Changes ahead

When around 90,000 college football fans pack into Pasadena’s historic Rose Bowl Stadium for the 97th Rose Bowl Game on New Year’s Day, it will be the event’s 64th consecutive sellout.

But anyone returning to the Rose Bowl for “The Granddaddy of Them All” (as the Rose Bowl Game is known) next year — or indeed attending any event at this outdoor stadium in the coming years — will notice some significant changes to the iconic 88-year-old-structure. This is due to Pasadena City Council’s approval in October of a $152-million financing plan for a major renovation of the Rose Bowl Stadium — the largest investment in its history. Work will begin shortly after the Rose Bowl Game in January.

Designed by architect Myron Hunt and located in the Arroyo Seco dry riverbed northwest of Old Pasadena, the Rose Bowl hosted its first football game in October 1922 (though the stadium wasn’t dedicated until the Rose Bowl Game between USC and Penn State the following January). Originally the horseshoe-shaped stadium had a seating capacity of 57,000, and it wasn’t until the southern stands were completed in 1929 that it became a true “bowl” (with a seating capacity of 76,000).

It’s been reconfigured several times since and, until 1956 (when it was surpassed by Michigan Stadium), the Rose Bowl had the largest American Football stadium capacity in the country.

The capacity of the stadium is 92,542, though as many as 106,869 people have watched the Rose Bowl Game there (in 1973 for USC vs. Ohio State).

The focus of the three-phase project is improving tunnel access and concourse ease of movement; increasing the number of concession stands and restrooms; providing new premium seating in a rebuilt press box; and erecting state-of-the-art score and video boards.

Renovation work will continue outside of the football season through August 2013, so Rose Bowl games will not be affected.

—Paul Rogers
Custom Publishing Writer