Rose Bowl (stadium)

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For the English cricket stadium, see Rose Bowl, Hampshire

Rose Bowl
An entrance to the Rose Bowl Stadium
Location 1001 Rose Bowl Drive
Pasadena, California 91103
Broke ground 1921
Opened October 8, 1922,
Rose Bowl game – January 1, 1923
Owner City of Pasadena
Operator Rose Bowl Operating Company
Surface Grass
Construction cost 1 Tuls & $272,198 USD
Architect Myron Hunt
Tenants Rose Bowl Game (NCAA)
(1923-1941, 1943-Present)
Los Angeles Aztecs (NASL) (1978-1979)
UCLA Bruins (NCAA) (1982-Present)
Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) (1996-2002)
Los Angeles Wolves (NASL) (1968)
Capacity 91,136 – UCLA Bruins Football[1]
92,542 – Rose Bowl Game[2]
Rose Bowl
(U.S. National Historic Landmark)
Designated as NHL: February 27, 1987
Added to NRHP: February 27, 1987
NRHP Reference#: 87000755[3]

The Rose Bowl is an outdoor football stadium in Pasadena, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. It is the home field of the UCLA Bruins college football team of the Pac-10 Conference. The stadium is also the site of the annual college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl Game, held annually at the beginning of the New Year.

The natural grass playing field runs in a north–south configuration and sits at an elevation of 825 feet (251 m) above sea level.[4] The stadium is a National Historic Landmark. It was designed based upon the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.

Contents

[edit] History

The Rose Bowl under construction; note the original horseshoe shape
The Rose Bowl under construction; note the original horseshoe shape

The game now known as the Rose Bowl Game was played at Tournament Park until 1922. Organizers of the Tournament of Roses realized that the temporary stands were inadequate for a crowd of 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 (New Haven, Connecticut, built 1914). The Arroyo Seco dry riverbed was selected as the location for the stadium. The Rose Bowl was under construction from 1921 to 1922.

The nearby Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum also was under construction during this time and would be completed in May 1923. The Rose Bowl was completed earlier. The first game was a regular season contest on October 28, 1922 when Cal defeated USC 12-0. This was the only loss for USC and California finished the season undefeated. Cal declined the invitation to the 1923 Rose Bowl game and USC went in their place. The stadium was dedicated officially on January 1, 1923 when USC defeated Penn State 14-3. Originally built as a horseshoe, the stadium was expanded several times over the years. The southern stands were completed in 1928, making the stadium a complete bowl.

The name of the stadium was alternatively "Tournament of Roses Stadium" or "Tournament of Roses Bowl", until being settled as "Rose Bowl" before the 1923 Rose Bowl game.[5]

The stadium seating has been reconfigured several times since its original 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. For many years, the Rose Bowl had the largest football stadium capacity in the United States, eventually being surpassed Michigan Stadium in 1998.[6][7] The maximum stated seating capacity was 104,594 from 1972 to 1997. Capacity was lowered following the 1998 Rose Bowl to widen the playing field for soccer and remove lower seats that were blocked by players on the sidelines. Slightly different figures are given for current capacity. UCLA reports the capacity at 91,136.[1] The Tournament of Roses reports the capacity at 92,542.[2] The 2006 Rose Bowl game, which was also the BCS championship game, had a crowd of 93,986.[8] As of 2008, the Rose Bowl is still number ten on the List of American football stadiums by capacity, and is still the largest stadium that hosts post-season bowl games.

[edit] Usage

[edit] Rose Bowl Game

Main article: Rose Bowl (game)

The Rose Bowl Stadium is best known in the U.S. for its hosting of the Rose Bowl, the most famous college football postseason bowl game. 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. Since its opening, the Rose Bowl stadium has hosted the bowl game every year except the 1942 Rose Bowl, when the game was moved to Durham, North Carolina, at the campus of Duke University. Duke, which played in the game on January 1st, volunteered to host the contest because of security concerns on the West Coast in the weeks following the attack on Pearl Harbor.[9][10] Since 1945, the Rose Bowl has been the highest attended college football bowl game.[11]

[edit] BCS National Championship

In 1998, the Rose Bowl Game became part of the Bowl Championship Series. The 2002 Rose Bowl and the 2006 Rose Bowl games also were the BCS Championship games, matching the #1 and #2 Bowl Championship Series teams in the nation. In 2010, the BCS Championship game will be played a week after the 2010 Rose Bowl game as a completely separate event from the Tournament of Roses. The Tournament of Roses committee will manage the event.

[edit] UCLA Bruins Football home stadium

Main article: UCLA Bruins football
Rose Bowl, panorama during UCLA-Arizona football game
Rose Bowl, panorama during UCLA-Arizona football game

It has been the home football field for UCLA since 1982.[1] The UCLA Bruins had played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum since 1928. At the start of the 1982 NFL season, with the Oakland Raiders scheduled to move in, UCLA decided to relocate its home games to the Rose Bowl Stadium.[12] 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. In 2007, Sports Illustrated named the Rose Bowl stadium the number one venue in college sports.[13] The stadium is the host of the UCLA-USC rivalry 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 stadiums. Because of the shared arrangement, and the participation of USC in a number of Rose Bowl games, both schools have winning records in each others' home stadiums.

