Rose Bowl by Any Other Name?

A few months after the slogan “presented by AT&T;” was attached to the annual Tournament of Roses football game, officials flirted Thursday with the idea of placing a sponsor’s name on the Rose Bowl.

The board of the Rose Bowl Operating Co., the stadium’s governing body, on Thursday considered a “name rights proposal,” the first step toward giving the famous Arroyo Seco landmark a new identity.

Although the board voted 4 to 2 to study the feasibility of placing a sponsor’s name on the stadium, the total fell short of the minimum five votes required to act on an issue. Three board members were absent. Several members predicted, however, that the board will take up the issue again.

About two dozen residents attended the meeting at the Rose Bowl, and those who addressed the board were firmly opposed to any name change.

Sue Mossman, executive director of Pasadena Heritage, said, “This is unacceptable for Pasadena.”

Board member Bob Monk pointed to his ring, which he was awarded when he attended the University of Wisconsin and played in the Rose Bowl. “I have a ring here that says Rose Bowl, not Taco Bowl. There is something sacrilegious about this,” he said.

In addition, officials from the Tournament of Roses on Thursday lodged a written objection to the proposal.

But Ann Marie Hickambottom, a board member who voted to study the feasibility of the name change, said, “It’s going to be explored whether we’re going to be the ones who are doing it or not.”

Even if the board approves a sponsor for the Rose Bowl, the Pasadena City Council must also sign off on changing the name. Rose Bowl officials would also have to run the idea past their paying tenants--UCLA, the Tournament of Roses and the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team.

As far as city approval is concerned, at least one councilman said the prospects are far from rosy.

“Maybe the heat is affecting people’s judgment. Is this a joke?” asked Councilman William Paparian before Thursday’s meeting. “Why stop at the Rose Bowl? Why not City Hall or the entire city?”

Porfirio Frausto, a board member, said in an interview that the lure of the name change is the potential millions of dollars that a corporate sponsor might bring, money that could be used to help finance projects across the city.

The board, he said, has an obligation to serve the entire community, which is not--as many seem to believe--all mansions and tree-lined avenues. “You cannot disregard millions of dollars that could be earmarked for the city’s low-income areas to help provide jobs and social programs,” Frausto said.

Stadium General Manager David Jacobs said corporate sponsorship could provide $3 million a year over a decade. “I would be remiss to not explore it. Some people may say, ‘Let’s not [rename] the Rose Bowl,’ but in this city we have a lot of financial needs,” he said.

Money from such a deal could be used to help pay off the $22 million the city owes on bonds sold to improve the Rose Bowl, stadium officials said. Or it could help pay the $50 million required to retrofit City Hall to make it safer during an earthquake. Some stadium officials have suggested that some of the funds could be invested in Pasadena’s impoverished northwest neighborhoods.

Still, the officials concede, it’s hard to weigh the cost of maintaining the stadium’s vaunted history against receiving funding for community programs.

Rose Bowl officials stress that if they do pursue a sponsor they would seek a quality company with a tradition as proud as that of the stadium. Selling stadium names for big bucks is a nationwide trend that in California stretches from San Francisco, where Candlestick Park became 3Com Park, to Anaheim, where the Angels’ ballpark was renamed Edison Field. Both changes generated millions of dollars from the sponsors.

Stadium officials said a strong case can be made for similar corporate sponsorship of the Rose Bowl.

But resident Harold Sadring said that argument isn’t strong enough.

“I think it stinks,” he said. “I’ve been here for 68 years, and it has always been the Rose Bowl. I’ve been around the world, and when I say I am from Pasadena, they always say that’s where the Rose Bowl is.”