Michigan Will Be the ‘Home Team’ on New Year’s Day

For the first time since 1983, a Rose Bowl team will make its home in Pasadena before the New Year’s Day football game.

Since reservations at Pasadena hotels are already near capacity for the New Year’s season, the move will have more of a psychological impact than an economic one, hotel and civic leaders said.

Under an agreement concluded this summer among the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Assn. and the Big Ten and Pacific 10 conferences, one team each year will reside at the Doubletree Hotel. Big Ten champion Michigan will stay there this year. Next year, the Pacific 10 team will stay in Pasadena. In the past, lodging has not been as much of a concern for the Pacific 10 because for 14 of the last 20 years it has been represented by either UCLA or USC, both local teams.

“It means a lot to the Tournament of Roses to bring the team back and means a lot to the community to have a team stay in town, rather than someplace else,” said Harriman L. Cronk, Tournament of Roses Assn. football chairman, who negotiated the pact. “The people in Pasadena felt we didn’t get all the benefits that would be available to us if they stayed in the community.

“(Having a team stay in Pasadena) brings an identity and esprit de corps and all those kinds of things for the tournament and Pasadena. This was a high-priority item for us at the tournament.”

Until 1983, the Big Ten team stayed at the then-Huntington Sheraton Hotel (now the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel). Conference officials, concerned that their teams were being distracted by an abundance of festivities, decided to move them out of town after their 13th loss in 15 games.

Roger Swadish, Doubletree’s general manager, said Michigan will rent 250 to 280 of the hotel’s 350 rooms from Christmas Day through Jan. 2.

“We would have sold out through that period of time naturally anyway by being so close to the Rose Bowl and having one of the premiere hotels in Pasadena,” Swadish said.

“Economically, dollar-for-dollar we come out the same. We extended a very good rate to the team. When tourists come in for a couple of nights, they pay a little more. If you take it up after the seven-day period, and added it all up, it would probably be about the same.”

William A. Hall, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel, concurred with Swadish’s observations.

“Having the Big Ten team here is good for Pasadena, but it doesn’t affect occupancy in Pasadena,” Hall said. “The reason our hotels fill up is because of the festivities, parade and closeness to the stadium.”

The last time a Big Ten team stayed in Pasadena was for the Jan. 2, 1984, Rose Bowl. Illinois, a four-point favorite, lost 45-9 to a UCLA team that entered with four losses. Although not specifically citing that loss, some of the conference’s coaches and athletic directors felt the Big Ten’s chances would improve if their teams stayed at a hotel farther removed from the social activities.

The chief distraction mentioned was New Year’s Eve, when the Huntington customarily filled up with fans and others who wanted to be at the center of the action.

For the 1985 game, Ohio State stayed at the Industry Hills & Sheraton Resort in the City of Industry. But the on-field result was the same. The Buckeyes, a four-point favorite, lost to USC, 20-17.

Undaunted, Iowa again chose the Industry Hills & Sheraton Resort for the 1986 game.

Despite the lack of distractions, Iowa, a three-point favorite, lost 45-28 to UCLA.

The Big Ten then sought to remove itself even farther from Pasadena. Since 1987, its teams stayed at various Orange County hotels. During that time, they won two of four games.

Swadish is confident his hotel will be distraction-free.

“All of our focus will be on having the team here during that period,” Swadish said. “All the events in the hotel will be centered around having the team here. We won’t be doing an outside party for the community.

“We want to make it comfortable and conducive to having the team here where they can concentrate on doing business and playing a good game on New Year’s Day.”

The Wolverines’ practice site is expected to be decided after a Dec. 2 meeting of the Rose Bowl Management Committee, and announced at a news conference the next day. Locations under consideration include East Los Angeles College and Occidental College, Cronk said.

Washington, which will face Michigan, has not yet chosen a hotel and practice site for the game, but may do so by Friday, sports information director Dave Senko said.

Last year, the Huskies stayed at the Anaheim Marriott and trained at Golden West College in Huntington Beach.