Rose Bowl Group, NFL Officials to Meet Today

A group of Rose Bowl and Pasadena officials today will meet with NFL executives in Green Bay, Wis., and tour Lambeau Field in hopes of learning more about bringing historic football stadiums up to modern standards.

Rose Bowl backers want to transform their aging stadium into a state-of-the-art NFL venue, but the plan has hit several design snags in recent months. The league is also considering stadium concepts at the Coliseum and on a landfill in Carson, and league executives are aiming to choose a Los Angeles site by next spring.

“Lambeau is very similar to the Rose Bowl in that it’s a stadium that’s nestled in a neighborhood, and it’s a cultural and historic landmark,” said John Moag, point man for the Pasadena project. “In Green Bay, they showed you can take an old building, and instead of building a brand-new one, renovate it so the neighbors love it.”

Moag is one of several members of the Pasadena contingent who will make the trip, joining, among others, Rose Bowl General Manager Darryl Dunn, and Pasadena officials Cynthia Kurtz and Steve Madison.

“The critical issue for us in Pasadena is design,” Moag said. “If you can get over that, it’s Katie bar the door.... Looking at the Rose Bowl as a decaying building with very little future, and then being able to adapt it for NFL use -- because they’re the ones that are willing to put the money into it -- is the issue.”

Meanwhile, Carson officials met Monday with a group of NFL executives, among them Roger Goodell, chief operating officer; Jeff Pash, an executive vice president; and Neil Glat, the league’s senior vice president of strategic planning and business development.

-- Sam Farmer

Boxing

Mike Tyson was granted a boxing license in New Jersey, a state he walked away from nearly six years ago after swearing at regulators during a licensing hearing.

“He’s been behaving himself for quite some time,” Athletic Commissioner Larry Hazzard said.

Gov. James E. McGreevey isn’t so sure. Soon after Hazzard gave the former heavyweight champ a license on behalf of the state Athletic Control Board, the governor said he wouldn’t allow Tyson to fight at any facility owned or operated by the state.

McGreevey also said he would ask the board to review the decision.

Jurisprudence

A court in Paris rejected Lance Armstrong’s attempt to force a publisher to insert the star cyclist’s denial of doping allegations into copies of a new book about him.

The five-time Tour de France winner wanted publisher La Martiniere to insert a notice into “L.A. Confidential, the Secrets of Lance Armstrong,” with his rebuttal against doping claims in the book.

Prosecutors in Miami dropped a final charge against New England Patriot cornerback Ty Law, who was arrested in April after he allegedly led police on a brief foot chase.

Miscellany

A punctured tire, probably from debris left on the track after an earlier crash, caused the spin that sent Ralf Schumacher into the wall during the U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, a team spokesman said. Schumacher spent the night at a hospital as a precaution and was released Monday morning. He planned to return home to Austria.

NBC’s large-market ratings for the final round of the U.S. Open rose 13% over last year. Retief Goosen’s two-shot victory over Phil Mickelson on Sunday at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., was watched by 6.3% of viewers in the top 56 U.S. media markets, according to Nielsen Media Research Inc.

The American Basketball Assn. granted an expansion franchise to Ontario. The team will begin play in November and hopes to call the 4,000-seat Ontario Convention Center its home. Its owner is Cascade Events, LLC, a group headed by Chuck Singleton, senior pastor of Fontana-based Loveland Church.

Jim Nantz and Greg Gumbel are trading NFL places at CBS. Nantz will team up with lead analyst Phil Simms for NFL games this season, while Gumbel returns to his former role as host of the studio show.

Passings

John Morley, a long-time ticket manager for USC athletics who spent 41 years at the school in a variety of capacities, died this month. He was 93. A memorial service will be held today at the USC faculty center.