Sitting Pretty : Remodeling of Rose Bowl Proceeding Smoothly

Work has begun on Rose Bowl remodeling that may enhance Pasadena’s chances of becoming the site of the 1994 World Cup finals, and unlike the troubled reconstruction of the Los Angeles Coliseum, this project seems certain to be completed.

Even before this year’s Rose Bowl football game, contractors began working furiously on a new press box and 38 luxury suites to be built on the west rim of the 70-year-old stadium nestled in the Arroyo Seco.

Within days after the game, demolition began on the old press box, which had space for 350 members of the news media. Completion of the $11-million project is scheduled for Aug. 15, about four weeks before UCLA’s first 1992 home football game.

The remodeling fulfills a promise by Pasadena to the National Football League that a new 1,100-seat press box and lucrative luxury suites would be ready for the 1993 Super Bowl, to be held in the Rose Bowl. But the project may also greatly improve the stadium’s chances of being selected for the finals of the 1994 World Cup soccer tournament.

Unlike the Coliseum, where developers recently put their plans on hold because sales of elite seating were so poor that financing could not be guaranteed, the Rose Bowl project has already been fully financed.

The Pasadena Tournament of Roses, the private-membership organization responsible for the annual parade and game, put in $800,000, and the city of Pasadena contributed $600,000. The rest came from tax-exempt 20-year revenue bonds, called certificates of participation, that the city sold at 3.75% interest.

Revenue from lease of the suites, and special events like the Super Bowl and World Cup, will be used to pay off the bonds. But the Rose Bowl project does not depend on the sales of tickets or luxury suites, a crucial requirement that has undermined the finances of the far more extensive Coliseum renovation.

The suites will be sold for all UCLA home games, the Rose Bowl game and as many as five other events a year. Buyers would not automatically get the suites for major events such as the Super Bowl and World Cup.

Although prices have not yet been set, Pasadena City Manager Philip Hawkey said a market survey has already been taken and “we will charge less than the Coliseum tried to charge.”

The Coliseum has been asking $90,000 a year for 12- to 16-seat luxury boxes and $3,600 a year for elite “club seats” for 16 Raiders and USC football games.

Of the 38 suites to be built at the Rose Bowl, 22 will be sold as executive suites seating 12 to 16 people. The other 16 boxes will be club suites, which, depending on the market, could be sold as individual seats for about $200 a game, with special catering service available.

Rose Bowl officials are confident of sales, since they are selling many fewer suites and club seats--places for about 600 people in all--than the Coliseum, which has projected at least 10,000 club seats and 200 suites.

In addition, since not all of the new Rose Bowl media capacity will be used for most UCLA games, the city has made a deal with the school to make available about 600 seats on the second level of the press box for UCLA fund raising.

“We are going to be totally flexible with the club suites,” said John French, executive director of the Tournament of Roses. “We could sell them individually, or we could sell to groups.”

The total project is expected to add about 600 to 900 seats to the Rose Bowl’s current capacity of more than 101,000. Crowd figures at the annual Rose Bowl games frequently exceed 103,000, however, because everyone--players, band members, security forces, custodial staff and others--is included in the count.

The payoff from all the renovation may be the prestigious World Cup tournament. The international soccer federation, FIFA, was impressed in 1984 when Olympic soccer drew three crowds of 100,000 to the Rose Bowl, and area weather for July is generally cooler and less humid than that at Miami’s Joe Robbie Stadium, probably the Rose Bowl’s main competitor for the finals.

Joe Robbie, while having a smaller seating capacity for soccer of 74,930, has the advantage of more than 200 luxury boxes and 10,216 club seats, far in excess of what the renovated Rose Bowl will offer.

Alan Rothenberg, the Los Angeles attorney who is chairman of World Cup USA 1994, the organizing committee, said in a recent interview that the Rose Bowl may well secure the inside track for the finals by this spring.

On Nov. 7, FIFA officials visited the Rose Bowl and discussed with officials there the World Cup requirements.

One major factor, said Rose Bowl manager Greg Asbury, is that World Cup soccer uses a slightly bigger playing field than Olympic soccer, necessitating the removal of 1,350 seats at the corners of a stadium renowned for getting spectators close to the action.

In preparation for the FIFA visit, the architectural firm of Bull, Stockwell & Allen estimated total World Cup capacity would be 101,700, despite the demolition of the seats. It also said that all stadium seats would have an unobstructed view of the goals and the majority of each sideline.

But it acknowledged that 70% of the seating would have an obstructed view to the nearest corner of the field. “This is a relatively minor obstruction,” the report explained. “As an example, if a player stood on the (corner), it appears the spectators in obstructed seats would see the entire player from the knees on up.”

The Tournament of Roses controls the Rose Bowl each year for one month before the Rose Bowl game and would have nothing to do with staging the World Cup. But in the present renovation and sale of the new elite seats, the association is acting as an agent for the city.

A tie-in is expected between certain corporate sponsorships of Rose Parade floats and the sale of these seats. Harriman Cronk, chairman of the Rose Bowl’s football committee, said his task force is meeting every week to be sure the most advantageous sales approach is taken.

Rose Bowl Project

Celebrating its 70th year, the Rose Bowl is getting a new press box and 38 luxury suites that will be sold to the public. The $11 million project is already underway and is scheduled for completion by mid-August, before the beginning of UCLA’s 1992 season. The project is expected to enhance the stadium’s chances of hosting the 1994 World Cup finals.

The new three-level press box, above in artist’s rendering, will accommodate up to 1,100 media people. During UCLA events, some space will be devoted to special fund-raising seating for the university.

There will be 16 executive suites on the top level and 12 on the bottom level, seating 12 to 16 people each, for sale to the public.

On the first level, 16 club suites, each seating 14 to 18 people, will be available. They may be sold as individual seats. Prices for all suites have yet to be set.

Specifications required by the international soccer federation for World Cup play would necessitate removal of 1,350 seats in the corners. The World Cup field must be six yards wider on each side than the field for 1984 Olympic soccer. The playing field sidelines and endlines would be 85 yards by 130 yards.

BACKGROUND

Soccer’s World Cup tournament, held every four years, is probably the world’s most prestigious and popular sports event. After a protracted qualifying procedure, 24 national teams will come to the United States in June, 1994, for the first World Cup held in this country. This spring, the World Cup organizing committee and the international soccer federation, FIFA, will narrow to 12 or fewer the number of U.S. cities that will be host to World Cup games. Pasadena’s Rose Bowl, Miami’s Joe Robbie Stadium and perhaps a proposed new stadium in Washington, D.C., are expected to compete to hold the finals. A decision is expected in July.