Where NFL Means No Football in My Backyard

Amid the winding driveways and lovingly restored mansions that dot the west end of Pasadena, history and tradition are local obsessions.

But the world of Greene and Greene’s Gamble House and the grand Tournament of Roses mansion may be headed for a collision with an entirely different obsession -- professional football.

As a proposal to bring the National Football League to the Rose Bowl gains momentum, some residents who live around the stadium view the idea as akin to tearing down the ornate Colorado Boulevard bridge and replacing it with a freeway overpass.

“I am absolutely, passionately diametrically opposed to it,” said Sue Mossman, executive director of Pasadena Heritage, an organization devoted to preserving the city’s historical structures. “If we did this to our city, it would be a tragedy.”

The Rose Bowl has been courting the National Football League for more than two years in hopes of becoming the home for a Los Angeles-based team. Other suitors include the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Anaheim. Carson recently dropped out of the stadium derby, opting instead for a regional mall. League owners are scheduled to meet in Washington on Wednesday and are expected to discuss returning football to the nation’s second- largest market.

A divided Pasadena City Council voted last week to move forward with the project despite vocal opposition from preservationists and others -- especially those who live in the tony neighborhoods surrounding the Rose Bowl.

Supporters argue that Pasadena would get a good deal from the NFL. The league would make $500 million worth of improvements to the aging stadium, which now loses money.

“From a financial perspective, it’s a significant boon to the city,” said attorney Edward Garlock, a 30-year Pasadena resident who is president of the board of directors of the Rose Bowl Operating Co. “The stadium would be completely renovated at the NFL’s expense, and the NFL would be responsible for its maintenance and upkeep for the term of the lease. It’s their responsibility, their dime, not the city of Pasadena’s.”

But opponents said there is much more than money at stake: They see the character of Pasadena at risk with the NFL.

Pasadena has been at the forefront of preservation efforts nationally, artfully restoring entire neighborhoods of Victorian, Craftsman and revival-style houses.

Such efforts were critical in “saving Old Pasadena from the wrecking ball,” Mossman said.

She sees the NFL question as another preservation fight -- and she’s not alone.

“If the City Council sells us to the NFL, they will destroy what’s left of the ambience of Pasadena,” said Sydney Feeney, a 25-year resident of the hilly Linda Vista neighborhood.

The 54-year-old substitute teacher and homemaker cringed at the thought of waves of NFL fans flooding Pasadena’s streets on game days.

“This is not a transient place,” Feeney said. “It’s a place where people come to set down their roots.... To change what Pasadena has been for a century as a refuge from urban sprawl would be a travesty.”

Even Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard, who once supported examining the NFL issue, now strongly opposes pro football in the city.

“I believe the NFL is a bad fit for Pasadena. It would not enhance our community strengths, which include a reputation for college football ... science and technology, arts and culture, architectural heritage, quality neighborhoods and a strong local economy.”

Bogaard said that a recent study by UCLA’s Anderson School of Management of the economic impact of the NFL’s moving into the Rose Bowl was not encouraging. Although the NFL would renovate the stadium at an estimated cost of $500 million and maintain it, “the indirect community benefits are modest to the point of trivial.”

Aside from economic benefits related to the renovation and a possible Super Bowl, the study indicated that the annual economic benefit would be $3 million in a city economy of $6 billion annually, and only about 100 jobs would be created in a city that employs more than 100,000 people.

The report also dimmed the hopes of local hoteliers and restaurateurs that their establishments would be jammed. “NFL fans don’t stay overnight except for the Super Bowl,” the mayor said.

Bogaard said an NFL franchise would mean up to 12 football games, all of which would generate more traffic and other negative consequences than any existing Rose Bowl-related events except the Rose Parade and the USC-UCLA game.

The NFL is also pressing to add up to 20 medium-sized events to the stadium’s annual schedule -- events that would attract up to 20,000 people.

Garlock and other supporters argue that the extra games would not amount to an extreme burden on the surrounding area.

“We recognize there are downsides,” said Garlock, citing traffic and parking, in particular. “Our position is that the city should continue to explore this and if it can reach a satisfactory deal with the NFL, it should move forward.”

He added: “Like every other citizen, we’re not in favor of a bad deal for the city of Pasadena. It has to make financial sense and it has to protect those who live around the Rose Bowl.”

The stadium loses about $2 million annually, which the city makes up through its profits from the adjacent Brookside Golf Course.

According to Darryl Dunn, general manager of the Rose Bowl Operating Co., the stadium holds about 12 large events each year -- that is, those that attract 20,000 people or more.

Even in west Pasadena, there are some who support the NFL bid.

Developer Derek Boldon, 43, stretched as he prepared to hit golf balls at the Brookside driving range. The former pro basketball player said he has lived in Pasadena for two years and the athlete in him would like to see a football team in town.

“I’d be good with that,” he said. “The L.A. area needs a pro football team.”

Carlos Cantu, 63, has lived two blocks from the stadium for nearly a decade. The arena looms large when viewed from his front lawn.

Cantu said he could support the NFL plan if some money generated from the games went to support Pasadena and South Pasadena schools.

“Pasadena schools are not the best schools in the world,” he said as his 6-year-old son, Jose, played with a turtle on the floor of their home. “Anything to improve revenue would be great.”

But he admits his view is not shared by many neighbors.

“A lot of people moved here knowing the Rose Bowl was here,” Cantu said. “They say, ‘I just want peace and quiet.’ You should have thought about that before you moved.”

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Times staff writers Tonya Alanez and Nicholas Shields contributed to this report.