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As part of the approval of the 2021 fiscal year budget, the city will assume the Rose Bowl’s $11.5 bond service debt.
The stadium’s previously planned schedule—including the 2020 UCLA football season—has been wiped out by the Coronavirus pandemic and the state-mandated end of stadium-sized public events for the foreseeable future.
“The city has always had ultimate responsibility for the Rose bowl debt and Pasadena will meet its financial obligations,” said Councilwoman Margaret McAustin. “At the same time we will continue to work with the RBOC [Rose Bowl Operating Company] to ensure the Rose Bowl’s business model is reflecting current demands.”
Last week during a meeting of the city’s Finance Committee, RBOC member Richard Schammell, Doug Kranwinkle, and former Pasadena City Manager Phil Hawkey, the RBOC said that some expenses have been cut with staff reductions and pay cuts, but RBOC would definitely need help with the debt load and operating expenses for the year.
Hawkey also told the committee that the RBOC might have an answer on the likelihood of this season’s UCLA football ‘in the next 30 days,” but at best those six games would likely be played without spectators.
In the presentation to the committee, however, the RBOC said that, “The slow-down is temporary. Football, concerts, and other events will return.”
The RBOC report also stated that the Rose Bowl “remains in competition with other local venues, who we understand will continue to maintain their facilities and market for business,” and that the Rose Bowl needs to maintain its staff and keep the facility in a position to return to operation quickly.
The Rose Bowl will also need staff to “rethink and plan all-new standard operating procedures for operating in a social distancing” environment,” said the report.
After some discussion on details, City Manager Steve Mermell told the Committee that the city should simply assume the debt immediately. City Finance Director Matthew Hawkesworth told the committee that the RBOC would also need several million dollars to cover monthly expenses, as well as cash to cover start-up expenses should games or events in the stadium suddenly be realized in the coming year.
The operating funds would come in the form of 30-, or 60-, or 90-day loans which would come from the City General Fund’s 5 percent reserve.
The RBOC presented three scenarios to the committee, including an August start to UCLA football, or a Spring 2021 start to UCLA football, or no Rose Bowl events at all through June 20, 2021.
PAC 12 Football teams returned to college campuses on Monday according to the Los Angeles Times, but athletes with Cal, USC and UCLA did not return due to the state’s health order. Athletes could return as local health restrictions ease.
As the RBOC told the committee, six UCLA home games were the only events on the 2020-21 schedule, and now may be unlikely.
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