Rose Bowl Hires Consultant to Help Devise Strategy to Realize Greatest Potential from Its Properties

The Rose Bowl Operating Company (RBOC) has entered into a services agreement with urban planning firm Jerde to develop a plan that ties the disparate parts of the properties surrounding the stadium into a more cohesive entity.

“The Rose Bowl is continuously looking for new and innovative ways to maximize revenue from its unique campus and realize the greatest potential from its properties,” RBOC General Manager Darryl Dunn’s wrote in a Sept. 4 agenda report on the pact.

Jerde (pronounced JER-dee), based out of downtown Los Angeles, was one of several groups assessed for the formulation of a master plan.

According to Jerde’s website, the company’s most spectacular encounters include work on the 1996 Olympics complex and design of the streetscape surrounding the Atlanta Braves’ new suburban palace.

“The RBOC is seeking to put together a plan which both identifies opportunities to generate additional revenue on the site and joins those opportunities to generate additional revenue on the site and joins those opportunities together into a cohesive and practical vision for the Rose Bowl and its future,” staff said.

Jerde’s proposal to the RBOC for an Opportunity Plan focused on: the grassy area west of the stadium known as The Greens; another grassy area known as the North Stage; and the Clubhouse at Brookside Golf Course.

Dunn’s report called maximizing the golf course as a “key component” to the plan.

Each of the areas will be assessed for programming possibilities, parking access, landscape or structural changes, and uniqueness of character as place.

The services agreement was awarded an exemption from the competitive bidding process and it will not cost RBOC any money.

Dunn described the collaboration as “opportunity planning” that will be done jointly between RBOC and Jerde, as the scope of work and terms of a more concrete agreement come into focus.

“As we work with the RBOC, we will look for opportunities to appropriately update the property in ways that make sense for both the Rose Bowl and the surrounding community,” said Jerde Chairman John Simones in a Nov. 12 statement following RBOC board approval of the agreement.

The RBOC has highlighted golfing’s doldrums nationwide in the past and made changes to the course’s pricing structure so that Brookside is more accessible.

In the stadium venue environment, the Rose Bowl is confronting the opening of a state-of-the-art facility in Inglewood for the Rams and Chargers that will up the ante when it comes to securing top acts to fill seats.