August 15, 2000

By Elizabeth Lee
Staff Writer

PASADENA -- The City Council on Monday voted to allow the Rose Bowl to more than double the number of major events it can schedule each year and tentatively approved a restructuring of the facility's governing board.

In a three-hour discussion of the 78-year-old stadium's future, the council voted unanimously, with Councilman Chris Holden absent, to expand the number of major events allowed at the Rose Bowl from 12 to 25.

The council also voted 6-1, with Councilman Steve Haderlein objecting, to eliminate UCLA's seat on the Rose Bowl Operating Company and to add a position that will be filled by the city manager.

In a joint meeting with the 11-member Operating Company -- the UCLA representative seat is one of two vacant -- the council decided to strike UCLA's position. Currently, the governing board contains seven council-appointed seats, two mayoral appointments, one UCLA seat and one Tournament of Roses seat.

"I would not be in the least bit uncomfortable with kicking them right off the board," Councilman Bill Crowfoot said, after describing what he referred to as a less-than-perfect relationship between UCLA and the city.

The city has incurred millions of dollars of debt paying for stadium improvements that benefited UCLA, officials said, and in turn has received no assurances from the university that it plans to stay at the Rose Bowl for the long term.

Instead, the university has alluded to leaving Pasadena for a better facility, Crowfoot and RBOC member Patrick Green said -- although there's really no other place for them to go in Los Angeles. UCLA's current contract with the bowl expires in 2003.

Haderlein objected to the decision -- which is tentative, pending at least two more council discussions -- because he said it would jeopardize the Rose Bowl's future with UCLA.

"It seems to me that continuing a relationship with UCLA is critical to the success ... of the Rose Bowl and the Rose Bowl Operating Co., and I'm very concerned about the negative impact this restructuring would have," he said.

Also Monday, Rose Bowl officials received permission from the council to increase the number of events they can schedule without city review to 25 per year, up from the current limit of 12.

Currently, if stadium officials want to schedule more than 12 "major" events -- traditionally defined as having an attendance of 20,000 or more -- they must do an Environmental Impact Report and get City Council approval.

Under the new policy -- which was tentatively approved, pending completion of an EIR on the central Arroyo Seco -- the Rose Bowl can schedule as many as 25. The stadium had also sought an increase in the attendance threshold for what is considered a "major" event, from 20,000 to 30,000, but that was rejected in the face of community opposition.

The increase in the number of major events is intended to help the 1922 stadium maintain its self-sufficiency and market itself better to potential clients.

The 92,500-seat Rose Bowl turned a major profit in 1999-2000 for the first time in several years, netting $1 million from 16 events.

But the facility is in danger of once again going into the red if another stadium is built in Los Angeles, according to a staff report.

Even if a new football stadium isn't built, the Rose Bowl will likely lose the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer games in 2002, as the team wants to build a smaller-sized stadium and training center at Cal State Dominguez Hills. That and the loss of two other events will reduce the Rose Bowl's profit to $312,000 a year.

The Rose Bowl needs to be as receptive as possible toward new events to hedge against those losses and to help pay off its $45 million capital improvements debt, the report said.

Officials said even though 20 events at the Rose Bowl in one year is a rarity -- that's occurred only once in the past 12 years -- they still need the flexibility to schedule additional events should the opportunity arise. City Councilman Paul Little said the Rose Bowl should be free to pursue extra events "without dragging the tenants through the political process."

The council dropped an idea, however, to increase the threshold for what is considered a major event. Patricia Vick, vice president of the Linda Vista/Annandale Association, said her group opposed raising the threshold of what is considered "major" from 20,000 people to 30,000. Events under that threshold can still have a major impact on the Arroyo Seco and surrounding neighborhoods, she said.

Also Monday, the council approved more than $2.8 million in capital improvement projects for the Rose Bowl over the next year.