Rose Bowl (stadium)

The Rose Bowl is an outdoor athletic stadium in Pasadena, California, U.S., in Los Angeles County. The stadium is the site of the annual college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl, held on New Year's Day. In 1982, it became the home field of the UCLA Bruins college football team of the Pac-12 Conference. It hosted events during the 1932 and 1984 Olympics, and was the venue for the 1994 FIFA World Cup Final and the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Final.

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

History
The game now known as the Rose Bowl Game was played at Tournament Park until 1922. The Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association, the game's organizer, realized that the temporary stands were inadequate for a crowd of more than 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 in New Haven, Connecticut, which was built in 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 shortly before The Rose Bowl was completed. 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. California 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.

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 by Michigan Stadium in 1956, then later by the Pennsylvania State University's upgrade to Beaver Stadium (110,753) in 2000. The Rose Bowl's maximum stated seating capacity was 100,594 from 1972 to 1997. Capacity was lowered following the 1998 Rose Bowl when benches were replaced with individual seats except in the end-zones. Slightly different figures are given for the current capacity, for the lower level seats behind the team benches are not used for some events since the spectators can not see through the standing players or others on the field. UCLA reports the capacity at 91,136. The Tournament of Roses reports the capacity at 92,542. The 2006 Rose Bowl game, which was also the BCS championship game, had a crowd of 93,986. In the 2011 contest between TCU and Wisconsin, the listed attendance is 94,118. As of 2008, the Rose Bowl is the 8th largest football stadium, and is still the largest stadium that hosts post-season bowl games.

In 1999, Sports Illustrated listed the Rose Bowl at number 20 in the Top 20 Venues of the Twentieth Century. In 2007, Sports Illustrated named the Rose Bowl the number one venue in college sports.

Rose Bowl Game
The Rose Bowl stadium is best known in the U.S. for its hosting of the Rose Bowl, the first postseason college football game. The game is played after the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year's Day, or, if January 1 is a Sunday, on the following Monday January 2. The stadium's name has given rise to the term "bowl game" for all postseason games, regardless of whether they are played in a bowl-shaped or "Bowl"-named stadium. 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 1, volunteered to host the contest because of security concerns on the West Coast in the weeks following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Since 1945, the Rose Bowl has been the highest attended college football bowl game.

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. The 2010 BCS National Championship Game was played 6 days after the 2010 Rose Bowl Game as a completely separate event from the Tournament of Roses. The Tournament of Roses managed the event. The stadium will host the 2014 BCS National Championship Game when it will celebrate its 100th anniversary.

UCLA Bruins Football home stadium
Rose Bowl stadium has been the home football field for UCLA since 1982. The UCLA Bruins had played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum since 1928. There was an attempt to build a 44,000 seat stadium on campus, at the site where Drake Stadium eventually was built. However, the proposal was blocked by influential area residents, as well as other politicians.

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. 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. 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 stadium. 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 stadium. The Bruins travel 26 miles from campus to Pasadena to play home games, but only 14 miles to their biggest road game at USC every other year.

Pasadena events
The annual Rose Bowl Stadium July 4th fireworks celebration titled "Americafest" is celebrating its 86th anniversary in 2012. The annual fireworks show is considered one of the top fireworks shows in the nation. 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.

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.

Caltech Beaver football home stadium
Caltech, a university located in Pasadena, 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.

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).

Super Bowls
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.

1932 Summer Olympics
The Rose Bowl was the track cycling venue for the 1932 Summer Olympics.

1984 Summer Olympics
The Rose Bowl Stadium was the venue for the football (soccer) events for the 1984 Summer Olympics.

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.

FIFA World Cups
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, 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.

Other events and usage
The Rose Bowl stadium is the only site west of the Mississippi River to host an Army-Navy game(1983). The city of Pasadena paid for the traveling expenses of the all students and supporters of both the U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Military Academy. The attendance was 81,000. The game was brought to the Rose Bowl as there are a large number of military installations and servicemen and women, along with many retired military personnel, on the West coast.

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. The stadium has also been used as part of the music video shoot for the song "The Last Song", the second single released by the American rock band The All-American Rejects, which features the band performing the song in the middle of the stadium to an empty crowd.

On June 18, 1988, Depeche Mode played the last concert of their Music for the Masses Tour, at the sold-out Rose Bowl in front of 60,452 people. This concert was recorded and filmed for their first live album and documentary movie, 101, which was released in 1989 and was directed by D. A. Pennebaker.