[edit] Pasadena events

The stadium hosts commencement ceremonies for John Muir High School and Pasadena High School. It also hosts the annual football homecoming game, called the Turkey Tussle, between Pasadena High School and John Muir High School, in mid-November (either 10, 11, or 12).

Every second Sunday of each month, The Rose Bowl Flea Market takes place on the parking lots. Hosted by promoter R.G. Canning, it claims to be the largest Flea market on the West Coast. Brookside golf course also is in the Arroyo Seco. The fairways of the golf course serve as parking on football game days.

[edit] Other tenants and major events

[edit] Caltech Beaver football home stadium

Local Pasadena college Caltech played most home games in the Rose Bowl from the time of its construction until they gave up football in 1993. Caltech jovially claimed to play before the greatest number of empty seats in the nation.[14]

[edit] The Junior Rose Bowl

The stadium has hosted the Junior Rose Bowl from 1946-71 and 1976-77. Between 1946-66 and 1976-77, the game pitted the California Junior College football champions vs. 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 football game from 1967-71; it was billed as the Junior Rose Bowl the first two years, but instead two teams from the NCAA College Division competed (then later the University Division, usually featuring teams that were not invited to other major bowls).

[edit] Super Bowls

Main article: Super Bowl

The stadium has hosted the Super Bowl five times. The first being in 1977, Super Bowl XI when the Oakland Raiders beat the Minnesota Vikings 32-14. The game was also played there in 1980 (Super Bowl XIV), 1983 (Super Bowl XVII), 1987 (Super Bowl XXI) and 1993 (Super Bowl XXVII). The Rose Bowl is one of two venues (Stanford Stadium being the other) 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 game after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.)

Because the NFL has a policy limiting the hosting of a Super Bowl to NFL cities (& metropolitan areas), the Super Bowl has not been played at the Rose Bowl since January 1993. Since the Rams and Raiders departed the L.A. area in the mid-1990s, the NFL's title game visits to southern California have been limited to San Diego only, home of the Chargers.

[edit] 1984 Summer Olympics

The Rose Bowl Stadium was the venue for the Soccer events for the 1984 Summer Olympics.

[edit] Los Angeles Galaxy

The Rose Bowl stadium was the home ground for the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer from the team's inception in 1996 until it moved into the soccer-specific Home Depot Center in 2003; the venue additionally hosted the 1998 MLS Cup.

[edit] FIFA World Cups

Main article: FIFA World Cup

The Rose Bowl is one of two stadiums to have hosted the FIFA World Cup finals for both men and women. The Rose Bowl hosted the men's final in the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the women's final in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. The only other stadium with this honor is the Råsunda Stadium near Stockholm of Sweden, which hosted the men's final in 1958 and the women's final in 1995. Both Rose Bowl finals were scoreless after extra time and decided on penalty shootouts; Brazil defeating Italy in the 1994 men's final, and the United States defeating China in the 1999 women's tournament.

The 1999 women's final was the most-attended women's sports event in history, with an official attendance of 90,185.[citation needed]

[edit] Other events and usage

The stadium hosted the 2007 Drum Corps International World Championships August 7 through August 11, 2007. The Rose Bowl is the final stadium to host the championship before DCI moved their corporate offices to Indianapolis, Indiana with the championships being held at Lucas Oil Stadium until at least 2018. This was the first time the DCI championships have ever been held west of Denver, Colorado in the 35 year history of DCI.

It hosted auditions for the top American television show, American Idol, on August 8, 2006.

On June 18, 1988 Depeche Mode played their last concert of the Music for the Masses tour at the sold-out Rose Bowl in front of 80,000+ people. The concert was recorded and filmed for the album and documentary movie 101 which was released in 1989.

Pink Floyd played here during the band's The Division Bell tour in 1994 and is available on ROIO.

[edit] Present status

Large card stunt [1] performed at the 2004 Rose Bowl Game viewed from the Southeast corner
Large card stunt [1] performed at the 2004 Rose Bowl Game viewed from the Southeast corner

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 also has one member on the company board. The Rose Bowl stadium itself runs on a yearly operational loss.[15] While it generates funds with the annual lease with UCLA ($1.5m), the Tournament of Roses ($900k), and a regularly hosted flea market ($900k), it makes up the loss by relying on funds generated by the adjacent city-owned golf course ($2m).[15] While the stadium is able to keep operating in this financial set-up, it is unable to finance many of the capital improvements it needs 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, new field lighting, additional suites and a club. The estimated cost for such improvements ranges from $250 million and $300 million.[15]

The stadium currently has long-term leases with its two major tenants, the 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 will benefit both UCLA and the Tournament of Roses. There will be new locker rooms for both UCLA and visiting teams, as well as a new media interview area.[1]

