make revenue out of this building to the NFL in return for their spending about $500 million to give us a truly renovated stadium.\' The NFL would take all revenue from football games, share in profits from other events like the Rose Bowl Game and have limited naming rights to the stadium. \"It will become the most powerful revenue venue in the country,\' Moag said. Financing would come from a variety of sources, such as the sale of permanent seat licenses, NFL loans, a ticket tax and, if the stadium\'s National Historic Landmark status is preserved, federal tax credits equal to 20 percent of the construction cost. The neon Rose Bowl sign on the stadium\'s south entrance dating to 1949 would be retained. \"There\'s not much that\'s different here and we see that as the most important feature of this design concept,\' HOK architect Jon Knight said. \"We\'ve actually brought the original field back to its 1922 configuration, which was a complete oval.\' Any deal is contingent upon an environmental impact report, which could take nine months or more to complete. Construction would take 23 months, Rose Bowl officials said, forcing UCLA\'s games, the Rose Bowl Game and the BCS game to be temporarily relocated. The traffic plan is not complete, although only season ticketholders would be allowed to park around the bowl. Others would have to use shuttles and light rail to reach the stadium, which is accessed by residential streets. \"The NFL would like to see this project move sooner rather than later,\' Moag said. \"Yet they certainly have not identified any team that is going to move.\' The Pasadena City Council is expected to finalize a proposal in mid-May. NFL owners will meet May 20-21 in Philadelphia, where they will see the proposed redesign, but it\'s not clear if any commitment will be made. The competition likely will heat up quickly. The Chargers are ready to move their training camp to Carson. And the Coliseum Commission is moving ahead with plans to rebuild the stadium along the lines of the Rose Bowl, scaled down in size with modern facilities. However, the Anschutz Entertainment Group that built Staples Center and its investors, including Casey Wasserman, owner of the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League, remain aloof about reviving plans for a new football stadium in the South Park area or near Staples. Michael Roth, their spokesman, declined comment on Rose Bowl plans, saying: \"What we have said (last year) was we were pursuing football on behalf of the city of Los Angeles. We felt it best there be only one entity involved in the process to make the most financial sense for the city and the venue. And when others decided they had interest in the NFL, we decided it was best for AEG to stand down and allow other organizations to step back up again.\' Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn remains interested in bringing an NFL team to L.A., but only if it does not require the investment of public funds to build a stadium, Deputy Mayor Matt Middlebrook said. \"I\'m not saying there\'s not an effort, but Los Angeles is not going to invest money in building a stadium here. What it\'s going to take in the city of Los Angeles is an investor to come in to be willing to spend the money here to build a stadium. There are people talking about it, but there\'s nothing on the front burner.\' Pat Lynch, general manager of the Coliseum, said he is preparing for environmental and traffic studies of a renovation plan that involves scaling down the facility from 90,000 to 68,000 seats, adding luxury boxes, but placing them physically lower than the Rose Bowl\'s proposed renovation. \"We certainly wold like to see it be the Coliseum,\' Lynch said. \"Folks are stating that we\'re not being considered and we\'re not in the race, but we\'re just moving forward, doing our own business to be in the race.\' Staff Writer Harrison Sheppard and The Associated Press contributed to this story. -- Gary Scott can be reached at (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4458, or by e-mail at gary.scott@sgvn.com.
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