City Staff Report Predicts Rose Bowl Faces Multimillion Dollars Losses Over Each of Next 4 Years

A city document to be presented during Monday’s city council meeting predicts million dollar losses for Rose Bowl over the next several years.

“The current proforma projects 21-22 major events per year and a net loss between $4.6 million to $7.6 million per year between Fiscal 2023-2027,” according to the city staff report. “Ending available balance of Fiscal 2024 is forecast to be $985K and in a deficit as of Fiscal 2025 and moving forward.”

The Council will meet at 2:30 p.m. on Monday to discuss the Rose Bowl Operating Company’s five-year strategic initiatives.

The City Council will vote on instructing the City Manager to pursue several revenue-generating opportunities currently in a predevelopment phase, including a family golf center, campus marque/sponsorship program, sponsorship 210 freeway signage, alignment of interests in contracts with UCLA and the Tournament of Roses, a south end zone seating project, analysis of a potential city-wide parking tax on paid parking spaces, a potential increase of transient occupancy tax, third-party funding opportunities related to future capital improvements.

“It is imperative that the RBOC have a balanced annual operating budget and reinvest in the Stadium,” the reports reads.

“When the Rose Bowl was built 100 years ago, it served as the home to one event a year, the Rose Bowl Game. Over the past 100 years, America’s Stadium has hosted multiple Olympic Games, World Cups, the annual Rose Bowl Game, UCLA Football, world-class concerts, and has become one of the premier festival sites in America.

The RBOC, and Pasadena, must embrace the evolution of this amazing asset to insure it is relevant for another 100 years.”

Although the stadium and nearby Brookside Golf Course continue to rebound from the significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, they continue to face increased operating costs, the city analysis said.

The RBOC is investing $11.2M in this upcoming fiscal year into capital improvements, the largest amount invested in capital since the completion of the renovations more than eight years ago.

Essential items are those that must be code-compliant or may impact safety. There are also repairs that need to be addressed over the next six years that will cost, at minimum, approximately $54 million, according to the staff report.

To cover these rising costs and the annual bond debt, both entities must outperform expectations and even then, will likely need external revenue assistance.

“The Stadium is celebrating its centennial in 2022 and while its first 100 years have been a success in every imaginable way, the next 100 will be more challenging, and arguably the next few years are the most critical in the stadium’s history,” according to a city staff report.

“Although over the past twelve months the RBOC has exceeded financial expectations, the well-chronicled long term challenges facing the stadium are significant and it will take collaboration between the City of Pasadena, the Rose Bowl Operating Company, long term stadium partners (UCLA, Tournament of Roses) and the community, to develop a pathway for future success and sustainability.”

Pasadenans weighed in with comments for the Council.

“Pasadena is a wonderful place to live in and to visit, and the Rose Bowl is a major component of why people are drawn to this city,” Pamela Tyus Smith wrote. “In order for The Rose Bowl Stadium to remain an essential part of Pasadena’s identity, investments must be made to ensure its longevity.”

“We have a responsibility to preserve, protect and enhance the Rose Bowl experience so that it remains an iconic asset for the overall well-being and prosperity of the City of Pasadena.”

Not all residents agreed with Smith’s position..

“I was astounded to realize the City has bailed out the Rose Bowl Operating Company to the tune of over $10 million dollars each fiscal year 2021 and 2022,” wrote Ferne Hayes. “What necessary services could have been provided with that money for the unsheltered residents sleeping on the street, the renter in danger of losing a home by eviction or facing food insecurity, or for the youth lacking mentors or satisfactory recreation programs? It is fortunate that a one-time Federal grant will pay that debt this next fiscal year, but will the City be asked to resume huge debt payments in 20247 Please commit to not using the City’s General Fund or reserves to pay Rose Bowl debt. The City and the RBOC must begin now to increase Rose Bowl revenues by other means so it will again be self sufficient and not a City burden taking services away from those the City should be serving.”

The RBOC, a non-profit, public benefit corporation, was founded in 1995 by action of the Pasadena City Council. Its primary purpose is to preserve the Rose Bowl Stadium as an iconic facility, while contributing economic and civic value to the City of Pasadena by managing such a world-class stadium and a professional-quality golf course complex.

As a legally separate entity, the RBOC has an independent board that governs its operations and adopts its annual budget. The operations of the RBOC are accounted for as a distinct component unit of the City.