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Love the Rose Bowl? Some big changes are in the works for the historic stadium
The historic Rose Bowl Stadium is seen as preparations are made for the Rose Bowl game, on December 27, 2023 in Pasadena, California.
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The 102-year-old Rose Bowl stadium steps into the 21st century with some renovations
The historic venue of the Rose Bowl will undergo several renovations in the next few years in an effort to improve visitor experience and keep up with the evolving sports landscape. Known as The Lasting Legacy Campaign, this eight-project renovation will include a new field-level club, improved seating, and the installation of a new video board. Six of the eight projects are already fully funded with some already completed, most notably the refurbishment of the stadium's marquee. The improvements come ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games in which the Rose Bowl stadium is set to host several of the events. The enhancements also mark the changing needs of UCLA as the venue is now the home to a Ten Conference team. Joining us today to talk about the projects being done and how it will affect upcoming events is Dedan Brozino, president of the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation.
Pasadena’s legendary Rose Bowl Stadium is being renovated again as stewards of the 102-year-old venue work to improve the fan experience.
The Lasting Legacy Campaign, which works to maintain the venue, outlines eight projects scheduled between now and 2029. The biggest ones would add a field club to the south end zone, a wider videoboard to the north side of the stadium, and more legroom to the seats.
The new field club
The south end zone field club would include about 800 seats, giving fans the option to sit and watch the game, or hang out on the patio at field level.
“We're trying to really take what arguably is the worst seat in the venue currently, which is that end zone seat, and amplify it,” said Dedan Brozino, president of the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation, during a conversation on AirTalk, LAist 89.3's daily news program.
A wider video board
The new video board would give the stadium the ability to show more than just instant replays. It’s part of the campaign’s effort to match the experience fans might get at other stadiums.
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“The board is currently way too small to have an interactivity with fans that they expect, whether that’s a kiss cam, a fan cam, out of town scores,” Brozino said.
The new board will be wider, but not taller, protecting the San Gabriel Mountain view the Rose Bowl is famous for.
More legroom
Arguably the biggest change, the seating renovation, would add about five inches of legroom to the stadium’s historic — but cramped — seats.
“Essentially, we're going to do a lamination… over the historic concrete, which is fantastic because it'll protect the concrete,” Brozino said. “But also what that'll allow us to do is adjust the kick points in the depth of each row. So essentially every third row will get removed.”
The timeline
Three of the eight projects — refurbishing the stadium’s historic sign, adding rails to the first few rows in the student section, and replacing the sound system — are already done. Three more, including the field club, are slated to be finished by fall 2026.
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The final two improvements, which would add more legroom to seats and a larger video board, may take a bit longer. The campaign still needs to raise an estimated $45 million to $50 million to fund both, and would have to work around the 2028 Olympics.
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