Rose Bowl Face Lift May Be a Super Attraction : Football: Pasadena enters the sweepstakes for the 1993 Super Bowl by offering the stadium to the NFL rent-free, and throwing in all income from the sale of food and novelties.

In a bid to secure Super Bowl XXVII for the Rose Bowl in 1993, the stadium will be offered rent-free to the National Football League, which would also receive all income from concessions and the sale of novelty items.

The proposal, outlined at Tuesday’s Board of Directors meeting, was approved despite pointed questioning from some directors who asked whether Pasadena was giving away too much to lure football’s premier event to the city.

“I don’t like to think that we ask for something as supplicants,” Director John Crowley said. “I just feel this is very close to being at a point of saying, ‘It’s not worth it.’ ”

Crowley’s concerns were echoed by Directors Rick Cole and William Paparian. Cole pointed out that preliminary estimates indicate the city could receive as little as $300,000 in direct payments to host the event.

“If we come out netting $300,000, I’m not real wild about this,” he said.

According to a report prepared by Deputy City Manager Ed Aghjayan, the city would be expected to receive a $2-million boost to the local economy, with $75,000 of it going to the General Fund from hotel and sales taxes. The city would also receive between $300,000 and $600,000 from the sale of 2,500 game tickets to be sold to corporations and individuals seeking hospitality packages. Parking fees and stadium seat taxes could generate an additional $130,000 for the city.

The city’s bid will be submitted next week to NFL officials in New York. The proposal is the result of work by the Los Angeles Sports Council, an 18-month-old nonprofit group that coordinates efforts among officials from the Rose Bowl, the Los Angeles Coliseum and Anaheim Stadium to secure sporting events for the Los Angeles area.

As a result of Sports Council lobbying, the area is a finalist for the Super Bowl, competing against San Diego, San Francisco and Phoenix.

Because the Rose Bowl, with 102,083 seats, claims to be the largest professional football stadium in the United States, the council selected it as the prime Los Angeles-area venue. Under a joint agreement, the Coliseum and Anaheim Stadium did not submit competing bids but would share in the revenues if Pasadena hosts the game, Aghjayan said.

“The bulk of the revenue would go to the Rose Bowl, but the idea is that we would share with the Coliseum and Anaheim,” Aghjayan said. Details of the split are being negotiated. One plan calls for the Rose Bowl to receive a 75% share of the ticket proceeds, with the other two facilities sharing 25%.

When Pasadena hosted the Super Bowl in 1983 and 1987, it earned $300,000 and $800,000 respectively from stadium rental fees, concession sales, admission taxes, charges for use of a hospitality tent compound and parking fees. In addition, the city was allowed to purchase 1,200 tickets at face value for local distribution by directors and other city officials.

But as bidding for the Super Bowl has become more competitive, the NFL has secured more and more of the income, Aghjayan said in his report to the board. In most parts of the country, the stadium is offered rent-free in exchange for the benefits to local economies, he said.

Under the proposal for the 1993 game, the city would give up most of the previous sources of revenue and allocate them to the NFL. It would also provide 350,000 square feet of space for the league to build a hospitality tent compound for league use. The city would receive about $79,000 from seat taxes, $75,00 in hotel and sales taxes arising from the event and a share of parking fees, about $55,000.