[edit] NFL

Since losing both its local teams in the LA market in 1995, the National Football League had been looking to either start or relocate a franchise to the LA area. One of the strong candidates was a renovated Rose Bowl. However, after many years of varying offers, no deal could be struck between NFL owners and the stadium's owner, the City of Pasadena, following a vote of disapproval by its residents in November 2006.[15]

[edit] 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.[1][16][17] The smallest Rose Bowl game crowd in the stadium was the 1934 Rose Bowl with 35,000 in attendance to see Columbia defeat Stanford.[18] 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.[19]
  • NFL Super Bowl Record: Super Bowl XIV, Pittsburgh Steelers – Los Angeles Rams, January 20th, 1980, Attendance: 103,985. This is an NFL post-season record.[20] This also stood as an overall NFL record until broken by a 1994 Pre-season game played at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.[21][22]
  • 1984 Summer Olympics (Games of the XXIII Olympiad) Football (Soccer) Tournament – France defeated Brazil 2-0 Attendance: 101,799
  • College football regular season record: UCLA-USC, November 19, 1988, Undefeated second-ranked USC (9-0) and quarterback Rodney Peete met 9-1, sixth-ranked UCLA and quarterback Troy Aikman with a berth in the Rose Bowl Game on the line. Attendance: 100,741[23]
  • Professional soccer record: June 16, 1996: In an historic doubleheader witnessed by 92,216 fans, the U.S. National Team plays Mexico for the championship of U.S. Cup '96 followed by the conference leaders Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Tampa Bay Mutiny. The crowd was the largest ever to see a U.S. professional soccer league match.
  • FIFA Women's World Cup 1999 final on July 10th, 1999 was the most attended women's sports event in history with an official attendance of 90,185.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e UCLA Football – 2007 UCLA Football (Media Guide). UCLA Athletic Department (2007), page 165 (PDF copy available at www.uclabruins.com)
  2. ^ a b Rose Bowl Stadium – History of the Rose Bowl Stadium
  3. ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-07-22).
  4. ^ Microsoft Terraserver reference
  5. ^ HUGE FLAGSTAFF FOR PASADENA. Enormous Steel Pole 122 and ½ Feet Long Will Stand in Rose Bowl. Los Angeles Times, December 10, 1922. MONDAY afternoon at 2 o'clock the new flagstaff of the Tournament of Roses stadium, now called the Rose Bowl, will be put in place with suitable ceremony under auspices of the Pasadena Lions Club, donor of the pole.
  6. ^ The Michigan Stadium Story
  7. ^ University of Michigan Official Athletics site – Michigan Stadium
  8. ^ Tournament of Roses Parade FAQs. The Rose Bowl Game is a contractual sellout. In 2006, attendance was 93,986.
  9. ^ Rose Bowl Timeline. Pasadena Tournament of Roses. Retrieved on 2007-11-05.
  10. ^ Zimmerman, Paul - Scene of Rose Bowl Shifted to Durham, N.C. Los Angeles Times, December 16, 1941. Perpetuation of the annual Rose Bowl intersectional football, classic was assured yesterday when the Tournament of Roses officials and Oregon State College accepted the hospitality of Duke University.
  11. ^ NCAA Division 1 football records book. NCAA, 2007 Edition, pages 296-302 Major Bowl Game Attendance
  12. ^ UCLA History Project - This Month in History Aug. 18, 1982 … A gridiron home – includes a photograph of the 1983 Rose Bowl game from an overhead shot
  13. ^ Top 10 College Sports Venues: Number 1 - Rose Bowl Sports Illustrated. Text: Mallory Rubin. July 13, 2007
  14. ^ The Discovery of Anti-Matter: The autobiography of Carl David Anderson, The Youngest Man To Win the Nobel Prize. Published 1999 by World Scientific (ISBN 9810236808)
  15. ^ a b c d Greg Johnson, $300-million fixer-upper, Los Angeles Times, January 1, 2007.
  16. ^ 2002 NCAA Records book - Attendance Records page 494 (PDF)
  17. ^ NCAA Division 1 football records book. NCAA, 2007 Edition, pages 296-302 Major Bowl Game Attendance
  18. ^ NCAA Division 1 football records book. NCAA, 2007 Edition, pages 296-302 Major Bowl Game Attendance
  19. ^ Palladino, Lisa - OBITUARIES: Cliff Montgomery ’34, Rose Bowl Quarterback. Columbia College Today, July 2005
  20. ^ Showdown in Motown by Gil Brant, Feb. 2, 2006
  21. ^ Tom Weir – Cardinals deep-six 49ers in historic tilt in Mexico. October 3, 2005, USA Today. Total attendance for record reguklar season game in Mexico City Azteca Stadium is 103,467 breaking the record of 102,368 who saw the Rams play the 49ers on Nov. 10, 1957, at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
  22. ^ Tom Weir – Mexico gets ready for football, not futbol. September 25, 2005, USA Today. quote:A 1994 Houston-Dallas exhibition drew a still-standing NFL record 112,376 to Estadio Azteca
  23. ^ 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.

[edit] External links

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Coordinates: 34°09′40.8″N, 118°10′03.4″W