Metallica and Guns N' Roses brought the Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour to the stadium on October 3, 1992, with Motörhead and Body Count as their opening acts.

Pink Floyd played at the Bowl, on two consecutive nights, during The Division Bell Tour on April 16–17, 1994 & is available on ROIO.

The stadium hosted the Lilith Fair in 1998 & 1999.

On October 25, 2009, U2 played to the first ever full capacity sell out crowd (97,014) in the history of the Stadium. Their 360° Tour visited the stadium in support of the #1 album No Line on The Horizon. This concert streamed live on YouTube worldwide and was released the DVD and Blue-ray disc U2 360° at the Rose Bowl.

The stadium also plays host to the annual 4 July Fireworks show since 1926. Since 2008, "Americafest" has featured "Drum Corps International (DCI), Marching Music's Major League, which presents 'five of the country's best Drum and Bugle Corps", and a "world-class fireworks show that will thrill and delight families from throughout Southern California".

The stadium's Court of Champions was the site of a "Roadblock" from Season 17 of the hit CBS reality TV show The Amazing Race where teams had to help decorate three sections of the theme float for the 2011 New Year's Day Rose Parade.

Present status


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. 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). 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.

The stadium currently has long-term leases with its two major tenants, the Pasadena 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. New locker rooms for both UCLA and visiting teams, as well as a new media interview area were constructed.

In April 2009, The Rose Bowl Operating Company unveiled a Rose Bowl Strategic Plan, which addressed the objectives to improve public safety; enhance fan experience; maintain national historic landmark status; develop revenue sources to fund long-term improvements; and enhance facility operations. On October 11, 2010, the Pasadena City Council approved a $152 million financing plan for the major renovation of the stadium. Groundbreaking ceremonies for the first of three phases of the project was held on January 25, 2011. The newly constructed video board was used for the June 25, 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final.

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

Association football
The Rose Bowl is one of the largest stadiums in the United States that hosts association football games from time to time. The United States national soccer team plays games in the Rose Bowl occasionally. The Los Angeles Galaxy occasionally still plays games there, against marquee opponents such as FC Barcelona. The Mexican national football team, which has a large following in Los Angeles, has hosted several friendly matches at the Rose Bowl. On March 3, 2010, Mexico hosted New Zealand in a tune-up match for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and had a crowd of 90,500. On June 25, 2011 the Rose Bowl played host to the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Championship match. It is the only stadium in the world to have hosted an Olympic gold medal match and both the Men's and Women's FIFA World Cup Final.

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. The smallest Rose Bowl game crowd in the stadium was the 1934 Rose Bowl with 35,000 in attendance to see Columbia defeat Stanford. 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. The largest crowd to watch a Rose Bowl Game after the installation of seats with backs, was 94,392 on January 1, 2001.
 * NFL Super Bowl Record: Super Bowl XIV, Pittsburgh Steelers – Los Angeles Rams, January 20, 1980, Attendance: 103,985. This is an NFL post-season record. This also stood as an overall NFL record until broken by a 1994 Pre-season game played at Estadio Azteca (Aztec Stadium) in Mexico City.
 * 1984 Summer Olympics (Games of the XXIII Olympiad) Football (Soccer) Tournament – France defeated Brazil 2-0 in the final to win the gold medal on August 11. The attendance was 101,799 making it the largest ever crowd for a soccer game held in the United States.
 * 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
 * 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.
 * 1994 FIFA World Cup: The final, held on July 17 saw Brazil defeat Italy 3-2 after a penalty shootout. Attendance was 94,194.
 * 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup: The final on July 10, 1999 was the most attended women's sports event in history with an official attendance of 90,185. The USA defeated China 5-4 in a penalty shootout.
 * 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup: 93,420 fans saw Mexico defeating the United States 4-2 in the 2011 Gold Cup Championship match on June 25, 2011.
 * Soccer, exhibition match: On August 1, 2009, an attendance of 93,137 showed up when FC Barcelona defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 in an exhibition match, making it the largest soccer attendance in the United States since the 1994 World Cup.
 * Concert: Irish Rock band U2 played to 97,014 fans on October 25, 2009 on the North American Leg of the 360° Tour. This concert was released on BD and DVD as U2 360° at the Rose Bowl.